<p>My best friend’s dream is to attend UCSD as a philosophy major, and his plan is to sign TAG this fall. He has been in cc 3 years and his GPA is a borderline 3.0. (A couple classes including Calculus hurt his GPA.) His two classes this summer, art history and chemistry, are challenging him and though he studies typically in 7 hour sessions, he isn’t acing them. I am worried he may not make the TAG agreement (3.0 when you sign it) and ultimately, won’t be able to attend the school fall 2011. </p>
<p>Does anyone have any advice? I care about this person a lot, and feel for him, being in the UCSD transfer zone myself.</p>
<p>Edit: State doesn’t have what he is studying and he can’t afford a private school. His parents don’t support him financially AT ALL, but he can attend UCSD for free. I don’t see any other option.</p>
<p>I am an avid studier and introduced my study techniques to him only this summer. We do typically study 7 hours consecutively, with small breaks. It doesn’t come easily to him. I am doing everything possible to help him but he doesn’t seem to recall everything when he takes the test.</p>
<p>I don’t know how anyone could take more than 1 class without studying at least a few hours a day. My friend and I are taking the same class and whereas I score A pluses on everything, he scores just an A. I am very concerned for his TAG.</p>
<p>Even being with him for those 7 hours doesn’t mean he’s actually studying(or learning) for those 7 hours.</p>
<p>I know that I hate studying and can’t study with other people unless I’ve already gone through the material once by myself. You can’t just force yourselves to work together if it <em>doesn’t actually</em> work for him.</p>
<p>If it’s material you have to memorize, then let him read it over first (be it the textbook, whatever). Then when you get together, test him. If he can’t recall it, then he’s not reading it thoroughly enough–but that’s a problem that can’t be solved through groupwork; it’s a problem he has to fix himself.</p>
<p>I swear, they did some voodoo magic on the quiz because it described me perfectly LoL They even know I sit on the back of the class haha So pro…xD</p>
<p>You are any visual and tactile learner.</p>
<p>You can benefit by using a combination of sight and experience when you study. You can pick up information by listening but you are too active to listen for long without speaking out. You like to see class demonstrations and you like to take part in study groups, labs, and learning games. You may talk with your hands and you may love to read. You would do well in a drama class. You may sit in the back of the class but you would probably be better off in the front. You can get distracted easily. You would benefit from making flash cards or using pre-made cards to study. You like study groups but you can also study well on your own.</p>
<p>We have experimented. I know talking doesn’t help almost at all unless he’s driving. For chemistry, he just reads over the text and notes before working out variations of each problem. Chemistry is mostly math, with which he does well. He usually misses a mutiple choice or two, which is already down to a B. </p>
<p>For art history he reads the text, answers 200 questions about it, writes a practice essay, and then studies eveyrthing over including a stack of flashcards. He typically only misses points on the short answer questions because our teacher requires such detailed responses. </p>
<p>Overall, our classes are tricky and only 2 people in each class have an A. </p>
<p>In case he doesn’t make the 3.0, I’m just wondering if it would be worth it for him to attend an extra year of cc to raise his grades and then sign TAG.</p>
<p>Is there any reason why he can not drop the chemistry class? Chemistry is difficult, with its lab requirement it gobbles up an enormous amount of time for the number of credits you earn and it is hard to believe it is a requirement for a degree in philosophy. Art History also sounds tedious and time consuming, but unlike chemistry, may have some relationship to philosophy. Going on his fourth year in a CC I would think that he has pretty close to enough credits to transfer to a four year degree granting school. Also, I know SDSU does not offer a major in philosophy, and is heavily impacted anyway, but are there any other CSUs in California that offer a BA in philosophy that might be possibilities? I guess the problem would be that CSUs do not offer TAGs like UCs so there would be no gaurantee of a place for him in 2011 without the TAG from UCSD.</p>
<p>WOW thank you for the link argo!!! Will have him take it right now!</p>
<p>He only has support to attend UCSD and his parents (I think they’re pretty screwy) won’t help him period if he leaves the city. They hardly help as it.</p>
<p>It’s too late to drop chemistry at our college. He has over 60 units already, but needed a physical science for IGETC</p>
<p>The instructors are great, but the tests simply require so much thinking. The questions are not strightforward. They really require a deep undertsaning of their concepts.</p>
<p>I studied 7 hours a MONTH even when taking 8 classes at a JC. And I got into Davis. Just doing the work is often enough to get a feel for the content of each course, but everyone has different study habits.</p>
<p>^ Wow, that is amazing darkstorn. Just out of curiosity, what do you think of Davis now? I can understand that it ma be harder for the transfers than students who entered UC as a freshman.</p>
<p>Dang man, you’re a superhero. But guess what? There are people who are actually trying to go UCLA and Cal. Did you get a 4.0 by studying 7 hours per month? If not, then it obviously wasn’t enough for you. If so, why didn’t you go to UCLA or Cal?</p>
<p>Let me know. I’ll be dieing to hear back from you.</p>
<p>@meta, I doubt he did. I am not sure about other major but 7 hours is not even enough to grind down all the Time Transformation, Relativity, Black Body Radiation and all other sexy derivations I had for my Waves, Optics, and Modern Physics class final lol</p>
<p>@EASD, tell your friend try to meet all the requirement for TAG and get into UCSD. It’s a good school that still honors TAG. Also, instead of 7 hours studying by himself, go visit tutoring center instead The tutor is very helpful because they are previous enrolled student on that course so they know what to be expected on the exam.</p>
<p>I don’t want to sound mean, but if he studies that hard and the material still doesn’t sink in–maybe he isn’t cut out for school. A career in construction is nothing to be ashamed of.</p>
<ol>
<li>Change his study habits because they clearly aren’t working; make more sacrifices which include cut back on work, less time with friends and girlfriends, etc. 2. Talk to the UCSD rep that visits you’re school… I know a classmate who did this and when it came time to evaluate the application, she knew who he was hence acceptance into UCSD with a 3.02 (TAG).</li>
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<p>By the way, you don’t sign anything. All you do is check off the box that says TAG on the app. By the time they’ll evaluate him (early Spring) he should have at least a 3.0. UCSD only cares about IGETC so for admission, make sure you complete IGETC and for fall semester take as many easy classes as he can as it is the last chance you get to boost your GPA.</p>
<p>NOTE: at my CC (Saddleback) the UC rep, evaluates your admission so make friends!</p>
<p>Question: What’s this “life crisis” you talk about? If your friend has cancer or some kind of illness or something of the sort, talk to the UC rep… He’ll be placed on the “Director’s Review” - which usually gets you a spot in…</p>
<p>I’m attending Davis in the fall. I got in with a 3.45 GPA. Basically, the only reason I was able to get through that workload was because the classes I took were extremely similar to AP courses I took in high school. It was luck mostly. Also, I’m a decent test taker and if you participate in your classes, professors will gladly give you As and Bs.</p>
<p>And I’m by no means a ‘superhero,’ I just was lucky enough to get an excellent education at an above average high school, took a bunch of AP classes, and was prepped and ready for junior college.</p>
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