<p>I took two Political Science college courses when I was a high school senior. At my school, it was an option to take a community college course in place of the usual high school government classes that were required (because it still satisfied the requirement). However, I didn’t really try my best and only did enough to pass the class. My plan was to go to a CSU school, but I ended up taking the transfer route and apply to a UC from a CC instead. It wasn’t till my first semester at the CC when I found out those grades followed me because we weren’t told that they would. Besides those 2 C’s, I only have 1 other C out of all the classes I took. Even then, my GPA took a toll and I’ve been struggling to raise my GPA up.</p>
<p>So my question really is, would the admission officers look at those 2 C’s differently since I got them when I was in high school? I also indicated that in my UC Fall 2015 application but I’m afraid it wouldn’t make much of a difference. I just want to know what the general consensus would be like.</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>It will depend on a couple of factors. The most important is your grade trend since those Cs. If your transcripts shows mostly As with only a few Bs and your 3 Cs, you still have a chance at most of the UCs. A related factor would be time and units completed. If those Cs were from 2 years ago you could show how you’ve changed with 60 units at a 3.XX GPA. The second factor is your major. If you are applying for a highly selective major, the Cs will have more weight. Or, if you are a political science major, you will have some explaining to do. Third, it will depend on the UC. UCLA and UCB are extremely competitive, but you could still have a chance at UCSD, UCSB, UCD, UCI, UCR and UCM. For those chances we’d need your GPA and major.</p>
<p>One last thing I want to mention. I agree with you having an explanation on your app, but I would not say “we weren’t told that they would” about the grades following you. It sounds juvenile and whiny, you should have put your best effort into the class either way. Instead, phrase it as ‘I was busy in my senior year and didn’t put in the time that I should have, but I’ve changed in CC by blah blah blah’</p>
<p>My other C was from a precalculus class, which happened to be a class that I struggled with during high school as well.</p>
<p>My major is Environmental Science/Earth System Science, so I don’t think it’s highly selective/impacted. My target school is UCI but my GPA falls between a 3.0 and 3.4, the TAG required GPA for UCI.</p>
<p>Yeah, you’re right. I think what I meant to say is that because I was told then it wouldn’t appear on our high school transcripts, I didn’t think much of them being on my college transcript. Either way, it’s something that already happened and I can’t change the past. I just need to make the most of it.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for your feedback!</p>