So, a few years ago when I was fresh out of high school I was a very careless and unmotivated student. I took classes at Cerritos College just for fun and just to pass the time. I withdrew out of two classes and failed one class simply because I waited to long to drop with a W so it just counted as an F. Later, I transferred to El Camino College because I felt it was a genuinely nicer school. At this point I was a bit more motivated so I actually did decent (not good, but decent) in my classes. Mostly C’s and a few A’s and B’s. Even though my grades were better I was still taking classes that didn’t count toward my major. So, as far as we all know, up to that point I hadn’t completed any classes or even general ed that would count toward me transferring. During my time at El Camino I withdrew out of two more classes and failed 3 classes because, once again, I waited too long to drop so they counted as F’s. Eventually the scholar in me was awoken and I decided my GPA was ruined and I should probably transfer to a new school to start fresh with a clean GPA and actually take classes that would count toward me transferring.
So, fast forward, I’m now at Pasadena City College with a 4.0 GPA and a major in computer science hoping to get accepted into the following UC’s (ranked from first choice to last choice):
1.UCLA
2.UCB
3.UCSB
I want to get accepted into UCLA more than I want to live and breathe. I’m at a point in my life where all that matters to me is maintaining my perfect GPA doing everything I can to be the perfect student. I’ve also recently been accepted into my school’s Honor’s Society (Alpha Gamma Sigma) where I plan on moving up and hopefully becoming the vice president. I plan on doing this, as well as volunteer hours, and well as TAP (Transfer Alliance Program). I’ve also been granted permission to do Math Path (taking two math courses in one semester) and that’s been working out great. On top of the Honor’s Society, I’m also a member of the Honor’s Program.
So, my question to all of you is this:
Considering my terrible transcripts from my past schools (which I will provide when applying at UCLA), what do you think my chances of being accepted are? Do you think in my personal statement they’ll be impressed by my improvement? By going from a terrible student to a 4.0 Honor student in the Honor’s Society, Honor’s Program, Math Path and TAP? Or will they just be turned off by my past grades?
Also, please give me any tips to increase my chances of getting accepted. What else should I include in my personal statement? What other extra curricular activities should I be doing?
Please and thank you to all who took the time to read this.
I transferred to UCLA and here is my advice:
First, I would recommend writing about all of this for one of your essays. The more emphasis you put on how you’re a stellar student now, the better. If there are any kind of outside circumstances that you can use to explain your past poor performance then highlight them, “I just wasn’t motivated” isn’t going to cut it.
Second, pursue Academic Renewal IMMEDIATELY. If you can get these bad grades wiped from your academic record then you’re definitely in the running. UCLA (and UCB, UCSB, etc) will be able to see that you did this, BUT it means that those grades won’t be counted in your GPA. Without it, your GPA will be calculated with all of those F’s. I
https://cms.cerritos.edu/admissions-and-records/home/academic-renewal.htm
https://www.elcamino.edu/administration/board/boarddocs/AP%204240%20Academic%20Renewal.pdf
Notice that there are unit maximums. If the grades you want wiped out will exceed those maximums then use it for your F’s first, then W’s with whatever you have left.
Here is UC System’s policies, including accepting Academic Renewal: http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/q-and-a/calculating-gpa/
To reiterate: DO THIS NOW.
Third, your ECs are basically the same as mine were. If you can get a leadership position in the honors society then you’re good to go. Maybe join another club as well that’s more out of personal interest than academic motivated, they like well rounded people. Maybe an internship if you can manage it, I had one but I couldn’t tell you how much that helped, if at all.
Fourth, if you successfully use academic renewal and get your GPA up to the minimum then TAG into UCSB even though you want to go to UCLA. It won’t hurt you and you’ll have guaranteed admission into at least one of your top 3.
Your new academic achievements will help you immensely, but remember your GPA for admission will include ALL of the classes you’ve taken since high school if you don’t use academic renewal.
P.S. I transferred to UCLA from SBCC (UCSB’s feeder school) and I lived right next to UCSB’s campus with UCSB students so I can give you insight into both UCLA and UCSB if you want it. Just message me 
Thank you SO MUCH. I didn’t even know that “Academic Renewal” even existed until now. Again, thank you so much. I will do this immediately. I’ll also take your advice on the leadership position in the honor’s society. I don’t think I can manage an internship in my current schedule but I’ll see. Your answer was VERY helpful
What courses are all of your non-A grades in?
Engineering makes their decisions mainly based on your grades in the major prep (math, physics, programming), so if your bad grades were in GEs then it might not hurt you that much.
non-A grades were in random classes. But I looked into academic renewal. It turns out I will in fact be able to erase all my non-A grades from my transcripts 
So just gotta keep doing good moving forward and hopefully I’ll be able to get in
I had a similar situation as you. I had a bunch of F’s and W’s. It definitely won’t destroy your chances. Write some decent statements and it won’t even hurt your chances. Write some great statements and it could possibly improve your chances.
I did academic renewal for the courses I didn’t plan on retaking, just like the poster above suggested. I wrote some strong statements that addressed my previous failures and how I changed. Well, strong in my opinion at least. Just keep doing well and start thinking about how you’ll work everything into your statements. They definitely look past early mistakes if you show significant improvement.