Can I get academic renewal for UC courses?

Long story short, I was accepted to UCSB after high school; did poorly there with a 2.1 GPA after a year and a half; dropped out and went to another community college to try to transfer in 2 years for engineering at a Cal State; did okay there with a 3.1 GPA but my UCSB GPA is weighing me down heavily and I want to raise my GPA without taking extra courses. I pretty much passed every CC course I’ve taken with a C or better so I have no option to retake CC courses and I have no plans to go back to UCSB and retake courses.

I talked to an academic adviser and they told me my best shot is to ask for academic renewal at UCSB and that it could be possible since I’m a former UCSB student. The thing is, I don’t think I can do so since I’ve looked online for UCSB/UC’s academic renewal policy and they don’t have any: you either retake UC courses or your out of luck. Is it even possible for me to ask for academic renewal with UCSB given my circumstances? Worst case scenario, nothing changes and I’ll just take a couple easy summer courses and raise my GPA that way. Thanks for reading

I’m not sure that’s possible. I believe you need to retake at any UC or UC Extension.

It’s possible. I went to UCR and flunked out after my second quarter. I emailed an academic advisor about petitioning for retroactive withdrawal and they let me do it. You have to give a justifiable reason for it though.

In your case, what reason did you give?

I believe the only way you can get retro withdrawal is medical/psychiatric with documentation. Hard to get under the best of circumstances, even harder after time has passed. Since no immediate reason is popping into your mind and you need to ask, and you did not mention a medical issue, you most likely do not qualify. The UC is very strict about repeating UC grades at a UC. Your best bet, to also ensure you don’t later get blowback, is to repeat, or leave as is (not necessarily the best option, depending on the grades). Keep in mind if you have academic probation at the previous UC the courses must be repeated to reach a certain UC GPA in order to move forward (unless you get retro withdrawal).

Paying the consequences is hard but is a learning experience you can use as an essay topic.