Not sure about major/school to transfer to, or if I can at all

iidnitopm · June 5, 2010, 4:45am

I’m 23 years old. This Fall I plan to start school again at a California Community College after having previously attended an Out-Of-State University without graduating and another California Community College without transferring. What I would do if I had the money is attend one of the aforementioned CCs for a year, and then transfer to Ex’pression College for Digital Arts, or the DigiPen Institute of Technology, since I want to be a video game artist/designer. However, both are too expensive, since I have no family financial support – not even someone to cosign a loan for me. So, I guess that if I want to get a bachelor’s degree, then I’ll need to go to a CSU or UC.

I don’t really care where I go or what I major in, but I would like to go to the best school that I can get into in Greater Los Angeles, the Bay Area, or San Diego. Here is as much of my academic history as I can remember:

– High School –

Cumulative GPA: 4.166 on 4.0 scale
SAT I, January 2005: 1350/1600 (690 Verbal, 660 Math)
AP English Composition: 3
Art Club 4 Years
An art award for designing a mural now hanging in a hospital ward

– Out-Of-State University –
Major: Cognitive Science
Overall GPA: 2.87
Overall credits: 52

Fall 2005: 2.75 GPA
US History - C
Japanese I - C
Precalculus - B
American Government - B
Intro Psychology - A

Spring 2006: 3.77 GPA
Intro Anthropology - A
Intro Computer Science - A
Academic & Career Planning - A
Japanese II - W
Calculus I - B
Calculus I Laboratory - A

Summer 2006: 1.65 GPA
Intro Philosophy - B+
Software Development - W (Repeated later)
Symbolic Logic - F (Repeated later)

Fall 2006: 3.85 GPA
Discrete Mathematics - W (Repeated later)
Intro Linguistics - A
Intro Cognitive Science - A-
Portuguese I - W

Spring 2007: No GPA
Art History I - W
Drawing I - W
3D Design - W
English Composition II - W
Weight Training - S

Summer 2007: 3.5 GPA, Dean’s List
Evolution of Human Cognition - B
Symbolic Logic - A

Fall 2007: 1.14 GPA
Software Development - W
Systems Programming - W
Discrete Mathematics - C
Generative Syntax - F

Spring 2008: No GPA
Black Holes - W
Biology I - W
Biology I Laboratory - W
Theory of Computation - W
Theory of Knowledge - W
Philosophy of Mind - W

– Los Angeles City College –
Major: Undecided
Overall GPA: 4.0
Credits: 11

Winter 2009:
Intro to General Chemistry - A

Spring 2009:
English Composition II - A
General Chemistry I - W
Calculus II - W

Summer 2009:
Developmenal Psychology - A

Now, I’m not sure about how I’d explain the overall up and down nature of my academic history, but sporadic homelessness + major depression + 30-40 hour work weeks may have had something to do with it. I’m now medicated, for what it’s worth, and my guess is that I’d do well so long as I don’t work too much.

As I said, I’m not sure what to major in, but I’d like to be able to transfer without taking too many classes, so I guess that a major in Cognitive Science or Psychology would be best. I’m only a few courses shy of IGETC (life science class, arts class), and would need a class in speech to transfer to a CSU. My guess is that I wouldn’t be able to transfer to a good UC because of my low GPA at the out-of-state university, unless I were to take classes over the next year or two without withdrawing from any and making all As, not to mention being as prepared as possible for whatever major. This is a problem to me because my high school grades and test scores would’ve made me a slightly above average student for UCLA or Berkeley in 2005, if I were an in-state student. This leads me to believe that a CSU or low-end UC might not be satisfying. Then again, I could finish in a short amount of time at a CSU with a high GPA and without accumulating too much debt, not to mention that it would probably be easier to add minors in comp sci and art on top of a social science degree.

Also, I’m currently debating with myself as to whether or not I should (1) complete a bare-bone transfer prep over the next year or two while working as much as possible, (2) complete an AA in Animation as well as the bare-bone transfer prep while only working part-time, or (3) complete the AA in Animation and forget about transferring – carving my own path by relying on a body of work without giving into the socioeconomic pressure to dig myself into debt for a generic and (I think) mostly worthless 4-year degree. Of course, there are degrees that I think would help me out tremendously, such as a BA in Game Design from Digipen or Ex’pression, a BA in Design/Media Arts from UCLA, or a degree in Animation from USC or just about any art school – but as I said, I don’t think those options are realistic.

I could also just stop thinking so much and do what makes the most sense at any given point. It might work, but it hasn’t so far.

Blah blah blah. Talking to myself more than anyone else, but input would be appreciated.

annikasorrensen · June 5, 2010, 12:20pm

Because you have been to a 4year AND community college, be sure to watch the upper # of credit limits. For most the UCs, once you hit around 85 - 90 total credits at your 4year plus community college you are forever barred from applying as a transfer student. (If you are ONLY community college that upper limit doesn’t apply in the same way). This is in the fine print so just be aware of it and realize that counselors at the CCs are often not very savvy on these details.

Had you gone to CC and stopped your habit of strings of Ws, things would look better. But it looks like you haven’t figured out why you constantly withdraw from classes. I don’t know how the CSUs specifically handle Ws – but you have about 14. You may want to ask around if CSUs look ONLY at raw GPA or if they also consider all those Ws.

Also, some bad news wrt to CSUs. Because the majority of your credits are OOS, you will not be considered “local” to any CSUs. So - when the CSUs start taking transfer students, the pool of applicants that are local (meaning, attended the LOCAL area community colleges close to the particular CSU) BEFORE looking at the pool that you are in. How does that play out? I know a transfer student with a 3.3 that was in that second pool that was not offered a spot at SJSU. It is just getting competitive for the CSUs these days. He did however, get offered spots at less competitive CSUs though.

Your situation is tougher because your GPA is a bit lower. Be sure to throw some “safety” CSUs in there.

My guess is that UCLA and other UCs will be a serious reach for you.

Good luck.

iidnitopm · June 8, 2010, 5:27am

I already e-mailed UCLA admissions asking about the upper credit limit. I was told that, since I didn’t reach junior status at my 4 year university, community college credits couldn’t throw me over the limit. I’m not sure if this holds true of all UCs.

Also, I’ve generally been told that your most recent academic stint is the most important for transfer admissions. For instance, say if you leave a 4 year university after a year with a bad GPA. If you start again at a CC 5 years later and have a 4.0, you’ll still need to include the first stint with your app*, but it’ll have no real impact on the admissions decision. In other words, they’re not treated as indelible marks.

<ul>
<li>Does anyone have more knowledge of this? How will a school know if you’re not giving them all of your academic history? My guess is that they’ll know right away if you fill out the FAFSA, but other than that I’m not really sure. Even then, I’m not sure if there’s a level of communication between admissions and financial aid that would allow discrepancies to be caught. They are, after all, large bureaucracies dealing with thousands of applications.</li>
</ul>

Not sure about major/school to transfer to, or if I can at all

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