Can you get into a good university with a C average or gpa of 2.5?

I don’t think there’s a point in taking too many more than 60 credits at a community college before transferring. I suppose you could, and it wouldn’t hurt, but you’d probably just start racking up a bunch of credits that are mostly general, right? I go to a community college and I know there’s only really so many credits I could get out of it before I transfer, because they just don’t offer really specialized courses. And tons of gen eds would be, in my opinion, a waste of time and money.

As far as your GPA goes, it alllll depends on the school you’re looking at.

Its possible… your ACT or SAT will have to save you if you have a C average gpa. Other wise a lot of people transfer into other universities after a year or so of community college. But some colleges only take so many transfers so that varies as well. Don’t expect to get into yale or something on a transfer.

i haven’t taken the ACT or SAT’s… and i wasn’t planning on taking them.

It might be wise to take the SATs once…..just in case, ya know.

I don’t know any university worth attending that doesn’t require an ACT or SAT score. Good luck.

Most accredited universities require either the ACT or the SAT. Both are roughly 4 hour long tests and cost about $80. Just do it.

It depends on your age or how long you’ve been out of school for most school requiring SAT or ACT scores. I had my SAT scores, but didn’t need them. I went to college when I was 21. And yes, you can get into a school with a 2.5 GPA (that was mine) but you may need to go through a special program.

Defining “good” is the issue. Ivy League caliber, no. Highly ranked state school, probably not unless you can dunk or throw a football. Everything else, probably yes.

Straight out of high school? I don’t know.

But, I got into a good (not sure the rank) state university, with only having my GED and never having taken the SATs or ACTs. I did one year at community college though.

It does depend on what you are calling a “good university” as @shilolo said.

When you have a low GPA then your SAT/ACT and your Essay are weighted more heavily. (I used to help youth get into college and have had some training on this).

There is also typically a special essay you have to write when you don’t meet the school’s GPA requirements. Do a good job on that and have a good explanation of:
1. Why you have a bad GPA
2. Why you won’t have a bad GPA in college

Also you may look into special programs at the University you want to go to. I was friends with a woman who ran a special program that helped high school students ,who didn’t quite meet the criteria of the college, get into said college. It was through a special program. To find out about that you could talk to an Academic Advisor or possibly Admissions.

@RedPowerLady

What she said.

Also, if you do get into a decent college but want to go somewhere else, you can always work really hard the first year and transfer to an even better school. It might take a lot of work, though.

I’m not sure how you’re planning on entering college without taking a standardized test since they are required by almost every college and university.

Its easier to get into a decent university as a transfer student than entering as a freshman. GPA doesn’t matter as much (2.5 is the minimum for transfers at some schools) as they see that you are able to handle college level work. At this point, higher level schools aren’t likely to take a chance on someone who has a lower GPA and might become a part of their student loss after freshman year because they couldn’t handle the work.

My advice, having worked through my own college educational needs and advised many of my friends, is for you to take two years at a community college, preferably in an Associates degree program. If you have a degree from a two year school, colleges have to take even lower grades in some classes that they might not accept on a pure transfer basis. Only D I’ve ever gotten in my life was in Spanish. But the university took it because I had a degree, not just transferring. Doing this, you can also get an idea of what it is that you want to do when you transfer to a university as you take a couple of classes in the subject area that you get your degree in.

If you transfer after one year of work, the requirements are higher than if you transfer after two years, FYI.

I’m not sure about the colleges in the US but over here in Singapore an average of C will not get you into any of the national Universities. We have 3 here: National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore Management University (SMU) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

We use A Levels to calculate admission capability and on average a B-C-C for 3 A Level subjects would probably get you into the Arts courses in college (just scraping it) but no luck for the more specialised/technical ones such as Medicine, Dentistry, Engineering and Law. (These require straight As)

For international students we do accept the SATs and high school transcripts but the cut-off is pretty high (and you’d have more luck coming over as an exchange student instead.) One of my friends from India made an inquiry to the admissions office and she was told SAT scores will be taken into consideration only if the scores are good.
On what is considered “good”, she was told 2100 in SAT I and 2100 in SAT II would be considered “competitive”. This is for NUS admissions.