If you have a bachelor’s degree, then what happened in high school doesn’t matter because you’re applying for graduate school. The only thing that matters is your GPA in undergrad, your GRE, your recommendations, and your statement of purpose. All applicants for graduate school are viewed the same way. It helps if you have some research background in your undergraduate experience, but great recommendations can outweigh your lack of experience. Good luck!

The real problem is that these schools are not really set up for dealing with nontraditional students. At the Ivies, Duke, UChicago, etc, the students are routinely straight out of high school, type A overachievers who are highly motivated but, they are 19 year olds when they arrive. Everything at these schools is set up to deal with those kids. They live in dorms together in a lifestyle that is aimed at 20 year old unmarrieds, not 30 year old family guys. A big part of the college experience at these schools is the networking between the kids. I think I remember that at Duke, for instance, over 90% of the kids spend four years living on campus. At UChicago the dorms are very small and intimate and establishing connections with your dorm mates is a really important part of the experience. A person who only attended the classes and was not part of the dorms, extracurricular life and campus pulse would really not fit in at all.

So, basically, although you may have come alive academically and you could handle the academic situation in the classes, you are completely out of the loop as far as the college experience at these schools is concerned.

Once grad school starts, then the calendar is set back to day one again. You come in on more equal ground…. so, although you will not receive your BA from an elite school, you might get your MA or PhD from one.

in case you raised your SAT score to a 2100, you need to possibly get in to UC Berkeley or Cornell, that are large colleges as properly. even nonetheless you have participated in many things, none of those issues screams out to the ivy league admissions person which you’re particular adequate to be admitted. in case you gained a great nationwide opposition for song or athletics, then that fulfillment would help you. in case you prepared a charity journey that helped boost 1000’s of 1000’s of dollars to a pair alleviation attempt, then that fulfillment would help you. stepping right into an exquisite college is fairly perplexing, in spite of the incontrovertible fact that being black/hispanic or being a legacy enables.

Sounds like an uphill battle, but from what you described I’d say that you have a chance. That’s quite a lot of accomplishments…it’s inspiring. Good luck, and even if you don’t get into those…still try to go somewhere else.

it really depends. Colleges now look for more than just good grades. they look for things such as what a student has overcomed to get to what they are now. so its reall different from the previous years when all that mattered was the SAT and your GPA.

I go to columbia and they have a special branch for non traditional students like yourself the school it called the school of general studies. its the same degree and you get aid merit based on academic performance, look into it