Thinking of going back to University after dropping out 7 years ago, options?

[Firebot]

Here's some background: I'm thinking of going back to University after a long hiatus since I last stepped in one (2001 was when I dropped out). This was while going to University of Waterloo in Computer Science Co-op. Had some huge personal and monetary problems at the time (my mom died during exam time in my 1st term and family even went homeless for a spell months later). Needless to say my 3rd term was a huge disaster (got downgraded from computer science), was on the streets once the term was up and I just gave up on life at the time. By far the worst time in my life.

Of course this was then and this is now, and after getting myself off my feet, do have a good job without a degree (40K), but I need more then this, I'm much better then this.

My high school grades were top notch and my first term was very strong too except for 1 exam which was deferred 4 months when my mom died). I was well within the acceptable grade range needed for the program until the last term.

Knowing this, and that I did complete 1 full year of passed University courses overall, what options are available for me to get back in school? Where do I even begin to start? Will this year be recognized in some way by other universities considering they were done 7 years ago? I don't plan to pursue CS anymore, and want to pursue finance / business. There's also the issue that I can't just quit my job; part time or online courses may be required.

Anyone have any experience doing something like this, or have any guidance for what my options may be, if any, or who can help?

[hehehaha]

not sure about credit transfer....but i know you can finish a business degree in York or Athabasca by doing it online......

[beerbaron105]

id definitely pick athabasca

and ps. glad to see you push through the problems and make something of your life!

[UrbanPoet]

Im not sure where your from...
But Ryerson offers p/t B.comm's that you could do online & through correspondence. Theres night courses too. You could finish your entire degree just by going to night classes and online.

Pretty much all schools these days are flexible to p/t education. They realize that there are ton's of professionals that would jump @ the chance to earn a degree in their spare time in order to jump start their career further.

[Nutchos]

You may or may not actually get into a University but theres always a way. A friend of mine was in a very similar situation such as yourself.

Heres my suggestion: Apply to a community college, transfer ONLY the courses you did well in from your university. Try to select a college which matches the university you're aiming for (if you have no particular uni in mind, just any accredited college would do) for example a lot of colleges around a major university will be "feeder schools" for the uni as they're designed to let people in similar situation transfer into the university at a later point (like after completing your diploma and joining the degree at the uni for years 3-4).

They key would be to make sure you're on track with the courses the university requires and making sure you only take transferable courses (usually listed on the website or talk to a counselor). Also keep your GPA above the required for transferring to the uni (check the application requirements).

Once you have the required GPA + credit hours to transfer apply to the uni and go all the way. One of the first things you should do is schedule an appointment with a counselor at the college you're planning to start at and have her plan out your entire route (the courses and everything you need to do... takes a lot of the uncertainty and guess work away DEFINETLY DO THIS), as a further precaution you can also talk to an admissions counselor at the planned university to make sure the community college and the courses will be a good match (optional but could help a lot).

Good luck!

[afong56]

i would hazard to guess that as a 'mature' student, you will not actually have much trouble getting admission into a convenient school--one that will be close enough for you to attend on a part-time basis. schools have very lenient timelines for completing a degree p/t.

start calling up registrars for the schools you are interested in, and i think you might be pleasantly surprised. many schools allow for something called the 'false start syndrome', so i can't see why they wouldn't have allowances for your circumstances.

good luck

[BadDrafter]

Well I wish you nothing but the best. I had something equally bad happen to me in 1999 and I just sent my application(s) to go to university for this fall. Nine year gap. I'm going full time though, and I already went to college in 2003.

The suggestion of hopping from college to university sounds like a sound one. What is preventing you from going full time?

Good luck and let us all know what you end up doing.

[whatsinaname]

In most universities you have to submit a university transcript. Schools might take off a few optional courses if you get some transfer credits. I think in order to be accepted as a mature student, you must be over 21 and have less than one year's worth of university credits, so you probably don't qualify for that.

But I think if you could get into Waterloo CS then you could probably get into most business programs. I know that York's Atkinson offers a few online classes and most of their classes are at night. I saw an ad for online education at Concordia.

If you're going to apply to ON schools then you need to go to the OUAC site and apply under category 105. They'll arrange your university transcripts and forward it to the schools you applied to. You probably have to get your own HS transcript. I think you might be too late to apply for fall '08.

[Firebot]

Thanks for the feedback and for listing a few options.

The reason why I cannot go full time is I live on my own and have several bills to pay (+ a bit of debt). I would need to quit my job, and OSAP just doesn't provide the money needed to survive on its own (if I even qualify). If money wasn't an issue, I would have gone full-time already, but it is one. I'd also rather limit my student debt considering I'm still paying off my past student debt. I figure that even taking a few part-time / online courses to work towards my degree while continuing to work is better then nothing.

I will take some time later in the week to look deeper in the options I have available for me, and what each university offers in term of part-time and online courses.

[tritium4ever]

I'm kind of in the same situation, albeit with a couple of differences (was in two different universities from 2000-2001 and then 2003-2004). What I've found is that they're not going to give you credit for something from that long ago. I'm back in full-time now and I managed to squeeze just one credit from my 03-04 year, and that was because I had an exceptionally good mark (90+) in that course. The rest of my passes (mostly 70s) weren't accepted as credits.

The difficulty is not in getting in (you'll almost undoubtedly be accepted), but in what you plan to do. It looks as if part-time evening courses will be the option for you. Ryerson has a huge variety of mature student programs (both full-time and part-time), and there shouldn't be any problem finding something that works at UofT either.