<p>My uncle told me that 16 units of classes are nothing and that if I take 16 units I might as well used my spare time to get a full time job (he wasn’t exaggerating).
Because of that I ended up with 4 C’s and 1 B which is pretty embarrassing since those classes aren’t too difficult, just a lot of reading which I’m not good at. I didn’t want to drop those classes 1 reason is because I thought I could bring the grades up, pretty foolish of me. Another reason is because I thought that dropping classes would hurt my chances a lot, that it shows I’m a quitter.</p>
<p>If I were to apply to a UC, is there any part of the application process that I can explain myself and why I got that bad grade?</p>
<p>I guess you could state in the additional info section (I think there’s one for the UC’s?) that you were working, and that you failed to keep your grades up. Don’t blame your uncle or that would just make things worse for you.</p>
<p>I don’t really think it’ll help you that much though…just show a lack of judgment on your part. You could have quit your job, but apparently money > grades for you.</p>
<p>I tend to think you should focus on the positives so they may perhaps look past the negatives. Reflecting back on bad grades with typical excuses is not going to do anything for you. A lot of students need to work to pay for school and they get good grades in the process.</p>
<p>^ exactly what I was going to say. Yes, there is a section, however, I would say that about 75% of CC students work and about 25% work full time hours yet they are able to do perfectly fine. So I would recommend to leave that section black or come up with a better reason for the rough semester… Now, what you can do is depending on what the personal statement is, you can talk about that semester and how it changed your view on life… how in that one semester you learned a life lesson, how in that one semester you failed to overcome adversity … yet from that point on you realized your education was the key to a successful life and how you have received only A’s since… I think you get the picture. </p>
<p>Side not, the reading is only going to increase and become much more difficult to comprehend when you transfer… I would recommend you start reading books that interest you just to improve your reading comprehension…</p>
<p>if you dropped the classes then you could have said that you could not afford to pay bills and go to school full time. Sure CC students work, but how many of them are independent living on their own with a family to support, perhaps kids, etc…these are the factors that adcoms look for with bad grades, not just bad grades because you wanted more money. In any case, I don’t see the big deal in just making up a story. It’s not like they are going to background check you for crying out loud. Just make something up like transportation issues or something. This aint the honor system, it’s every man for himself.</p>
You want to write a letter, write one to your uncle & thank him for for his advice messing up your life. And then take a good long look in the mirror.</p>
<p>What are you going to write in your letter? You’re an adult, you made the decision, but now that it didn’t work out you want to hang the blame on someone else? Yeah, sure sounds like the kind of transfer student they’re looking for… Of course had it all worked out, 16 units with top grades and full-time work I’m sure that would have been a plus you’d have been sure to crow about in your essay. If you were going to own the good, then you own the bad.</p>
<p>You’re stuck with what you did, in the end the choice to make about classes to take and work was yours and you made it. You guessed wrong. Suck it up.</p>
<p>Depending on the classes you’re taking, 16 units can be a lot. If I had to work full time while taking on O-Chem II, Physics II, Calc, and Bio I’d probably fail out.</p>
<p>Sorry but this is your fault, why the hell did you listen to your uncle? You could have easily assessed the situation yourself, if your course load was too much for you while working then you should have made adjustments.</p>