<p>My boyfriend is currently in community college and is planning on transferring to columbia university after he graduates with his associates degree(fall semester). He has a cumulative GPA of around 3.73 (will be about 3.8-3.85 by the time he graduates because he’s confident he’s going to get all A’s), excellent recommendations and has volunteered in his college and still volunteers, does extra curricular activities. He is VERY academically smart and very intelligent. He is in the process of applying to columbia, NYU and other schools. He is on the dean’s list every semester.
here’s the thing: my bf used to be a heroin addict and dealer from when he was around 19 up until he turned 22. after his parents divorced, his life turned into a screw up. he was homeless, lived in homeless shelters and even slept on the subway. he has been clean for over a year now. he has turned his life around completely, he is a changed man and he is focused fully on school, getting married and having a family.
he is a success story! but getting into NYU or Columbia would be a dream come true for him. He is going to tell his story in the admission’s essay. with his excellent grades and recommendations and non-traditional personal story, what are his chances of getting into New York University or Columbia University? thank you so much!</p>
<p>P.S. he works and goes to school full-time. He lives alone and pays for his rent, his tuition and everything on his own, which limits how much extra curricular activities he can do.</p>
<p>He sounds impressive, but there’s simply no way to know what his chances are at Columbia (NYU is less competitive, so his chances may be better there). He has to tell his story as well as can and see what happens. Keep in mind that other people have survived divorced parents without becoming heroin addicts – were there other circumstances that might fostered his addiction? Economic hardship? Other dislocations or handicaps? The thing is that, as you have explained it, his main ‘distinction’ here is having descended into and lifted himself out of heroin addiction. I’d think that for his case to have special appeal, that addiction has to have very strong roots (stronger than ‘mere’ divorce) and to have been especially difficult to overcome (as difficult as it is to overcome just ordinarily). That’s just my layman’s sense of the matter.</p>
<p>When you apply as a transfer at Columbia, they also take into account high school transcript and SAT scores. How did he do on those? He might have a chance, but transfer admissions is very competitive. A 3.8 from a community college with mediocre extra curricular activities, might not be enough. As mentioned before, NYU is easier though.</p>
<p>Maybe he can try Cornell too?</p>
<p>He’s probably not applying as a transfer student–I don’t believe one /can/ transfer into Columbia College or SEAS (engineering) after getting an associate’s degree, so I’d imagine that he’s going into GS, which is arguably easier to get into. One of the GS students in my french class last semester was a transfer from a community college, so I imagine that your boyfriend might have a decent shot. Unfortunately, GS doesn’t have the endowment that CC does, so paying for tuition might get difficult.</p>