I’m older than the typical college student. I am 24. Straight out of high school I went to a community college, but didn’t take it seriously. I would drop my classes, I got a lot of C’s, w’s, one F , and a few D’s. I pretty much dropped out after working full time jobs. Now almost 4 years later I decided to come back with a serious mentality. Is it too late? I already spoke to a counselor about my chances, and well let’s just say I don’t feel like I’m getting a truthful answer. I’m supposed to apply this fall semester to uni’s I plan on attending, however I’m scared that with my current gpa (2.3) I will get rejected. Will schools im applying to take in consideration my current GPA or my GPA once I’m done which would be next spring 2018? I’m lost when it comes to this so thank you for those who take time to answer my questions.
If you were trying to transfer directly from community college to a 4 year school at age 19 I would say minimal chance. But having been in the workforce for 4 years you need to show that you have matured and are ready to resume your studies. They will look at both your old GPA and your new GPA.
What 4 year schools are you considering?
Does your CC have any articulation or guaranteed transfer agreements? That is a good place for you to start. If you fulfill the requirements of the agreement, you will be guaranteed a space at the cooperating college/university.
Many transfer applications aren’t due until February or March (some aren’t even due until July) which means that you won’t be applying until you have your fall semester grades and grades from any January term classes if your CC has a January term. If you do well, this can make a big difference for you.
I’ve been through a very similar struggle to you. (Barely) Graduated high school, failed all my cc classes and dropped out a year later.
Then, I came back a few years later as a 21 year old and brought my GPA back up from a 1.105 lol. When I was applying to schools, I’d gotten it up to a 3.76.
There’s a few things you need to consider. 1. Transfer students tend to get lousy financial aid. I don’t know which state you’re from, but with a 2.3 GPA the only schools that might be affordable and realistic are 2nd tier state schools. If I were you, I would re-take any class you got a D or F in, because you can petition to have your new good grade replace your old failing one. HOWEVER, not all schools will honor this, so when you apply to transfer down the line, you need to know if they practice academic forgiveness.
All cal states. My first choices are Cal state Long Beach or Cal poly Pomona for their business admin programs. However, I will also apply to Cal state Northridge and Cal state LA as alternatives
Not that I know of. I guess I’ll have to check on that. I received an email that the deadline to apply to start fall 2018 at a Cal state will be Nov 30th of this year. Even if I don’t have all units completed, they would have to be completed by spring 2018. That’s what has me on edge because I don’t have the minimum GPA to apply at Long Beach (which is a 2.5)
Why not re-do your bad grades then?
I already retook the class I got an F (geology) years ago, and ended up getting a C so there’s nothing I can do about that now #-o
When I spoke to counselors they all told me to not retake any classes. To move forward to try to complete my units. I messed up by getting so many C’s and W’s because I can’t even retake most of the classes
I’m trying to stay local (I live in Los Angeles). The schools that have good programs for my major are all cal states. USC is out of the question since they are a private university, they tend to be less forgiving from what I heard. Not to mention how expensive their tuition is. UCLA doesn’t really have much for my major. So my first choices are Cal state Long Beach or Cal poly Pomona. I’m worried if I can even get there at this point lol
I’m going to be honest: CSULB is the most popular CSU and received over 90K applications for their few spots.
They post a minimum GPA but they like their yield to look good so they take the top GPA’s.
When we walked in to the admissions office in 2014, the first thing they told us was “We received over 80K applications. Unless your son is a strong applicant, he will face tough competition.”
CPP is also competitive.
What about CSU LA or San Bernardino?
I think your priority should be to start looking at your CC’s tutoring services and their available office hours. You need to relearn how to study. You have to make A’s in your courses or you won’t get in no matter where you apply. Worse, if you do get in somewhere and you don’t know how to study at a 4-year university, your grades will be affected and you will have spent a lot of money to find that out.
FWIW: My kids’ were/are all honor grads at their universities. The eldest was advised by other med students, as a promising pre-med, that she needed to access tutoring if she hoped to be successful at premed courses. She bombed her first quarter and immediately started tutoring sessions. She changed her major to engineering and went religiously to the tutors every year, until they finally asked her to be a tutor because there were no more tutors at her level. She advised her younger sister, newly at her UC, to go to the tutors to learn how to study. DD2 is no dummy and attended tutoring sessions and “office hours” religiously, and eventually became a tutor as well. She was accepted into all of her grad schools. Younger son also accessed the tutoring sessions and is still using their services even though he is a tutor himself.
Right now, I don’t see what shows a CSU you can actually do the work. The idea behind retaking is to learn the material this time, show that.
Yea I have Cal state LA and Cal state Northridge as options too (more realistic). Will definitely look into tutoring in my college. Thank you for your answers
http://www.calstate.edu/sas/impaction-campus-info.shtml can show you which campuses are not impacted.
http://www.calstate.edu/sas/documents/ImpactedProgramsMatrix.pdf can show you which campuses have business majors which are not impacted.
http://www.calstate.edu/transfer/requirements/ lists the minimum transfer requirements for CSUs, although if either the campus or your major is impacted, the GPA requirement will be higher than 2.0.