I'd attended UC Riverside for 4 quarters when finally I made the decision to move back home. At the end of Fall Quarter 2007, when I withdrew from UCR, I had a 2.2 GPA.
I immediately enrolled at my local CC with the intent to transfer back into the UC system sometime in the future. My first quarter here, I have a 4.0, and I'm on track to complete UC transfer requirements.
A visit with my counselor today instilled in me a sense of doubt. His claim is that even with a drastically improved GPA, my chances of being admitted to UCLA, UCB and UCSD (or any UC other than my previous school) are slim. He told me to talk to a UCLA counselor (which I have no idea how to do).
Do people in my situation ever make it back into the UC system? Is there such thing as academic forgiveness?
my friend, your story is very similar to mine with the difference being i was at arizona state where i ****ed up.
i think its an EXTREMELY COMMON problem-- 18 year olds going away to school for the first time and ****ing up.
The Good News-------THERE IS HOPE.
First of all you need to research if the school where you ****ed up has any type of academic renewal policy. Some schools, when you screw up big time, will wipe the grades out if you show a trend of improvement over a period of time even if the improvement comes at a different CC. If you are unable to wipe the grades out, you can try reporting everything, explaining in your personal statement what happened, and hoping the admissions people looking at your essay are intelligent and forgiving enough to see it was a fluke. When your counselor suggested you "speak to a ucla counselor" you should have slapped him in the mouth. That will be an utter waste of time. They will tell you to report everything and that they love stories like ours, of students who overcome poor academic beginnings-- thats a lie for the most part. Honestly, a 2.2 coupled with your excellent CC grades should give you a combined GPA that still isnt that awful.
PS
I would email every single counselor at UCR and explain your situation. It's amazing how many different
answers and possible solutions you can get from a counseling department which supposedly has a uniform knowledge of policy/procedure.
mattn, I'll take a look at unit limits. I probably already have near 60 units combined.
itchy23, Thanks for the inspiration. I hope academic renewal is possible. I felt like slapping my counselor in the mouth simply because of his doom and gloom attitude. Maybe I caught him at a bad time.
