<p>I started college 3 years ago, and did rather poorly. I attended a California Community College, and ended up completing 14 units with a 2.2 GPA. I also managed to rack up a few "F"'s to go along with it. </p>
<p>After taking a year-long break from college, I started attending another California Community College last Fall (2013). Since then, I have completed 29 units with a 3.4 GPA so far at my new college, and I am looking to send in my transfer applications for UC's and CSU's this upcoming Fall. </p>
<p>While the 14 units from my previous CC will cause my overall GPA to drop by quite a bit (the "F"'s will be taken care of via Academic Renewal), I have been told a few times that UC's and CSU's mainly look at the college that the applicant most recently attended/completed the most units. Does this hold any water?</p>
<p>After a lot of reading, and speaking to a lot of people, it seems that this won't really hurt my chances of getting into my local CSU (Northridge), as I am pretty confident that I will still manage to have at least a 3.2 overall GPA at the end of Fall 2014. However, I feel that this will significantly hurt my UC chances. </p>
<p>Will the fact that my current CC GPA is significantly higher than the GPA at my first CC make any type of positive impact on my UC application?</p>
<p>Here are the schools I am planning to apply to as a Psych major:
-UC Santa Barbara
-UC Santa Cruz
-UC Irvine
-UC Riverside
-UCLA (long shot, even without those earlier bad grades)
-CSU Northridge
-CSULA
-San Diego State</p>
<p>Psych is impacted at a lot of those UC campuses, if not all. Having a great explanation helps, but if you could retake a couple of those classes for a letter grade, it would help a lot. UCLA is out of reach, even UC Riverside may be. Could you TAG Riverside?</p>
<p>At UC Irvine, check out their Psychology and Social Behavior major in the School of Social Ecology. It’s less competitive that their other Psych program, and could possibly be an option if you can get at least a cumulative GPA of 3.2+ </p>
<p>San Diego State will be pretty tough as well. I’m a transfer student off to USC, but even with a 4.0 gpa I was rejected from SDSU. </p>
<p>Your GPA could potentially be significant for UC’s as you’ll be able to do a personal statement, but for CSU’s it’s all just grades and sending in the application. And depending on what you took and failed may also matter. If you were taking classes relevant to your major or just more core classes they might look at that more specifically. </p>
<p>Why don’t you apply apply to UCLA as a cognitive science major? It is like psychology, it is even the the same department. You don’t have a chance at UCLA applying as a psychology major, but you do have a change as a cognitive science major. </p>
<p>Thanks everybody, all great responses!</p>
<p>lindyk8: I think retaking a couple of those classes is a good idea. I’ll do what I can to see if I can fit those classes into my schedule this semester. I have actually been looking to TAG to UC Riverside or Santa Cruz, but my academic renewal process is what’s killing me. I have three F’s from Fall 2012 (It’s in my previous thread), and while my counselors told me that I can go through Academic Renewal, I would have to wait until the beginning of Winter 2015 (because of a 2 year wait period). </p>
<p>That really hurts because I won’t be able to meet the minimum GPA for TAG because I need a 3.0 at the end of Fall, and those F’s will destroy my GPA, even though they will be removed a few weeks after fall. I will contact the universities and see if there is something that can be done in my situation.</p>
<p>2016Candles: I was actually looking into that a couple of weeks ago, and I think that is definitely an option I will look into. </p>
<p>jkahoes: I actually didn’t mean to put San Diego State, my bad. What I meant was Fresno State. Also, the classes that I failed really weren’t relevant to my major at all, mainly just core classes. </p>
<p>CollegeDropout1: I would probably have to finish the major prep courses for Cognitive Science after this upcoming Fall, and I think not having my major prep done by the end of Fall could really hurt my chances. But I guess trying wouldn’t hurt though.</p>
<p>Hmmm, two years for academic renewal? That sucks. Well, I hate to say this, but you should wait a year to apply.</p>
<p>If your academic renewal kicks in in Winter 2015, depending on dates, it might be in time for the grade/ course update for the UCs. In Jan/ feb you update your grades and upcoming courses. If your academic renewal goes into affect by that time, then you’re in pretty good shape. </p>
<p>Find out exactly when you can get your renewal.</p>
<p>You’re right. I was thinking the year after…
He doesn’t have to send final transcripts in until June 2015. All he has to do is put AR for those classes and just keep it that way. Any unofficial transcript, if requested, will hopefully be after AR is finalized.</p>
<p>If for some reason they need an unofficial transcript before it is final he can probably show that it is forthcoming and they may let it slide.</p>
<p>What’s going to kill you is your choice of major. Can you apply any of your prereqs to other majors? I would definitely explore that first. You picked a 3.6-3.9 major average for most CC’s, if I’m not mistaken. I know UCLA is 3.8 average for Psych. Personally, I don’t think you get in at any UC with your current GPA for Psychology, but that’s just my gut. Good luck.</p>
<p>fullload is correct, the average admit GPA is 3.8 with a 22% admit rate. Are you in a TAP program? Is there an alternate major that matches the classes you have taken?</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/adm_tr/Tr_Prof13_mjr.htm”>https://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/adm_tr/Tr_Prof13_mjr.htm</a></p>
<p>BTW, @collegedropout1 that Linguistics and CS major you were eyeballing at UCLA has a pretty high admit rate. ;
Just joking with you, you made the right decision… Maybe I shouldn’t have said this. :-w </p>
<p>@Lindyk8 Haha, I had that option in mind, but after I found out I had to take 45 units of linguistics and foreign language, I lost all interest. The department also never replied to my email when I requested to change my major. </p>
<p>Agreed. My younger daughter is eyeing the Anthro and Linguistics major (through the Anthro dept). Not that much linguistics and all basically psych or cultural in nature. (Not that dreaded syntax and phonetics.) She would need one year of a second language but that is doable. It’s not two years that I think linguistics has. </p>
<p>She’s in the same position as you. What major to take.</p>
<p>I think Riverside for Psych is doable. Irvine is also doable in the School of Social Ecology. That is assuming your AR renewal goes into affect, AND of course you meet all the prereqs. </p>
<p>I think UCLA is a super duper reach. I can’t speak on SB or SC.</p>