Poor Grades Long Ago and Re-entering as a Transfer

Hi,

I attended college at long time ago ('87-'89) at UF. I started off well but I had some serious problems at home arise which affected my grades. I began to fail my classes and did not attend a 3rd year. I entered a junior college later and my grades improved. Years have passed and I need to go back to school now. I’m not sure what my GPA is from UF but it’s very low because I was put on academic probation. My grades from the junior college was around a 2.86 and with my last semester, I made the dean’s list.

How will this affect my ability to be able to get accepted at another school as a transfer student?

Most colleges will look at your most recent grades in order to determine if you are a match academically for their school. However, you need to find colleges that look holistically at the entire application. For example, most CSUs (California) are based entirely on gpa numbers with little to zero review for favorable issues like "upward trends.

I suggest aiming for transfer colleges that holistically review and regularly accept students with a 2.86 gpa as your “matches”. These colleges are going to pretty much ignore the first set of grades and see you for your <em>current</em> abilities.