How I Transferred from a Community College to My Dream School (And How You Can Too)

When everyone asked where I was going after high school, I often felt shame. I was enrolling at my local community college. They would often respond with, “oh…” and change the subject. I subsequently identified myself with all the negative stereotypes surrounding community college; that it was a place for students who didn’t excel in high school, people who had no real goals, and finally for those who couldn’t go to a four year university (or didn’t bother trying). But these stereotypes couldn’t be further from the truth. Affordability, thanks to the ever soaring costs of a college degree, lead many to stay local for college. The emphasis on picking a set major and course of study early also deters those who are still figuring out exactly what they see themselves doing. Or maybe it’s the only option for those who come from underserved, historically low-income, or migrant communities that face plenty of barriers when it comes to higher education. Everyone has their own reasons for staying. For me it was to get a second chance.

For the most part, I was an average student in high school. I didn’t take school very seriously. I wasn’t involved outside of class. I spent my weekends and afternoons playing Xbox and hanging out with friends. I did the bare minimum in my classes. I still had hopes to go away for school and leave home. I wanted the college life I saw in the movies. It wasn’t until a college fair in my junior year that I was rudely awoken to what college admissions were looking for. I didn’t have the GPA, test scores, or extracurriculars to get accepted to many of the places I wanted to go to. I cleaned up my act as quickly as I could. I started studying more, joining clubs, taking practice SAT tests at home, and getting A’s (rather than B’s and C’s). It luckily paid off and I was accepted to my dream school in DC. Their program in international relations would set me up perfectly for the career I wanted. However, I was expected to pay over $65,000 annually… a quarter of a million dollars in debt by the time I graduated.

I then had a choice. I could go to a flagship state school where I’d get into some debt and it’d be difficult to transfer, but I’d get the college experience of moving away and it would be a lot of fun. Or I could stay at home, go to community college for free (I had earned a scholarship), and apply again to that dream school as a transfer student.

It was an easy choice. I can get in again. In fact, I could do even better.

Four years later, I’m now a student at a university I could never have dreamed of attending out of high school. One of the top not only in the nation but around the world! I’m here because I made the choice to stay, to go with the so-called “underachievers”.

However, when I look back to my time as a freshman I remember searching for examples or tips online from people who had transferred from a community college to top four year universities. There wasn’t much available and whatever I did find on Quora, College Confidential, and Reddit was usually pretty discouraging. To avoid that anxiety, here are my five tips on how I used my time at community college to transfer to my dream school. It’s not only possible, but anyone can do it.

1) Have a Vision

This may sound intuitive but having that crystal clear goal of where you want to be in two years will be just as important as doing the work. It is what will push you to get the A, rather than the B. It is what will give you the energy to show up for club executive board meeting when you’re exhausted. It is what will drive you to apply to that 13th university, even when you want to barf before looking at another “Why (college name)” essay.

How do you craft your vision? First you need to know where you want to go. This is where many might say, “I want to go to an Ivy League” or “Harvard, no question”. I love the ambition, but you have to dig deeper beyond the prestige. Rather than looking at US News’ top 100 colleges and only applying to the top 12, look at the top programs for your major. You can also look at universities beyond their academics and to what they’d offer for your career or personal interests. What university will best prepare me to be an author? Which has the best labs for me to find the cure for cancer? Find what type of environment you’d want to go to school in. Do you prefer vibrant big cities or college towns? Would you mind the cold winters of Boston or do you prefer the sun in Los Angeles? I applied to Georgetown and Columbia but not Harvard, Princeton, and Yale. Why? Because the opportunities they offered for studying international relations, on top of being in DC and New York City, were a better fit for me personally. Look past the prestige and find the best fit for you.

Also don’t be discouraged from thinking about top tier schools because you don’t think you’ll get in. If Harvard is truly the best fit for you, aim for Harvard. Realize that community college is your second chance. Forget what you did before then. This is a chance for you to learn from your past successes and mistakes to start fresh and build the habits you need excel. Don’t let the doubts of peers, family, or yourself from dreaming big.

When you find those top programs and universities for you, here are some ways to visualize that success:

· Print pictures of their mascots, logos, and campus around your room.

· Put their logos as the background on your laptop or your phone.

· Write an interview fifteen years from now on where your life will be after transferring and graduating.

· Write a graduation speech for when you finish your time at community college.

While it sounds like some mystical tip from a book on the “law of attraction”, it at least will remind you what you are working for. There were plenty of times where I just wanted to slack off or simply quit, and it was the small reminders that kept me from doing so.

2. A’s, not B’s

No matter what your thoughts are on the standard grading system, you need to play the game.

After being a college student for two years, your high school GPA will not be a big deal. But universities will heavily scrutinize your college GPA. They want to know if you can handle a college workload. If you are only getting straight B’s, you’re telling another university that you’ll be putting minimum effort. That’s not what they want.

If you are coming from high school as a B student or lower, that doesn’t mean you can’t excel in college. In fact, you can make an even better argument for yourself on your applications as you explain how you shifted gears and became serious about your goals.

So what’s the secret to getting good grades in college? Time and resource management.

Your classes will need to become your priority over everything else. Many will be balancing a full-time course load, a job or internship, clubs or on-campus activities, sleep, and a social life. The order I just placed them in is the order I prioritized them. It’s not easy and unfortunately, becoming an excellent student requires sacrifice. You will have to tell your high school buddies that you can’t hang out Sunday night because you have an exam. You’ll have to learn how to not leave big assignments for the last minute. That extra credit assignment that will bring you from a B to and A, will no longer be optional. Leisure time for naps, video games, or Netflix binging will be cut shorter. It’s the price of success.

Also recognize that in college, you are on your own. Professors and college administration will not baby you and monitor your progress. It is on you to show up to class on time, complete your assignments, study, and graduate. This doesn’t mean that they want you to fail, in fact it’s quite the opposite. Universities and community colleges alike have the resources you need to succeed on their campus. There are free tutoring services for every subject, professors have set office hours that you can go to if you are struggling in their class, gyms for you to stay fit, on-campus jobs, disability services, and mental health resources. Take advantage of all of these and don’t be afraid of using them. I personally sought tutoring when I was struggling in my science classes and counseling when I felt overwhelmed. Call your college or look online to find these resources as early as possible.

Now, if you get a few B’s or a C, it is not the end of the world. Colleges aren’t looking for perfect, cookie cutter students with a 4.0 GPA either. Don’t dwell on it. Continue to prioritize your time and use the resources available to put up your best effort.

3. Extracurriculars: Quality over Quantity

Imagine two painters: one who only spends a day on each painting and the other spends a week or more on their works. The first painter will have a massive gallery to show to the world. They may not be the most detailed or unique, but there are plenty of them. The painter is obsessed with putting out as many works of art as possible. The second painter may have less to show, but her works bare more detail and planning. The works aren’t rushed; she finishes them when she deems fit and leans into the process. When their works are put side by side, whose will stand out?

Community colleges are ripe with opportunities. An eager freshman will soon find that they can join 8 different clubs, be on the executive board of all of them, and snag a fellowship or internship sponsored by the college. They’re chasing everything that will look good to an admissions team and make their resume stand out. However, by the time they are applying they can’t talk at length about any of them! Like the first painter, they are obsessed with filling their gallery. Rather than painting to express themselves and make something truly great, they are painting for output. To fill up an empty room. Rather than joining an organization to make a positive impact or for their enjoyment, they join because it will “look good”. For transferring and for your own personal growth, I recommend finding two or three clubs or internships/jobs and going all in on them. Be like the second painter who takes her time and absorbs herself in the process.

Quality over quantity.

Let’s say you start an English club. Rather than also being on the debate society, college political party, and campus events council; you dedicate yourself to making weekly workshops where club members can edit their creative ideas. Your weekly meetings start to grow and you even get funding to start publishing members’ works on a magazine. As you recruit more members you create a volunteering branch of the club that teaches classes to at-risk youth on the weekends and you build connections to invite local authors to campus to give talks sponsored by the club. Even after you’ve left the college, you’ve built that English club to last beyond your time there. You’ve also built confidence in yourself that you can make an impact.

Invest your time wisely. If you have too many commitments, you will not be able to do anything substantive. Use your first semester to join as many things as you want. As you go to club meetings, gauge the time commitments, and meet the other members, start narrowing down which ones you truly care about and have time for. Ask yourself which has room for improvement that you can be a part of? Which activities align with your goals? Which are necessary? I worked a job waiting tables while also serving on the campus student government. It ended up being my experience as a server that I wove into my personal statement while the projects I did in student government helped me answer the more specific essays on leadership and challenges faced.

Fill your gallery with a few masterpieces rather than a room full of average.

4. Build Relationships

You will not be able to do this alone. Two years is a long time and you will have plenty of moments of doubt and discouragement. It’s at those low moments that you will need a support network. Community colleges are commuter schools, which means that most people drive to class and leave back home or to work. They often don’t have the vibrant campus life a university might offer since students don’t live on campus. It may be an initial challenge to find others with similar goals but they are there. Make an effort to go to class early to chat with other students, make study groups and group chats, join extracurriculars, and don’t just head home every chance you get. Community colleges are often far more diverse than universities as you’ll take classes with people of different ages, backgrounds, socio-economic status, and interests. When I was in student government, from our senators alone we had people who attended public and private school, 18 and 28-year old’s, a certified pastor and an atheist, registered democrats and republicans, political science and chemistry majors, and all working together for the same goals. Take advantage of the opportunity to learn more about others from unique backgrounds and yourself.

Professors at community colleges also offer another advantage over their university peers, they aren’t required to do research. Their only job is to teach! Anyone attending a university, especially the larger ones, will often find that professors are unavailable. They’re often working another job or are primarily dedicated to their research projects. On top of offering scant office hours, they’re hoarded by students and often can’t give you serious one-on-one interaction. At community colleges professors will offer longer office hours and most are happy to have students visit. I can not recommend enough to visit your professors and strike up a conversation outside of class. Ask them to elaborate on what was discussed in lecture, advice on help with their assignments, to go over exam results, for career advice if you’re interested in the subject they teach, their journey to becoming a professor, for colleges to look out for, and, as you build a relationship with them, a letter of recommendation. But don’t treat them as a means to an end. Professors are often treasure troves of advice and will serve as mentors through this process. Don’t be surprised if years from now you’ll be calling them to grab coffee or a drink like you would for an old friend.

5. Apply, Apply, Apply

Working hard to earn great grades, have impactful extracurriculars, and get amazing letters of recommendation can all be for nothing if you slack in the application stage. While it sounds intuitive, you’d be surprised how easy it is to fail at this crucial step. Applications, especially for top schools, are notoriously tedious with several essays, documents, and letters of recommendation required. You’ll need to dedicate all these extra hours on top of whatever daily commitments you have. They also have hefty price tags (some costing $100). Application season will make your final semester tough. But if you prepare accordingly, in a few months you’ll be putting your enrollment deposit for that school you’ve been envisioning for all these months.

Since there are plenty of articles on writing “the perfect college essay” or “how to make your application stand out”, I’ll give my personal advice on picking the right schools to apply to.

To begin with, don’t worry about the application fees. Many schools will waive fees if you ask for it and explain that the cost may be an economic burden for you. Some may ask for more information, such as your FAFSA or tax returns; other universities might give it to you on the spot. Your community college might also offer fee waivers to students applying to universities out of state and they may already have transfer agreements with universities that include free fee waivers. Ask your current advisor and reach out to the admissions team at the university you’re applying to. If you aren’t able to secure waivers, you’ll need to be very strategic with these next steps.

Once you have an idea of what schools have given or not given you waivers, you begin making a chart (not just a list). Plot 15–20 schools. Research the best schools for your major, universities in the cities you want to live in, the best for the career you want, or a combination of them. Since I want to work in international affairs, I split my chart between the best schools for an aspiring foreign service officer and the best schools for someone who hopes to work at the UN. There was obviously overlap, but it forced me to look at each school’s programs and what each had to offer beyond name-recognition. It’s why I chose to apply to Georgetown and Columbia as opposed to Harvard, Yale, or Princeton. That’s not to say those three don’t have great programs, but I knew I wanted to be around the opportunities available in New York City and Washington, DC. Make columns for application deadlines, number of recommendation letters, number of essays, financial aid, cost of attendance, pros & cons, acceptance rates for transfers, and any other categories that’s important to you.

Next step is to be slightly more pragmatic: you need to narrow the list and rank the schools by difficulty of getting accepted. I listed it by reach (difficult to get accepted), comfortable (within your GPA, academic range), and safe (guaranteed acceptance and affordability). How you distribute them is up to you and depending on your financial situation. I did 4 reach, 8 comfort, and 2 safe since I was fortunate enough to get waivers for all but one school. Safe schools are the in-state universities you are practically guaranteed admission into and will be affordable. Comfortable schools are more selective universities but based on your GPA and extracurriculars, you feel confident that you can get in. These are also schools that offer more for your field of study and career interests than your safe schools might. Finally, you have your reach schools. Even if you have a perfect GPA, helped orphans in Bangladesh, and are the president of your campus student government… you, nor anyone, has guaranteed acceptance to Harvard. Reach schools are your ivy leagues and universities with acceptance rates below 15%. They are difficult to get accepted to but will offer you the resources and opportunities you’ve been working hard to earn. I encourage people to apply to as many reach schools as they feel comfortable with but to not make them the majority of schools they apply to. I for example only got into one of my reach schools. Make sure you have options and apply to comfort and safe schools.

I also recommend getting ahead and not leaving these applications for the last minute. Let your recommenders know more than two months before the deadline and start working on your essays at least three months before they’re due. Give yourself plenty of time to edit, proofread, and gather feedback from others for those essays. It will be that personal statement or “why our college” essay that will often decide where you get in and sometime how much money you get in aid.

This is the final step in your application process so make it count. If you have secure waivers or can afford it, spread your net as wide as possible. If you’re limited to 7 or 5, make them count.

When people ask where I go now and I say Columbia, the response is often, “Oh!”. While attending an ivy league school comes with its own negative stereotypes, I don’t think I’ve lost the chip on my shoulder from when I started at Miami Dade College (MDC). It was at MDC that I turned that shame into productive energy. It’s where I matured and grew into who I am now. Despite not having the “traditional college experience”, I look back at it as two of the best years of my life. My classmates have since transferred to other amazing institutions like Georgetown, Vanderbilt, and Johns Hopkins to name a few. Even those that ended up staying in-state have used what they learned at MDC to excel and, in my opinion, surpass those who matriculated out of high school.

We were all one of three American undergraduates who attended community college. We all came for similar reasons. Whether it was the money, the uncertainty, or for a second shot, we all graduated closer to our aspirations. I hope the freshman reading this can use these tips to use their two years to earn an acceptance letter to their dream university but also to develop the work ethic, support network, resourcefulness, grit, and confidence to succeed when they arrive to their new home.

If you have more tips, disagree with what I said, or have questions please leave a comment! Let’s all help each other out. The article was put together with the help of Brenda Coromina and Andrea Elias.