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    KliCk's Avatar
    KliCk Posts: 4, Reputation: 1
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    #1

    Mar 18, 2009, 07:53 PM
    How to recover from a bad first year experience in college?
    I went to a specialized Art University fresh out of High-school and am just finishing the first year up. I've been having a bad experience with the school not helping me with any financial or academic issues the whole time.

    At first I had a little trouble getting loans to cover the cost of tuition that wasn't covered by federal Stafford loans. They didn't help me with any other kind of financial aid or scholarships (I understand that I could do the scholarships myself, though... ) Six months ago they forced me to withdraw from the school because I was not able to get a co-signer for my Private Student Loan. Now I'm still not able to get my loan, but they said that I would be able to take 2 classes and still be covered just by the Stafford loan. So here I am taking two classes just so I can defer my loans because I can't afford to pay my loans with a part time job.

    Anyway, my REAL problem is that I HATE the school so much. I'm $26,000 in debt from just one year and its not even the kind of school I want to go to. My grades even suffered because of it. I was stupid when I chose that school and didn't know it was going to cost me a fortune to go to. I still want to go to college for a better education, but I believe I want to work with computers, computer science or software programming because that's what I was interested in when I was in High-school. I would also like to move to Colorado (from Pennsylvania) to get a fresh start and be able to concentrate more on my education. What should I do in this situation and how can I recover from taking a huge blow financially, from a school which I probably can't even transfer any credits from? What are some things I can do to get some more help with planing my education and finding ways to pay for it?

    Sorry it is so long, but I wanted to be as detailed as I could. If you have any questions, just ask and I'll try to respond quickly.
    Wondergirl's Avatar
    Wondergirl Posts: 39,354, Reputation: 5431
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    #2

    Mar 18, 2009, 08:00 PM

    Do you have a CO school picked out?
    KliCk's Avatar
    KliCk Posts: 4, Reputation: 1
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    #3

    Mar 18, 2009, 08:16 PM
    Quote Originally Posted by Wondergirl View Post
    Do you have a CO school picked out?
    Not yet, but I was planning on moving to the Boulder area. The University of CO in Boulder is a choice, and also Front Range.

    From what I have seen so far, I would love to go to University of CO. It's a state school, so I'm hoping it won't be as expensive as the specialized school that I went to, but also offer my the support and help that I need.
    Wondergirl's Avatar
    Wondergirl Posts: 39,354, Reputation: 5431
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    #4

    Mar 18, 2009, 08:21 PM
    Quote Originally Posted by KliCk View Post
    Not yet, but I was planning on moving to the Boulder area. The University of CO in Boulder is a choice, and also Front Range.

    From what I have seen so far, I would love to go to University of CO. Its a state school, so I'm hoping it won't be as expensive as the specialized school that I went to, but also offer my the support and help that I need.
    Why would you want to go there? I've been to Boulder and have seen the college there. What does that have to offer you? Same for Front Range. You will be from out-of-state, so your costs will be higher than you may think. What would you study at either school? Do you know anything about Boulder? Have you checked college catalogs, the two schools' websites, college books from the library, and have you talked to financial aid or admissions people at either college?
    KliCk's Avatar
    KliCk Posts: 4, Reputation: 1
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    #5

    Mar 18, 2009, 08:57 PM
    Quote Originally Posted by Wondergirl View Post
    Why would you want to go there? I've been to Boulder and have seen the college there. What does that have to offer you? Same for Front Range. You will be from out-of-state, so your costs will be higher than you may think. What would you study at either school? Do you know anything about Boulder? Have you checked college catalogs, the two schools' websites, college books from the library, and have you talked to financial aid or admissions people at either college?
    The Majors at UofCO Boulder that I was looking into were Computational Science and Engineering, Software Engineering, or possibly majoring in Japanese. My sister will be moving in about a month, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to move out of state and learn to be more independent. I've heard both positives and negatives about the school. Some say that it's a party/drug school, which does not appeal to me. Others say it's a solid education that can be competitive at times, plus it's a large school and in a beautiful area. I am afraid of out-of-state costs, so I was thinking weather or not holding off a year or so until I could get a Colorado residency would be beneficial.

    As for the actual town of Boulder, It appeals to me because of its active biking community and that it also has transit. I live in Pittsburgh, PA right now and I love being able to just take a bus downtown instead of paying a great deal for parking and gas. I enjoy hiking and also Spelunking and Colorado offers a lot of Hiking for sure, although I haven't found many caves yet. I would like to learn how to rock climb as well.

    I hardly have any information so far about Front Range though.

    I haven't made up my mind because I haven't shopped around too hard, but I really appreciate your suggestions and questions because it gives me ideas on how to search, and what to look for. What are some things I should be aware of when speaking to the actual admission officers in the school? I want to be careful that I'm not sucked into a school that's not right for me like I was with the Art school.
    Wondergirl's Avatar
    Wondergirl Posts: 39,354, Reputation: 5431
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    #6

    Mar 18, 2009, 09:32 PM

    When I visited a friend in Boulder, I fell in love with that city (and I have been to CO many times). It is laid out in a grid, so it's easy to figure out addresses. There are many cultural opportunities in the area, and of course recreational opportunities are limitless. The front range is just to the west, so the scenery is awesome. UofC snuggles right into the foothills, so there are always backpacking or biking (very fit) students moving up and down the hills from building to building. The city itself is charming and busy and a nice mix of modern and historical. I would move there tomorrow.

    First, do research. Check the websites, look at the photos, read about the programs and courses that interest you. Then go to the library to check out college guides including those that interview students for the "inside information" that ordinary college guides don't give. Be sure to ask a reference librarian to help you find the most helpful stuff. Several magazines now do college rating issues. Check out or buy those. In other words, read read read! Take good notes in a chart form or at least organized for later review. The more you know, the better the questions you will be able to ask the admissions and financial aid offices.
    KliCk's Avatar
    KliCk Posts: 4, Reputation: 1
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    #7

    Mar 18, 2009, 09:35 PM
    Quote Originally Posted by Wondergirl View Post
    When I visited a friend in Boulder, I fell in love with that city (and I have been to CO many times). It is laid out in a grid, so it's easy to figure out addresses. There are many cultural opportunities in the area, and of course recreational opportunities are limitless. The front range is just to the west, so the scenery is awesome. UofC snuggles right into the foothills, so there are always backpacking or biking (very fit) students moving up and down the hills from building to building. The city itself is charming and busy and a nice mix of modern and historical. I would move there tomorrow.

    First, do research. Check the websites, look at the photos, read about the programs and courses that interest you. Then go to the library to check out college guides including those that interview students for the "inside information" that ordinary college guides don't give. Be sure to ask a reference librarian to help you find the most helpful stuff. Several magazines now do college rating issues. Check out or buy those. In other words, read read read! Take good notes in a chart form or at least organized for later review. The more you know, the better the questions you will be able to ask the admissions and financial aid offices.
    Thank you so much for all your help! It is giving me the positive attitude that I may see a better future. Wish me luck on my research, and thank you again!
    Wondergirl's Avatar
    Wondergirl Posts: 39,354, Reputation: 5431
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    #8

    Mar 18, 2009, 09:52 PM
    Quote Originally Posted by KliCk View Post
    Thank you so much for all your help! It is giving me the positive attitude that I may see a better future. Wish me luck on my research, and thank you again!
    That is ALL you are to do for now -- only research. Please report back when you are finished with that first step.
    yankeesfan32's Avatar
    yankeesfan32 Posts: 1, Reputation: 1
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    #9

    Aug 28, 2009, 02:10 PM
    My college experience was good up until the last 4 months of my senior year. From my freshman year till my senior year, I took all the hard classes. I wanted to just coast the last semester of college because 1.)My brain was fried and 2.) I wanted to take it easy. So my last semester of college, I only had to attend classes 3 days a week, so I spent a lot of time in the dorm.

    My dorm was set up as a suite style dorm. There were 6 guys or 6 girls to a dorm room. We had a kitchen, shower, bathroom and living room. It was a great set up. So, I was in a dorm room with 5 other guys and I lived the least far away from home. Everyone else was from other states. So every weekend, I was home. Every weekend, my roommates would thrown parties. I didn't care. I wasn't there anyway.

    So when I would go back to campus on Sunday, they would expect me to clean the place. There were empty beer bottles, beer cans, ashtrays overflowing with cigarette butts. The cans and bottles were filled with cigarette butts too. I didn't make the mess but I would help to clean it up, I wouldn't do it all myself. So, that irked them, A lot!

    As anyone who has been in college knows, things turn up missing (stolen actually, but nobody will admit to it). If my roommates didn't thrown parties every weekend and didn't
    Have 2-25 people in the dorm, things wouldn't turn up missing (stolen). All of us had things missing (stolen) but since nobody would own up to it, nothing was done about it. The Resident Advisors were useless, so no sense in taking it to them.

    I went home on this 1 particular weekend and after I went back to campus on Sunday, my roommates weren't there and the place still looked liked a disaster area and I wasn't going to clean it myself.

    My roommates got back to the dorm a few hours after I had. After they returned they announced that there was roommate meeting.

    Ok, no big deal, right? WRONG! We all sat in the living room amongst the disgusting mess and the 5 of them accused me of stealing their things. I was shocked and sad at the same time because I was under the assumption that we were all friends, we all know what assume means. Ok, so I'm accused of stealing. Total BS, So I asked them what proof they had that I had stolen from them.

    1 of my a@*h@&# roommates said and I quote, "We know." I said, "How do you know?"

    Again the answer was, "We just know." I tried to defend myself by saying the truth. I said that I also had things stolen as well. Then I got the answer, "Don't try and turn this around, we know" They had absolutely no proof whatsoever. Pure circumstantial evidence, that's all it was. No hard evidence at all. Why wasn't there any hard evidence? Because I hadn't stolen anything and they were just looking for a scapegoat, a fall guy. I just happened to be that guy.

    So, they asked me to move out and since I didn't live far from home and didn't have too much choice, I moved out. So I commuted back and forth from home to school. However, I noticed a few odd things when I was commuting. People who used to talk to me, stopped. I later learnt that those 5 a#&h*)#@ spread rumors about me all over campus and since it was a small school, the rumors spread like wildfire.

    I also learned that the 5 of them had taken the matter of stealing to the Resident Advisor on our floor and he did absolutely nothing. They also took the matter to the Resident Director. Instead of taking the matter to me and sitting down like men and discussing it, they went behind my back. So for the last 4 months on that campus, I was like a ghost, which was fine with me.

    I had friends on that campus before this happened and after it happened, I didn't have any. To me, it was like junior high. On our campus there were clicks. You had the jocks, nerds, rich people, goth kids, motorheads, druggies, political and the loners. There was another click on that college campus known as The Outcasts. Even The Outcasts didn't talk to one another.

    This was the click I was in for the last 4 months of college. I had joined this click only after what happened between myself and 5 people who have no Honor or Integrity. After this horrific experience, it's extremely difficult for me to trust anyone. So, if anyone is thinking about going to college, go right ahead and go to college. I'm not trying to dissillusion anyone into not going.

    The lesson here is if you go to college, do not have any roommates. If at all possible, either commute from home or get a single room in a dorm.
    setexenv's Avatar
    setexenv Posts: 45, Reputation: 3
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    #10

    Sep 22, 2009, 01:23 PM

    It sounds like to me that you have made some horrendous choices with regard to the Specialized Art School and now you are interested in Computer Science. You have spent $26,000 on one year of education that is completely worthless to you (my guess, based on your comments). I really think you need to speak with an attorney to see if you can re-coop any funds from this so-called Art School. Second, I think you should find an inexpensive public accredited school to try out for the first two years of college near where you are now or at least in a location where you can afford to live. Do you know how much it costs to live in Boulder? After 2 years of success at an affordable, but less spectacular school, you might be able to justify transferring to some place like Boulder. However, you need to focus on education for the next 2 years and not on spelunking or hiking or rock climbing. Get your priorities straight or you'll never graduate from anywhere.

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