<p>I know many of you have stories about how bad you did in high school, or even in the beginning of college to turn it around to succeed.</p>
<p>What did you say in your personal statements about why you did so poorly earlier in your academic career and what turned it around?</p>
<p>I explained about my chronic migraines and how the pain made it difficult for me to get through a lot of my classes, which is why I had a number of Ws and a few fails my first two years. I wrote that one day I realized I couldn’t live life so pathetically anymore, and figured out ways to get through school regardless of the pain.</p>
<p>In truth, this wasn’t the whole story. My constant headaches caused me to fall back into drugs (I know, lame) and that caused my horrible academic performance. I didn’t think it wise to mention that though.</p>
<p>I got a 1.6 GPA my first year of high school. It wasn’t that school was hard for me, it’s that I didn’t care.</p>
<p>I got to JC and my first semester I did ok, took only 8 units and got B’s in both my classes. It wasn’t until Fall last year that I realized no one was making me go to school, I was there because I wanted to be there and I finally had a goal for myself. For the last year I’ve gotten nothing but A’s and it hasn’t even been much work at all, all I do is care enough about school to go to class everyday and care about my grades. I’m really hoping I get into a UC next year (pre-reqs might be an issue, I did GE for 2 semesters before I was sure I wanted to do computer engineering) as I actually WANT the challenge, I actually enjoy being at school and learning now and want to be challenged and be around other people who want to succeed (I mean anyone who has gone to a JC can tell you it’s pretty demotivating being in a class where most kids will be happy to get a C).</p>
<p>I haven’t written my personal statement yet, but thats my story of how and why I turned it around.</p>
<p>I’m in the process of my own turnaround story. I had a 1.7 my first 3 semesters of CC. Then I received 18 units of straight A’s which bumped it up to a 2.7. After this semester it will be bumped up to about a 3.1 or 3.2 if I get straight A’s again. I’ll have about a 3.7 or 3.8 by the time I transfer if I do academic renewal. Without academic renewal I’ll have a 3.4 which is damn good for someone who had a 1.7.</p>
<p>I’m just gonna say I had no idea what I was doing and that I didn’t have my priorities straight. I messed up and learned my lesson.</p>
<p>I failed all of high school, didn’t even graduate. I ended up getting my california high school proficiency certificate (similar to the GED) before my schools graduation. I decided I wanted to go to community college, carried all of my old bad habits there as well, and after about a year of getting nowhere I decided that the root of my academic problems was simply not believing that I could succeed. </p>
<p>I started getting A’s and B’s and retaking old classes I had failed, and after two more years at CC I had a huge upward grade trend and a decent enough GPA to apply to schools, and now I am going to UC Davis in the fall.</p>
<p>In my personal statement, I simply took responsibility for my poor academic performance and explained myself and the change.</p>
<p>My first year of college was a time bomb. I failed a couple classes, didn’t show up for others. I was on academic probation after my first semester and have felt I was always paying for it. I didn’t think any school would take me after that. But I started doing well my sophomore year, though I got 2 C’s. My last semester of sophomore year, I wanted to prove to schools that I was a hardworking student and that I was trying to change my academic life (lol) around, so I took 7 classes (21 credits), and got nothing but A’s and B’s. Now i’m going to UCSB in the fall for Global Studies.</p>
<p>The thing is, only you can hold yourself back, only you can make bad decisions. But once you seriously put your mind to it, and become dedicated, nothing can stop you from succeeding. It’s about believing in yourself and doing the right thing when it comes to the outcome of your future. Anyone can change their life around, you just have to be man enough to do it. That’s what I said in my personal statement. I also said that it was a growing experience, and from falling and failing, i found out where and what I actually want to do with my life.</p>
<p>Without counting my PE grades I would of had a 1.8 coming out of high school. I had always been a bright kid that just didnt apply myself at all (the kind of kid that got A’s on all the tests but never turned in a single homework assignment ect.) Toward the end of high school I realized people had started to give up on me. Thats when I decided it was time to turn things around. I attended CC and in two years applied for transfer. Now I’m headed to UCLA. In my personal statement I explained some of the issues that distracted me in high school and how I set out to seperate myself from them in college, to prove to myself that I was capable of greater things in life.</p>