Chase Kuhleman is a senior at Cornell University in New York studying economics and management. He is getting ready to apply to Cornell’s law school next year.
His post-high school education began online at Delaware County Community College, just outside of Philadelphia. After achieving a 4.0 GPA in his first term, he was selected to join the Transfer Scholars Network, a program that helps students gain admission to top-tier schools. Since the program’s launch in 2021, 32 students have been accepted into 16 partner schools, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale, and Princeton. The network has accepted and mentored around 600 students so far.
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In order to help more people obtain a four-year degree, one initiative began with a simple idea: What if you make it easier for top community college students to connect with selective schools?
The partner institutions often have more resources to help support students in completing a four-year degree, as less than 20% of community college transfers achieve this within 6 years, according to new federal data.
Sometimes Mr. Kuhleman experienced imposter syndrome at the Ivy League school, but he prefers not to dwell on the past. “I can definitely say sometimes I used to think, you know, do I really belong here?” he says. “But I also sit and think, I’m just happy to be here. I’m really fortunate to have found my way to Cornell.”
Subin Kim was headed to college at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona right out of high school– until the United States Army came calling.
As a soldier, he did a tour in his native country of South Korea and back in the U.S. at Fort Drum in New York. After the Army, he settled in Virginia, where his wife is from, and enrolled in Northern Virginia Community College.
He always planned to pursue a college education, but he says what happened next was not what he expected: He ended up at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
A story focused on
To help more people obtain a four-year degree, one initiative began with a simple idea: What if you make it easier for top community college students to connect with selective schools?
Mr. Kim is one of 32 community college students who have successfully transferred to some of the most selective U.S. institutions of higher learning through the Transfer Scholars Network. Launched in 2021, the TSN provides a pathway to top-tier schools such as MIT, Yale, and Princeton. These institutions often have more resources to support students in completing a four-year degree–something less than 20% of community college transfers achieve within 6 years, according to new federal data.
“We studied back in 2018 that showed there were 50,000 community college students with at least a 3.5 GPA that would be competitive for admission at [selective] schools … » …
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