For students looking to continue their education after taking a semester off*, NC State offers something known as a readmission process.
According to Associate Registrar of Registration and Records Jordie Batts, there were 221 students who applied for readmission this semester. Batts said these 221 students had to complete a less intensive application mainly consisting of updating personal information.
“[The readmission application also] asks a few enrollment objective questions like, ‘Are you coming back to finish a degree?’ or ‘Are you coming back for a second degree?’” Batts said. “But that’s generally it.”
Nick Smith, a transfer student in technology, design and education, recently went through the readmission process. Smith said he had a hard time figuring out what he wanted to study and originally decided to go into the arts while at community college, but after reading articles on the large number of art programs being cut in schools across the nation, he switched.
“My biggest regret back then was seeing the statistics, seeing the numbers online, seeing all of the stuff and saying, ‘Crap, this is something that I love, this is my passion, but I’m not going to go for it because of financial reasons,’” said Smith.
Smith went on to switch to computer engineering upon coming to State, although he’d meant to switch to computer science, and struggled.
“My GPA dipped enough that I couldn’t transfer into computer science, and so NC State kind of just dumped me off of computer engineering into civil engineering,” said Smith. “I struggled even further in there, to the point where my GPA took a massive hit to almost a 2.0, I believe, before I pulled completely out of State.”
Upon realizing civil engineering was not the major for him, Smith pulled out for a semester to reevaluate and start looking into other degrees.
Although Smith left for a semester because he was under immense stress, he seconded what Batts said about the simplicity of the application, saying the difficult part of applying for readmission was communicating with financial aid.
Batts and Smith both said getting a head start and staying on top of deadlines during the readmission process is crucial.
“If you get it done early, you won’t miss any steps as far as enrollment, but if you wait until December, you’re going to be enrolling well after everybody else,” said Batts.
Batts said NC State also runs a “Come Back to the Pack” campaign, which consists of various marketing strategies, primarily email blasts, encouraging students who left to come back and finish their degrees. The main message the campaign is trying to convey is that the readmission process is available and easy.
“It’s not complicated,” Batts said. “Just because you stopped doesn’t mean you’re done at NC State.”
*Editor’s Note: Updated for accuracy.
