<p>I recently finished my first year at UC Irvine, where I was studying BioMed Engineering. I failed out of the university with a 1.5 GPA due to a number of factors. I enrolled at my local community college and plan on re-taking the pre-reqs for most med/pharm/dental schools (calc, chem, bio, physics, english). I’m pretty upset about wasting a year of school and a lot of my parents money, and I want to go about this the right way. </p>
<p>My ultimate goal is to transfer to a top tier University or Liberal Arts school and study Biology. I need to know what the best way to go about this is. Are there any schools in particular you would recommend I look into? Which schools offer the highest rate of transfer admission? I really want to transfer out of my JC in one year, but I’m willing to stay for two if it means going to a better school. </p>
<p>It’s pretty late and I’m blanking on some questions that I might remember later, thanks for all of your responses</p>
<p>In applying for a soph transfer, you will have a 1.5 gpa from 1 yr of UCI plus 1 sem at a CCC. Do you really think that that will get you into a ‘top tier’ college?</p>
<p>Plan on spending 2 yrs at CC and don’t even think about the schools you want to apply to, get the grades first, then construct your list.</p>
<p>One more concern, it is not a good idea to take all premed coursework at a CC, particularly higher level coursework such as OC and advanced Biology (see the PreMed Topics forum). In addition, you need to know that ALL coursework taken in college is used when calculating your gpa for Med school (don’t know about dent & pharm), even if you’ve retaken the class, the grade stays and is calculated in your gpa.</p>
<p>Don’t worry OP; every problem has a solution :3</p>
<p>It’s not worth obsessing over how you’ve failed in the past, so just think about what you can do from here on out. </p>
<p>It definitely looks like you’ll have to spend two years at a JC if you want to get your GPA up so as to be competitive for transfer admissions. I know that UCs (at least UCB) has a policy where they only allow transfer students with no more than 80 UC transferable units, and in general transfer admission for every college depends on which major/college/dept you’re transferring into, so this question is far beyond the scope of my knowledge. </p>
<p>I recommend that you meet with a counselor at your JC and talk to them about all of this; they’ll be able to give you way better advice than anyone here could. Honestly, this is important: you really need to talk with a counselor. </p>
<p>In the mean time try not to feel so upset; c’est la vie after all; just stay positive :3</p>
<p>I’m retaking most of my freshman year classes at my JC this year, I was thinking that the school I transfer to will only look at the GPA of my most recent school…</p>
<p>why did you fail out of the university? Did you have personal problems, medical problems, death in the family? Depression?</p>
<p>You’re going to need to explain it when you transfer. Don’t think about the past. The past is the past. Just focus on getting A’s at a JC ---- and transfer to either a UC or a private.</p>
<p>Yea I had some issues adjusting, and later on I kept getting very sick. Is there seriously no chance I transfer into a good private after one year of strong performance at my JC? I plan on having a strong resume by this winter.</p>
<p>UCI huh? Probably going to Saddleback or something like me if you’re local :). Hey well I dont know how it works if you took the classes at another university but for example at Saddleback if you fail the class and you take it again and get a passing grade the F gets replaced with the passing grade and there is no source of the F. D’s are another story. Don’t let anyone tell you you dont have a shot. There are ways. The glass if either half empty or half full, if you listen to people saying you won’t get into top tiers then you will never get into top tiers. If you tell yourself, hey man if I get all A’s up until I transfer become involved in the community by starting a club or volunteering I can get there. <- thats how you get to where you want to go. Sometimes there will be a portion where you can explain your grades on the application. There is hope for you!</p>
<p>Don’t take these forums too seriously some people can be a real kill joy. If some of my friends posted their stats on here they would say yeah you aren’t getting into UCLA or UCB, well look at them now two of them had a 3.4 and got into UCLA, one with a 3.5 got into UCB. Admin councilors do understand everyone isn’t perfect and people make mistakes. The main thing you want to focus on is getting all A’s that way they can see you have overcome whatever problem you had before. You want a positive climb upwards.</p>
<p>what universities in particular do you want to transfer to?</p>
<p>it seems as if UCI is challenging enough for you, and you most likely would not be able to handle the more rigorous curriculum of a ‘top tier’ school</p>
<p>I don’t think my grades at UCI are a reflection of my academic potential, I got stuck in a really bad position and it was really tough for me to recover. I’m hoping to transfer to a school in states is: USC, Occidental, Cal, the Claremont Colleges, University of San Francisco, and Pepperdine. I’m also interested in the University of Michigan, UNC Chapel Hill, UT Austin, and Duke… I’ve looked at a lost of these schools transfer requirements and most of them allow transfers after one year. Like I said previously when calculating GPA during admission I’m under the impression that the school with take the most look at my significantly improved GPA.</p>
<p>First and foremost, worry more about doing well in your classes rather than thinking about what colleges will accept you as a transfer. You can argue all you want that your grades in UCI are not true reflection of your capabilities, but unfortunately that is how colleges measure your ability. </p>
<p>There is NO way you will be able to transfer into top tier colleges with your current GPA. Spend at least 2 years at CC to boost your GPA. If you can pull off straight A’s in those years, colleges will see that as a HUGE upward trend. You will then have a chance.</p>
<p>I had a high GPA in high school and around 2000 on my SAT so I believe I’m well equipped to succeed at a good college. I honestly wish I knew what went wrong exactly at UCI, and yea I’m going to try my best to succeed at the JC. Anyone have any more advice or suggestions? Thanks for your help.</p>
<p>ok, after reading through this thread I decided to give you my opinion about your situation. I think not many people on this forum can understand us without going through this whole probation–>subject to dismissal—>appeal—>dismissed process. I’m not saying their comments are bias, but what’s most important for you is why you were dismissed at the first place? Please give yourself some time and think back day by day as what are the 3 top issues that contribute to poor performance. Honestly, this took me almost 3 months to REALLY figure out why I got dismissed.
Firstly, its NOT completely your fault that you flunk out because I believe most science/pre med students are serious about their academics. I went to UCSC for 2 quarters and were majoring in biochem. My time there was challenging but not as much help that I thought I would get by if I try hard enough. I basically failed calculus in my 1st quarter, then putted on academic probation. 2nd quarter, my academic adviser tell me take it easy by taking easy classes like computer intro. I didn’t listen and took chem, econ, writing. This time around I worked my ass off, study 40hrs/week, went to discussion, MSI, office hours and whatever services they offer. It went pretty well, and I have high B’s on all my classes. Think I would be out of probation this quarter. BOMB! A D on my student portal. What? So I didn’t pass Econ? How is that possible to drop from a B+ to D? Yes, it is possible. ONLY cuz I was taking this jerk 2.4 rating professor who don’t give care about students. I scored 32% on final and he gave me a D. BANG! Subject to dismissal, and were dismissed after.
Like I said at the beginning, you have to be honest to yourself what contributes to all this. To me, after been through 3 months of depressed, I concluded UC is not for me. The teaching style, class sizes and just the teacher in general didn’t match what I expected at the first place. (Disclaimer: I’m in no way dissing or questioning the quality of UC education, but the suitability to me as a person.) As being a human being, I HATED TO BE TREATED LIKE A NUMBER PERIOD!
I don’t care whether people on this forum agree this or not, but I’ll say this statement stay true to me unless UC take their research off their name,</p>
<p>For all UC’s, their priority should look like this:</p>
<p>1) Research first
2) Graduate students 2nd
3) Undergrad development last</p>
<p>At least that’s how I feel back in UC. Go on and challenge me, I don’t care.
So yes, I think you got all the necessary advises. Go to CCC for 2 years, transfer to a smaller NON RESEARCH SCHOOL. And make sure research the school that professor actually care about students.</p>
<p>MattKin I could not agree with you more. For a system that has such high regards, I thought the UC system is a joke when it comes to really teaching a strong, well balanced undergraduate education. Just to clarify though, I withdrew from UC Irvine before I could be subject to dismissal…I’m not sure if that makes a difference. Mattkin what colleges are you looking at transferring to? I’m strongly considering USF or Occidental.</p>
<p>Reading previous threads and my own thread it seems like its going to be almost impossible to transfer to a school that’s as good or better then UCI…one bad freshman year more or less screwed everything up</p>
<p>@BayKid, I think transferring to a better school after a freshman year is still possible. I know someone on this forum who also commented on my thread name “brishe” or something like that said s/he was dismissed from the college after first year, and successfully transferred to a top 25 university after spent 2 years at CC. So keep your hopes up, its possible. I guess hes going to UVA.
I think if you able to explain your case and how you would keep it from happening again, I think you should have a shot at almost all school except Ivy’s. Not sure about that one. I’m sure UC’s DO accept students who’s been dismissed from other colleges, like CSU. I have look into schools like occidental, USF, and Biola U. I don’t have a list yet, will probably have a diff list after spending 1~2 years at CC.</p>
<p>I just want to add something. If there is a portion where you can explain this situation it can be a HUGE advantage. Colleges are turning away from certain trends. For example, med schools like John Hopkins are changing their interview processes to incorporate social skills and bed side manner because some doctors are renown for not listening to their patients and being tyrants. If you can turn this into a grow story it gives you a huge advantage. Reason being is because you will stand out from the pack. Whoever is reading your application will actually remember you if you can write it properly and make it seem like you grew from it and you are matured because of it. They’ll remember "hmm I don’t know that kid that recovered from his traumatic events sounds like a strong applicant. Whatever you do you have to turn it into a positive situation. Maybe the event that caused you to be dismissed caused you to realize and pursue a passion of yours. From now on you will be writing that story with whatever you do in these next 4ish semesters.
I was once told by my English professor “whoever is reading you application is probably on the humanities, english, or lower end salary portion of the college educators. These guys deep down love to give sympathy if you approach it properly, no sob stories just straight out events. Show them not like everyone else, but in a way that makes you look unique and mature.”</p>
<p>So i’m looking at a two year minimum at my cc to go to a school like occidental or usc? i’m just going to have to make the best of a bad situation, and I do have reasons that I would rather not share on here why things didn’t work out so great at Irvine. One thing im certain about is that being at home and going to a JC is certainly the right thing to do at this point, I just don’t want to have to be here for three years because I already feel like I’m so far behind everyone else.</p>
<p>There are people I know who are at a community college for 5 years now. You are not behind. Things happen in life and no one is perfect. Don’t be discouraged. Since your GPA in Irvine is so low, you need two years of A’s in order to bring it up. One kid on my transfer thread at 4 C’s, 2 D’s, 4 W’s but then starting getting all A’s, occasional few B+'s, and got into USC Engineering. He is now in the process of getting his bachelors and masters in 3 years. </p>
<p>Please keep us updated when you start applying. This would be a great success story to tell others who have lost hope.</p>