posted
I'm looking at fixing up my GPA this spring semester at Salt Lake City Community College, and trying to move out of state (Utah) and go to a school that's far far away.
I'm not set on a certain major yet, so here's a list of the possibilities I'm still considering:
Computer Science
Electrical Engineering
Linguistics
Mathematics
Physics
Art, emphasis on Animation / 3D Design
With that in mind, A few people have recommended that I should check out NorthWestern University, and that school looks promising. I'm just looking for other recommendations, and other information.
Posts: 121 | Registered: Mar 2005
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Georgia Tech. We have great CS, Engineering, Math, and Physics programs. No art, but you could do computer-based design programs. We definitely don't have linguistics.
Posts: 1547 | Registered: Jan 2004
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Southern Virginia University. OSC teaches there. Duh!
I haven't taken a too serious look at the school but I've had a few freinds that went there and they only had positive things to say about it.
Posts: 208 | Registered: Sep 2007
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What is your current GPA? Is it good enough for scholarships or are you planning on paying yourself or have parents taken on this responsibility? What can raise your GPA up to prior to an application? Have you taken any standardized tests; were your scores acceptable? Do you participate in any extra curricular activities (sports, clubs), are those important to you?
Those are the sort of questions we need answers to before giving a good recommendation.
Posts: 2064 | Registered: Dec 2003
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A somewhat serious reccomendation for Purdue. location-wise it leaves something to desire, but has pretty good programs in all the areas you were mentioning.
also, it's my alma-mater and treated me well Posts: 1038 | Registered: Feb 2006
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Choices are limited here at Southern Virginia University, but most if not all of your (potential) studies are covered here, and since nearly all professors here have the highest degree possible in their fields of study...
Yeah, the school has budget issues. Yes, Buena Vista is one of the smallest college towns you'll ever encounter. And yes, the cafeteria fare is pretty bad.
But it's a pretty good crowd out here, we laugh at ourselves all the time, and with OSC teaching every other year (only in Creative Writing and Literature classes, mind you), it's a pretty good deal. Classes are incredibly small, and tuition is fairly affordable. I'm getting over $7500 a year for maintaining a minimum 3.0 GPA. Since it's twenty grand a semester here, they hand out decent scholarships. And if you just happen to be an RM, they'll up your scholarship by a full $2000.
And you can't get farther away from Utah than Buena Vista, VA. It's not even part of the CES, so no worries there.
Posts: 292 | Registered: Jun 2006
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Whenever I see a young person considering Linguistics, I have a desire to give them a dose of reality. But I'll try to control myself in this instance.
What kind of weather do you prefer?
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Is tuition an issue? Because going in-state will probably cost you a lot less. (Yeah, I know, no duh)
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quote:Originally posted by rav: I'm looking at fixing up my GPA this spring semester at Salt Lake City Community College, and trying to move out of state (Utah) and go to a school that's far far away.
Fixing it up from what? Have you been taking classes previously? As other people have pointed out, economics will play a significant role in choosing a school, and the ability to compete for scholarships is a big part of that.
quote: I'm not set on a certain major yet, so here's a list of the possibilities I'm still considering:
Computer Science
Electrical Engineering
Linguistics
Mathematics
Physics
Art, emphasis on Animation / 3D Design
With that in mind, A few people have recommended that I should check out NorthWestern University, and that school looks promising. I'm just looking for other recommendations, and other information.
The first school that came to mind with your listed interests was Carnegie Mellon. Of course, any other large tech school would be good in all the areas listed (MIT, Stanford, VT, Caltech, etc.) But if you're doing GPA rehab, I'm not sure how viable these universities are, because they're private (i.e. expensive) and very competitive. State schools tend to be a bit less expensive; good state tech schools include U. Illinois, Urbana-Champagne and U. Michigan. Several in the U Cal system as well (Berkeley, Santa [edit: Cruz], San Diego).
Honestly, unless you're into paying for new and exciting experiences (which is fine if you are, but I would recommend doing it through a semester abroad program or some such), I would look at state schools, particularly in Utah where you (evidently) have established residency. You'll get approximately the same education for a lot less money.
posted
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has excellent programs in most of those areas (maybe all, I'm just not familiar with some of them).
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Are we talking about for the Fall 2008 semester/quarter? Because applications for next year have closed at quite a few schools. Among them the UCs.
Val asked some excellent questions. One of the biggest is what your budget is, both in terms of tuition and other expenses (like housing). I understand wanting to get away from home, but out of state tuition is considerably more expensive, as was already pointed out.
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If you're seriously considering animation, I would consider University of Southern California - their curriculum is very broad, intensive, and has a lot of industry connections. If you're more into character animation, CalArts is the way to go. You might also consider Savannah College of Art and Design, but it is *very* expensive.
If you're not for sure settled on a major, Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond has really great art programs, as well as the humanities and sciences. I also just really like Richmond as a city.
Posts: 3936 | Registered: Jul 2000
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If you're gonna go into electrical engineering or computer science, goto UC Berkeley. WE R TEH BEST. We also have a pretty darn good physics and math department, although MIT and CalTech probably blows us miles away in those fields.
Private school level education for public school level moolah. The only problem is that the parties suck hard. Don't come here if you want to party, in any sense of the word. Fotunately, San Francisco is relatively close by, so you can go clubbing, if that's your thing.
Oh yea, and if you do take CS here, then only take CS150 if you're willing to literally have no life outside of an underground laboratory. That class really teaches you to work against an oppressive deadline. Brought sleeping bags into the lab to sleep there, ordered sushi at 2 in the morning, etc. ARGLBARGL.
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If you can stand the weather, Michigan, Michigan State and Michigan Tech all have excellent programs in at least some of those fields.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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Going to a school far away so you're forced to cut the strings and live on your own - awesome.
Picking a school PRIMARILY because it's far away, without considering some important things like whether or not you could stand to live in the town for 4+ years - not the smartest idea I've ever had Posts: 3950 | Registered: Mar 2006
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posted
Sorry, rav, but this is an impossibly vague question.
Where are you thinking you'd like to go? Do you have family ties to any particular area? Is there a particular region you'd like to live or not live in?
Will you have a car? How are you planning on paying for school? Will you be working while you're in school or will you take out loans?
Posts: 5462 | Registered: Apr 2005
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You might want to also consider that for many people, a large part of the college experience is the non-class activities. Don't pick a small college in the middle of nowhere if you're going to get bored with the quite life.
Posts: 3950 | Registered: Mar 2006
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I'm going throw some tough realism into this discussion. I understand you are currently attending SLCC and need to "fix up" your GPA. This suggests to me that you haven't in the past been a very serious student. As a result you goofed off too much and got grades that weren't reflective of your abilities. Now you're finally getting serious and you want to turn that around. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Assuming I'm right, the bad news is that with a record like that it will be nearly impossible to get into a prestigious private school like Cal Tech or any of the top ranked public Universities like the UC schools, Purdue, Michigan, Minnesota, or Wisconsin.
The good news is that it is still easy to get admission to a large number of good public Universities that offer a great undergraduate education but which aren't "ranked". Take a look at the schools in the Cal. State system. Calpoly in San Luis Obispo, for example, has excellent engineering programs. Montana State University in Bozeman has very good programs in engineering, computer science, physics, math and even art. Colorado State in Fort Collins has very reputable programs in science and engineering as does University of New Mexico. Washington State, Oregon State and the University of Idaho are all worth considering.
I know I'm focusing on western Universities, but I'm much more familiar with the programs and reputations of these schools than I am with schools in other parts of the country.
Since there is a big differential ($15,000/year or more) between in the cost for resident and non-resident students at these schools, you want to explore what is required to get in state tuition. In some states, its almost impossible to get residency while you are a full time student. You might need to move to the state and work for 6 months to a year before you start classes in order to qualify for in state tuition. Many schools have higher admission standards for out of state students as well.
Linguistics isn't a common undergraduate degree so if that is seriously what you want to study, make sure the school has an undergraduate program before you start. But many people who study linguistics in graduate school have undergraduate degrees in English or another language. This is a good option.
Typically, only larger schools have engineering programs so if that is a serious interest, it rules out most of the small colleges all across the country.
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I disagree with Rabbit. It is not nearly impossible. It requires playing to your strengths, being up front about your previous limitations, and applying to numerous places, but it can definitely be done, particularly with a one year record at a community college that shows improvement.
That said, Cal State has some quality programs, as do some of the others Rabbit mentions.
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Most of me doesn't want to ask this question, but part of me has to. Is that a guy or a girl in the top left picture?
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quote:Originally posted by fugu13: I disagree with Rabbit. It is not nearly impossible. It requires playing to your strengths, being up front about your previous limitations, and applying to numerous places, but it can definitely be done, particularly with a one year record at a community college that shows improvement.
I didn't say it was impossible to get into a good school with a spotty record, I said that without a stellar academic history, it was nearly impossible to get into the top ranked private schools and the top ranked state schools as a non-resident. I have known people coming out of high school with >3.9 GPAs, top test scores and all kinds of extra-curicualar and service experience who were rejected by those top level schools. I stand by what I said, it is nearly impossible for someone with a spotty record to get into a place like Cal Tech or UC Berkely. To do it, you would need something in your application that was truly extraordinary. Places like Cal Tech and Stanford rarely consider transfer students of any kind, let alone those with spotty records from mediocre community colleges.
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quote:Originally posted by Zhil: If you're gonna go into electrical engineering or computer science, goto UC Berkeley. WE R TEH BEST. We also have a pretty darn good physics and math department, although MIT and CalTech probably blows us miles away in those fields.
You need to know your schools strengths a little better. For decades, UC Berkeley has ranked 1st or 2nd in the nation in Mathematics, often tieing with MIT and always beating out CalTech. In Physics in 2006, UC Berkely ranked 4th nationally (MIT was first, CalTech third) so it was bested by MIT and CalTech but hardly by miles. To make up for it, UC Berkely ranked 1st in Chemistry once again.
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rivka, I'm aware that school rankings are computed in a very bizarre way but I'm not sure how that would give an advantage to UC Berkely over schools like MIT and CalTech.
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It's also important to know that out-of-state tuition for a state school is still very hefty - Wisconsin runs $7k for in-state tuition, but $21k for out-of-state.
Posts: 3932 | Registered: Sep 1999
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If I had to do it again, I'd strongly consider Drexel University, because I love their educational philosophy. I didn't know much about them when I was applying for colleges, though.
posted
I went to Drexel ('05). Although, I wasn't an engineer (chemistry instead) and I didn't co-op (which in retrospect, was a mistake.)
For engineering, they're a really good choice. (57th nationally, largest engineering program among private universities.) Some ridiculous fraction of the students are engineers of some kind and co-op is a much more established tradition in engineering than anywhere else.
Posts: 1621 | Registered: Oct 2001
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quote:I understand you are currently attending SLCC and need to "fix up" your GPA. This suggests to me that you haven't in the past been a very serious student. As a result you goofed off too much and got grades that weren't reflective of your abilities. Now you're finally getting serious and you want to turn that around.
I think that's an unnecessarily uncharitable suggestion. I will second the recommendation for San Luis Obispo, though.
posted
Irami, I'm sorry if you see my comments as unnecessarily uncharitable. I think of them as frank and as someone who has been advising college students for 15 years, I also have the arrogance to think my comments were both needed and valuable.
My comments do not come from a position of ignorance. I have taught at the University of Utah for the past 7 years and have dealt with many transfer students from SLCC. Because we must "acredit" SLCC courses that we accept in transfer for our own acceditation process I'm quit familiar with this community college. I know several people who teach there very well and have known many students who've gone there. On the average, students who transfer from SLCC to the University of Utah see a full point drop in their GPA. (If they were getting a 3.9 GPA at SLCC, they will likely earn a 2.9 GPA at the U of U).
In my fifteen years as a professor, I have advised many students who were trying to "fix up" their GPA. Everyone of them meant that they hadn't previously taken their education seriously and so they felt they hadn't performed to their ability in classes. When they have said they wanted to "fix up" their GPA, they have always meant they were going to go back and retake classes that they had blown off earlier in order to fix the mistake. I invited rav to correct me if I was wrong (something you omitted when quoting me). Let me repeat that invitation and appologize if because of my experience, I understood him to mean something he did not intend.
I think one of the great things about the US educational system is that we give people a second chance. If you do terrible in high school, you can always get into a community college. Then if you apply yourself and get good grades, you can get into a University. If you do well in the undergraduate programs at any reputable University, you can often get into a graduate program at one of the nations top tier Universities. And eventually, no one will ever care about how you did in high school.
But students need to understand that while that path is possible, it isn't easy. Bad marks on your record don't go away when you retake a class. Even if you "fix" your GPA by retaking a failed class, the fact that you took that class more than once stays on your transcript and it will follow you. Just recently, I had one of our graduating engineering students come by for help. He is an older student, probably around 30. Over ten years ago he took some classes at the University that he flunked. Even though it had been more than 10 years and he had retaken the classes and gotten good grades, a potential employer had asked him to explain what had happened.
If you've got a spotty academic record but now you are getting serious, you can overcome that record. You aren't however going to be able to get into CalTech, Harvard or UC Berkeley by just having one good year at a mediocre community college. It will take a lot more work.
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St. John's is a really cool college. It has a very different approach both to admissions and learning. Its not a place I'd recommend to anyone interested in the natural sciences but if you are into the humanities, wow!
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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I have only taken 2 semesters of college. In Jr. High, I learned what it was to pass classes without doing anything, and found that I didn't respect the establishment of Education. High School followed and I put forth very little effort to get grades.
I failed 1 semester of Japanese, which I'm taking again this spring semester. I also failed 1 semester of Public Speaking.
Everything else I did rather well, and I can apply myself to get good grades. I talked about fixing my GPA mostly from HS, and trying to get scholarships. I don't really know a good resource for scholarship information.
I want to get out of Utah mostly because I've lived here my entire life, and I've decided I should see what it would be like to live in a non-LDS majority culture. I've also decided that I should get away from my family, as there are quite a few complications regarding life with my family. That said, I'm not going to school to get away from family or Utah, but I find it an opportunity to also get out of Utah, while I work on my grades, and getting more credits at SLCC.
As for Val's questions:
quote:What is your current GPA? Is it good enough for scholarships or are you planning on paying yourself or have parents taken on this responsibility? What can raise your GPA up to prior to an application? Have you taken any standardized tests; were your scores acceptable? Do you participate in any extra curricular activities (sports, clubs), are those important to you?
Those are the sort of questions we need answers to before giving a good recommendation.
My current GPA is 1.75 including both of the E grades, out of 20 credit hours, I have only earned 12 (5 from Japanese, 3 from Public Speaking)
I'm not going to be receiving any financial aid from my parents, I'm saving money from my current job, planning to work summers, and take out student loans if need be.
I haven't taken any standardized tests since High School, and should take them again, I haven't really thought about those since they were mandatory at school. Thanks for reminding me.
I participate in music, I sing and play many instruments. I can play most sports, but I don't think it would be scholarship worthy.
The Rabbit: Thanks for the spot on information. I only hope that what I have screwed up so far isn't a huge black mark on my transcript, but what I have done in college so far is FAR better than what I did in High School.
I have also considered a Business degree, it seems it would be just as useful if not more flexible for job opportunities. But I don't honestly know how true this is, or how it would affect me if I wanted to work at Pixar or ILM or many other Art / Design oriented jobs doing actual Art / Animation. Which brings us to what kind of a job I'd like to end up in the end game, and I'd like to be an Animator / Artist, or Programmer working on graphics type projects or tools for artists.
I have quite a few interests, and I am having a difficult time trying to decide what should be a hobby and what should be a job. I also would like to travel to Japan at some point with a degree and teach English.
Edit: My other grades are A's and B's
Posts: 121 | Registered: Mar 2005
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The first thing you need to focus on is getting your GPA up. I don't know about most schools, but mine won't actually let you into the education program without a 2.5, and this is lower than it used to be.
I'm not trying to bash on you, but if you can retake those classes and get the failing grades to disappear, that's the first thing you need to focus on. Although GPA isn't everything, it is something. Test scores can only count for so much.
Just my two cents.
Posts: 349 | Registered: Oct 2007
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1.75 is quite low. Look at it this way, Rav. If you were to take a full load next semester (12 credits), and managed to get straight As, you would still only come out with a 2.875 GPA. A 2.5 is the minimum GPA for many scholarships and to get into many of the universities people are mentioning in this thread, you would need much higher with extra curriculars to boot.
If I were you, I reconsider leaving your community college. Have you really taken a look at what they have to offer you in terms of your interests? According to your school's website, they have quite a bit to offer. It sounds like a great place to get an associate degree. Perhaps with that under your belt, you'll feel more prepared for university life.
Posts: 2064 | Registered: Dec 2003
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quote:Originally posted by The Rabbit: rivka, I'm aware that school rankings are computed in a very bizarre way but I'm not sure how that would give an advantage to UC Berkely over schools like MIT and CalTech.
The rankings don't take into account such things as teacher-to-student ratio, accessibility to cutting-edge researchers, and a number of other things Caltech excels at.
MIT and UC Berkley are exceptionally good schools. But even without my bias ( ), I think Caltech is better in both math and physics.
quote:Originally posted by Valentine014: If I were you, I reconsider leaving your community college. Have you really taken a look at what they have to offer you in terms of your interests? According to your school's website, they have quite a bit to offer. It sounds like a great place to get an associate degree. Perhaps with that under your belt, you'll feel more prepared for university life.
I agree. Moreover, quite a few 4-year colleges will only consider transfer students with an AA (or the equivalent number of credits). Many more look more favorably on those students than on other potential transfers.
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quote:The rankings don't take into account such things as teacher-to-student ratio, accessibility to cutting-edge researchers, and a number of other things Caltech excels at.
Ranking systems for departments are for their graduate programs not their undergraduate programs. Things like teacher-to-student ratio and accessibility to cutting-edge researchers really are only applicable at the undergraduate level. At the graduate level almost all the classes are small at every university and you won't take very many of them. The lions share of the work will be done under the supervision of one professor, who is almost always doing cutting-edge research (even at lower tier schools).
CalTech's greatest strength is in its undergraduate programs where unlike other top tier schools, classes are small and taught by the most prestigious faculty. At CalTech, every undergraduate student has the opportunity to work one on one with top faculty. At most of the other top tier schools, undergraduates will probably never even see the famous faculty members.
But if you look at its doctoral programs, CalTech is still a great school but it really doesn't distinguish itself from other top tier schools.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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quote:I agree. Moreover, quite a few 4-year colleges will only consider transfer students with an AA (or the equivalent number of credits). Many more look more favorably on those students than on other potential transfers.
And in at least one state, a community college AA with a certain GPA guarantees you admission to any state school.
In Virginia, this gives a lot of "second-chance" students access to UVA and Virginia Tech, for example.
Even if you don't qualify for such programs, a long string of good grades demonstrating you've improved as a student can only help.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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quote:Originally posted by rav: The Rabbit: Thanks for the spot on information. I only hope that what I have screwed up so far isn't a huge black mark on my transcript, but what I have done in college so far is FAR better than what I did in High School.
As I mentioned earlier, one of the great things about the US system is that we give people second chances. Its pretty hard to screw things up so badly that you can't dig your way out. The thing you want to be careful of now is that you don't get further in the hole. If you aren't fully commited to taking a class and doing well in it, consider doing something else until you are confident that you will stay serious about your schooling. If something comes up and you need to change plans mid semester, make sure you meet with the instructors and find a way to work things out so that you don't get more E's on your record.
You are on the right track. The first thing you need to do is retake the classes you failed to get those E's off your record.
You aren't going to fit the bill for most of the traditional scholarships out there, but don't let that discourage you. There are lots of unusual scholarships available. Do some research and you may find one that fits.
Given your situation, you are probably going to have to work to put yourself through school. Don't let that discourage you. You can do this and succeed but you will need to be realistic about your abilities and how many classes you can handle while working. Be willing to live cheap and do without some of the things your some of your classmates will think of as necessities like your nice furniture, your own computer, an iPod or a car. You will want to carefully investigate what it takes to qualify for in-state tuition where ever you end up going.
Here is a strategy I recommend. Start looking at the state Universities that have programs in the fields you think you might want to study. Consider the cost of living in the areas and the potential for jobs and narrow it down to a few to consider seriously. Then check to see if those schools have any near by community colleges that they routinely work with. Many Universities have partnerships with the nearby community colleges that will give you advantages when it comes time to transfer as well as easier transfer of course credits. Its often easier to qualify for in-state tuition at the community colleges as well. Once you've done that research, start looking for jobs in the cities where you want to go to school and move there. Moving and working in the city where you want to study will have two advantages. It will put you on track to get residency and it will make you independent so that you don't have to include your parents income when you apply for financial aid. Once you've got a job and a place to live, start taking classes at the community college. Don't worry about trying to be full time initially, its much important to do your best in every class you take than it is to get done quickly. when you complete the AA at the community college you will likely qualify automatically for transfer to its partner University (check this out first to be sure). There are often scholarships available specifically for good transfer students from the partner CCs.
Its not the fast track, but if you stay focused its virtually a sure thing and probably the easiest way for someone in your position to get into a good school and make those black marks from your past dissappear.
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Yeah, something to consider about Utah is that while the cost of living is lower, the wages and supply of jobs is also lower.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I think you ought to consider what you want at the end of all this some more. In your first post you list a great variety of things, from all across the board, this sort of shouts undecided to me. Since you plan on transferring, also consider that some majors will be significantly harder to transfer into and graduate in less than 4 years, electrical engineering, for instance.
I also wonder about taking Japanese. Its definatively a hard to learn language, and I don't see how it really is directed toward anything you've listed as possible majors. It also strikes me that foreign languages might not be the best classes to take, if you're having grade problems. (Obviously these things have to be traded off with taking classes that your actually interested in, but I think some big picture thinking is needed here.)
Posts: 1621 | Registered: Oct 2001
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quote:Originally posted by The Rabbit: But if you look at its doctoral programs, CalTech is still a great school but it really doesn't distinguish itself from other top tier schools.
I disagree, but I suspect this may have to be an "agree to disagree" thing.
FYI, it's "Caltech," not "CalTech." I forget why, exactly. Probably just because it's a tradition.
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We have great CS, Engineering, Math, and Physics programs. No art, but you could do computer-based design programs. We definitely don't have linguistics.
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