Thread: So, about college for you older guys...

TOGS basically summed it up. You can probably forget about Berkeley but that doesn't mean you will be at McDonalds your whole life, there are plenty of decent schools you should be able to get into with a 3.0 (or even a high 2.something) high school GPA. Kicking ass on your SAT will definitely help, too. If you are really dead-set on Berkeley, you could always try to transfer there after a year or two at wherever else you wind up going. Getting in as a transfer student is often easier than getting in as a freshman. Also, listen to what TOGS says about different programs/departments at the same schools being more or less selective. You can use that to your advantage. You can easily switch majors after your first year (most of the classes you take as a freshman will be GE crap that are required regardless of major), so if applying directly into your intended major program would decrease your chances of getting in, consider applying into a major program that's less selective and then switching. Be aware of differing acceptance rates for different programs/departments and game the system accordingly.

I graduated high school with like a 2.2 GPA, a 1540 SAT (this was back in the olden days when the max SAT score was 1600), and plenty of AP classes with 5's on the AP tests. I didn't get into any of the schools I applied to, probably because they could see by the juxtaposition of my high test scores and low GPA that I was too lazy to put my smarts to good use. I wound up doing two years in my local community college, got serious about motivating myself, and was able to transfer to a school I liked. So just bear in mind that even if you don't get in anywhere, your academic career isn't ruined, it's just been sidetracked a bit and can be put back on course with a little effort; you could still have your degree in four years' time from a good school, you might just spend two of those years at community college and then the other two at 'real' college. Don't buy into the idea that community college is some dead-end for hopeless fuckups, it's really not. With good grades in CC, you should be able to transfer even into highly selective schools.