So I’m a bio major and got a 1.6 last quarter. I’m seriously considering switching to an education major because the one education class I took for GE I got a B+. I’m also considering dropping out of UCI. Should I go to a community college or a CSU? Do I need my SAT scores and high school transcripts to transfer? Also, if I’m going to transfer, when should I do it?
I think the #1 priority for you right now is to raise your GPA so that you will no longer be on academic probation at UCI. Many transfer applications will ask whether or not you left your previous schools in satisfactory academic standing. So this would be a good time for some serious self-reflection: what happened that caused your poor performance at UCI? Maybe you were in the wrong major, or were going through some personal issues, or didn’t develop good study habits - any existing problems should be dealt with now, because if they aren’t, they will resurface again at a different school.
Regarding the evaluation of transfer applications, high school grades/SAT performance are typically given far less weight (or even disregarded) if the applicant has completed 30 or more college units at the time of application. If you are set on transferring, I would look into going to a community college for a couple of years and getting much better grades there before thinking about other 4 year universities (such as CSUs). If you tried to directly apply to those in your current situation, they would understandably be concerned about your ability to handle college level courses.