<p>Well I just graduated high school last june, decided to take a semester off to backpack Europe, mom freaked out, forced me to take online classes from the local community college, since I mostly sleeping in train stations and such, I did not have a place of residence, could not get books sent to me, and the only internet access I could get was when I occasionally wandered near a hotel that had wifi, and stole it from them. Needless to say, this did not work out well at all, 3 W’s and a F. Thanks Mom.
Now, two things to consider, I live in L.A. and I want to get my masters in professional writing. The only school in LA that offers such a Masters is USC. I’m freaking out a bit, since USC does not appreciate 2 W’s and a F.
Keep in mind I am an exceptional honors student, and when I do get back to LA in a couple weeks, I will kick ass in school, deans list and all, for however the duration I am there (2 years of 3 if necessary depending on what I need to get done to get in the MPW program at USC.) I have heard a couple different things…</p>
<li>Don’t even try anymore, USC will automatically laugh at you when they see 2 W’s & a F</li>
<li>If you explain why that happened with your app, it will help them understand, and you wont be automatically excluded (especially if everything else is perfect, I.E. grades, deans list, letters of rec, work experience stuff.)</li>
<li>Explain what happened to your CC and they will wipe the grades.</li>
<li>(little unusual, I’ve never heard this) Just leave that CC right away, and attend a new CC, and whatever classes you took at your old CC wont count anymore.</li>
</ol>
<p>Since USC is the only school that offers study in my field, this is a big problem, come on guys and gals, input please!</p>
<p>Even though it’s not allowed, I’d say just omit the grades entirely and only send in your high school grades. Or attend another CC for a semester and only send in those grades. But if they see those W’s and an F that’s very bad news for you.</p>
<p>Why would you send in those grades in the first place? No one is forcing you to send those grades in. Go to a different CC. However, sorry, but you show an enormous lack of maturity in blaming you mother for the grades and the decisions you made.</p>
<p>Wait, I was under the impression that whatever college you took before going to USC you have to report it. If that is not true, then would it be considering lying?</p>
<p>OP, you wrote Masters right. I don’t know if you need an undergrate in writing to apply for a Master degree in writing. But you should apply to CLAS and minor in writing. If you do well for the undergraduate, I’m sure all grades before USC will be discounted.</p>
<p>As Columbia_Student mentioned, you do NOT have the option of “omitting” grades you do not like. From the time you enter college, all college classes and transcipts must be reported to any college to which you apply. Your best bet is to do well in future classes, including re-taking the failing and w classes.</p>
<p>I think you can get your BA somewhere but if you go to USC you get the alumni/professor connection which makes it easier to apply and get into USC Master program or later get work in the Cinema industry.</p>
<p>Wow columbia_student, you’re very intuitive, I don’t know how you knew I wanted to go into the film industry. I mean yes, obviously it would be easier to get BA at USC, but let’s is going somewhere else, like UCLA, or UCI, getting BA, and then transferring to USC for MPW, a possibility? By the way, really appreciate your input. Thanks.</p>
<p>It’s definitely cheaper to go to UCLA and UCI. But I think go to 2 year community and transfer up to USC is a better option. My reason for saying that is because the MPW is only one year(30 credits). You don’t have enough time to make connection with the USC people. When you transfer to USC and then do a master degree, you are actually going to spend 3 year at USC.
Good luck with your decision!</p>
<p>I agree that you should show more maturity about your choices. It does not look or sound good when you blame your MOM for your choices and grades instead of owning responsibility for what you did and didn’t do.</p>
<p>USC is actually pretty good at working with students that show promise in allowing them to transfer IF they show that they can do the work via prior coursework. I would NOT suggest you omit any of the grades but if you do well for the next 2 years at the same or different CC, that would strongly show that you can do the work and that your term abroad is not representative of your work or behavior.</p>
<p>It’s my understanding that if a student is admitted but misrepresented or omitted material information in the application, s/he can have any admission rescinded, so that is a very treacherous path to contemplate.</p>
<p>It is perfectly fine for you to go to whatever school you can to get your undergrad degree & then work to get admitted to the masters program at USC or wherever you are able to go.</p>
<p>Might I suggest you not worry too much at this point about the masters program you want. For one thing, you don’t seem clear on what that program entails or where it might lead. For someone interested in film writing, the screenwriting MFA in USC’s School of Cinematic Arts would be a more helpful program. And since so many UG students change their mind about majors, it seems your first order of business is to get into a college that fits you best and will offer you a great UG experience. You’ll learn a lot about yourself, have a chance to grow, and you can make plans for grad school after you know more.</p>
<p>While I am sympathetic to anyone who makes a mistake or two along the path–how else would any of us learn?–four years of courses at the university level will take good judgment, hard work, perseverance and responsibility to complete. With great high school grades, as you stated, it most certainly would have been best to apply to college in 12th grade. At many colleges, you could have deferred your acceptance and taken a year off for travel, etc, but then your wonderful high school record, GC recommendations, etc would have been most important in the decision. By letting that opportunity get away, you are now stuck with the terrible cc record. No matter who you wish to blame, you had choices and you are an adult now. With so much going wrong (no books! your lack of attention to finding internet sites!), the responsible thing would have been to drop those courses early enough so they wouldn’t harm your record. Sorry if this sounds harsh, but it is what a college adcom will think when reviewing your record, and in order to make the best case possible, you now must repair the damage of that lost semester to prove you are back on track academically. </p>
<p>There are many options still open. Speak to an adviser at your cc and explain your situation. It might make sense to retake the classes you bombed and get As to show college adcoms that you can do the work and you now want to succeed in your coursework. Since you are in the LA area, also look into the UCLA Extension Writers Program which offers a huge variety of creative writing and screenwriting courses taught by professional writers. There are no admission requirements and it is not a university program, but it is a great way to find out if you truly love to write, get experience writing, and perhaps find an instructor who sees your talent and motivation and would be willing to write a rec letter. Do a few classes there, in addition to succeeding at a full load of cc classes, and you will make a great re-start! If USC is still your goal for undergrad, I hope you make it.</p>
<p>PrinceHektor – Applying for an undergraduate program and applying to a masters degree program are entirely separate things. Even if you were accepted to USC for an undergraduate degree, that is no guarantee that you would be accepted into the master’s program for writing. You would have to complete your 4 year BA program and then apply to the graduate program. USC’s graduate programs have students who received their 4 year BA degrees at many different universities. If you decide to attend a different university for your undergraduate degree, you won’t be able to transfer into USC’s master’s program, but only to transfer to USC to finish an undergraduate major, after which you would apply separately to the master’s program. If you decide to go the route of spending time at cc to redo the courses you didn’t complete, you should talk with the college counselor there about programs that allow you to automatically transfer to USC or to a UC from a Cali cc if you maintain a certain GPA and take certain courses.</p>
<p>Wow, appreciate all the input from everyone. Especially madbean about the UCLA program. Nester, I’m a bit confused about what you’ve said</p>
<p>“You would have to complete your 4 year BA program and then apply to the graduate program. USC’s graduate programs have students who received their 4 year BA degrees at many different universities.”
So that’s saying I can get my BA anywhere, and then get my Master at USC?</p>
<p>“If you decide to attend a different university for your undergraduate degree, you won’t be able to transfer into USC’s master’s program, but only to transfer to USC to finish an undergraduate major, after which you would apply separately to the master’s program.”
However, now I have to finish my BA at USC and then apply to the masters program.</p>
<p>Sorry, bit lost here.
Also, will retaking the classes and getting A’s actually cover over the previous grades, or just make a huge difference in the adcoms head?</p>
<p>First, yes, you can get a BA anywhere and then apply to the USC master’s program.</p>
<p>Second, no, you don’t have to finish your BA at USC to apply to the USC master’s program. It’s just that even if you attend USC for your undergraduate (BA) degree, you will still have to apply to USC’s masters program separately. (Just as you would have to apply to USC for the master’s program if you finished your BA at a different uni.)</p>
<p>Hope this clarifies.</p>
<p>In terms of what happens with your previous cc grades if you retake the classes, you would have to talk with administrators at the cc to find out. It would be great if you could “cover over” the existing grades.</p>
<p>It would definitely be a big plus. All I can do now is man up, and deans list every semester from here on out, and get a great portfolio and letters of rec, well, I think I got all my questions answers since no one can really tell me if my chances at USC are ruined, it’s just something I’ll have to figure out on my own. I appreciate all your help Nester, and to everyone else. It’s good to get this information (that should be on college websites) somewhere reliable.</p>
<p>Just gotta hope USC likes to see improvement.</p>
<p>You will not be applying for graduate school (the masters program) for 4 years. This gives you plenty of time to get past one bad semester! Also, it seems possible that you will be able to work something out with the cc given the circumstances. And it is even possible that you will be able to speak with undergraduate admissions people at different colleges who may understand the unusual situation in which you got those bad grades – especially if your high school grades look great and your high school GC supports you. When you get back, please sit down with your high school gc and also with the appropriate administrator at the cc where you took those courses. Get some input. You might also want to talk with admissions counselors at UCLA and at USC, if you are otherwise a viable applicant for those schools, and get some concrete advice about your situation. Good luck!</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, I do know of a student who received a W and less than stellar (under 3.0) 2nd semester of freshman year in an out-of-state CC & was still accepted as a spring transfer the following year at USC based on a good explanation of why the grades were significantly below 1st semester’s 3.8 GPA (health condition beyond student’s control).</p>