Need help/advice - Am I screwed?

Transfer Students UC Transfers
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<p>Hello (long read ahead),</p>

<p>I graduated in 2004 from a HS in Georgia with a 3.7 GPA. I went to GSU (Georgia State University) for my freshman year and ended up with a mediocre 2.6ish GPA. Then, I moved to California for various reasons. My first year in California, I worked for a prestigious firm in Irvine as an IT Coordinator and I was published several times. I was kind of a big shot, and I never thought I’d have to go back to school. Eventually, the real world slapped me in the face and I was laid off due to the terrible economic conditions of 2006-2007.</p>

<p>I had some money so I decided to pursue a dream of mine: playing competitive video games (yes, very juvenile). I traveled the country and California for about 2 years playing games/hanging out/etc. I won a pretty serious amount of money so that was the bright side.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, I was also <code>in college</code> during this time (Saddleback Community College), mostly because my parents and my gf at the time were pushing me. I ended up completely ruining my GPA (my Saddleback GPA is complete garbage, something around 1). Obviously not showing up for classes and being out of town all the time will do that. Also, I hated Saddleback. I can’t really explain why, I just didn’t know anyone and it just really really sucked for me. I was also going through some family issues (gf broke up with me and moved to the east coast, family deaths, and so forth).</p>

<p>After my gaming stint, I worked mostly contractually, and contributed to several Google projects (helped author several tools). I also started my own company last year and we’re starting to pick up steam. Some of this time, I was also sporadically attending Saddleback, not really caring about my grades, just plummeting my GPA further.</p>

<p>Now, I’m pretty desperately trying to get into a college to finish up a degree (computer science if possible). UCR seemed like a logical choice as it’s the worst UC with lenient acceptance policies. Unfortunately, I’ve been denied last year and I fear that this year will just be a repeat (I tried to apply with only my GSU grades, but that failed as they had my Saddleback grades on file).</p>

<p>I emailed their transfer department explaining my situation, my credentials, achievements, and the fact that I can provide very reputable references. The transfer department replied that I should contact Saddleback and request an “Academic renewal”. I’m not sure how this works, what the chances are, or if it’s even possible. Now, I’ve made some pretty terrible choices in the past couple of years, but I’m just wondering what the extent of their repercussions is and if there’s any way to salvage anything.</p>

<p>I’m looking for any sort of advice or help on the matter. Thank you very much.</p>

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<p>There are 3 problem with your Academic renewal</p>

<p>First a few questions</p>

<p>How many units did you take at Georgia State University and can they be applied to your IGETC here?</p>

<p>How many units will you have if you wiped your Saddlebrooke College record clean?</p>

<p>The three problems will be</p>

<p>1.You don’t have enough units after they wipe away your saddlebrooke college record</p>

<ol>
<li><p>UCR may or maynot have already blacklisted you for not detailing all your academic coursework (But since they responded nicely you might be fine)</p></li>
<li><p>You then would have to retake all your igetc classes and also computer science pre-reqs and iirc that could be 1-2 years depending on how many units you have done at GSU</p></li>
</ol>

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<p>Hey I’m attending Saddleback too! along with occ, and ivc too. But i know what you mean, saddleback isn’t my favorite either. Anyway, with your credentials and occupational background I think you still have a good shot if you explain your story in the personal statement. Also, have you thought about cal-state’s at all? Another thing you can try is retaking some of the courses you didn’t pass to bring your gpa up a little.
Good luck, hope everything works out for you!</p>

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<ol>
<li>I took 34 credits at GSU and I believe most are transferable (as they are part of a regular core).</li>
<li>I made some A’s and B’s at Saddleback, so if they just discounted my failing grades I should be “okay” (can they even do that?).</li>
</ol>

<p>Thanks for the kind words berkeleygirl0913; yeah, I completely disliked Saddleback and most of the people there. I barely met any people. It also sucked losing all of my college/high school friends (I was very popular in GA) so I became kind of a loner. I haven’t thought about Cal-state, but I’ll look into it. (Any links/websites I could take a look at?) </p>

<p>I explained my situation in the personal statement of the application, but they didn’t seem to care about it last year, doubt it will make a big difference this year. (Or are you talking about something else?)</p>

<p>Thanks guys!</p>

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<p>What game did you play professionally? CS?</p>

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<p>Yes, CS and a little WoW, although I made no money off of WoW.</p>

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<p>You’re not screwed. Most CCC’s in California have an Academic Renewal policy…I’ve used it quite liberally lol. I had 2 F’s and 1 D erased from my GPA bringing me from a 2.5 to a 3.74. </p>

<p>The even better news is that Academic Renewal or AR makes admissions departments (at least in the UC system) disregard those poor grades entirely. Basically your GPA gets a major boost. The poor grades are still on my record, but it is as good as having never taken the classes with the AR attached.</p>

<p>It’s an AWESOME system, and something you should seriously look into. It saved me man, no other way to say it. I’d be heading for CSU’s…if I was lucky without it. Here is Saddleback’s admissions office contact info that I got off of their site:</p>

<p>Phone: (949) 582-4555
<a href=“mailto:scadmissions@saddleback.edu”>scadmissions@saddleback.edu</a></p>

<p>Office Hours: M-TH 9:00 AM-6:00 PM, Friday 9:00AM-12:00 noon.
Closed on weekends.</p>

<p>Give them a call when you can, and ask to see if you’re eligible for AR. If you’re not, you may just have to take a couple classes there to become eligible. Hope that helps!</p>

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<p>Thanks so much for the good news, emilsinclair9, I was desperately in need of some. I already contacted Saddleback about Academic Renewal and here’s hoping that I’ll get everything cleared up. </p>

<p>You guys have been very helpful, thank you again.</p>

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<p>Just set up an appointment with a counselor for next week. Here’s hoping for good news :P</p>

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<p>Hey!</p>

<p>I recommend you do academic renewal and then focus yourself on school. Get a high GPA, like a 3.7+. Then you can transfer to a top-tier school. If you want to work at Google, and not just contractually, then I recommend you try to transfer to Cal as Google is very good with hiring out of Cal. If your business accomplishments are truly as good as you make them out to be (and you can prove this) and you can also get a 4.0 GPA and high SAT scores, then you have a good chance at Stanford. As you probably know working for Google, Google has a very good relationship with Stanford and hires directly out of Stanford (even more than it does Cal.)</p>

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<p>Thanks for the advice :slight_smile:
I’m actually going in today and hopefully I’ll get everything squared out. <em>fingers crossed</em></p>

<p>Thank you again</p>

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<p>@ mmmkay21: You’re welcome! I hope everything turns out well for you. Keep us posted!</p>