I realized too late in my senior year of high school that I wanted to go to a liberal arts college (which also have better financial aid for students with 0 EFC) and botched my application to my top choice, Barnard. I flunked this past semester at Cal because of depression and anxiety. Not only that, I realized how screwed I am with all the debt that I am racking up – I have the highest amount of gift aid you can get without scholarships, and I still have 8k of loans each year, and no one is helping me pay that back. And I realized I want to be a HISTORY major. I also really dislike Berkeley. If I ace this next semester, do I have any chance of being able to transfer somewhere that would give me a scholarship or somewhere that meets full need for transfers? Are there any schools that meet full need for transfers? I’m so desperate, any help would be greatly appreciated.
Is there any way I could just reapply to college as though I were a freshman without having to send in my transcript from Berkeley? (please don’t judge - I’ve had a hard life)
Since it’s your first semester, you can probably still transfer to a good college because most of the top tier colleges weigh your high school transcript and scores more heavily than your one semester of college. You seem to have done well enough in high school to get into Berkeley, which is important to note. That being said, How badly did you flunk? Like 0.0 GPA kind? Though your college GPA won’t have much weight, it may still be the difference between an acceptance and rejection.
Unfortunately, need based aid and scholarships are hard to come by for transfers. And if they do give aid, it would probably be for people with a better college transcript AND high school transcript. So you may find it hard to get any aid that comes close to the aid Berkeley gave you.
I’m hoping that maybe you can write some of your supplement essays very well to give you more edge.
Also, there is no way to hide your UCB transcript. If you transfer, you MUST send all your college level work. Also, check the transfer policies for the schools you are interested in applying to. Some do have minimum GPA requirements.
yeah, like 0.0
that might be good.
Can you get academic renewal to wipe away those grades from your GPA?
Without any transferable units you might still be able to apply as a freshman at some universities.
You may also want to check if you are in good standing with the university, or close to academic probation. Many top universities won’t accept transfers that do not have good academic standing.
If your poor first semester grades were due to depression and anxiety, what will have changed for this semester?
I believe I am on academic probation (I haven’t gotten the notice yet since our transcripts haven’t officially come out).
I will look into the academic renewal, never heard of that. The new semester starts on Monday, though. Not sure if I would still be able to withdraw as well as get the academic renewal.
I’m looking at some liberal arts colleges’ transfer pages and a few do meet full need for transfers – Haverford, Wellesley, Bryn Mawr… I’m still looking.
What will have changed? I’m taking antidepressants, and I have a clear head now and have realized how screwed I am.
What if I did well this semester and then returned to Berkeley for another semester next year and did well. Would I have a better chance of transferring then? Can you generally transfer after you’ve begun your sophomore year? It would still be a ton of debt, but it would be better.
8k a year isn’t a lot of debt man.
it’s over 5.5k a year to enroll at a CSU.
if you drop now you might be able to still apply as a freshman at some universities but obviously the admissions officers will be worried that you cannot handle the course work.
The odds of you getting a full-ride as a transfer are low but I have seen it happen specifically from UCLA, USC and UCI.
You do want to get off of academic probation, transfer or no transfer. Many selective schools disallow transfers from students not in good standing at their previous schools.
Berkeley allows grade replacement of the first 12 units of D or F grades, if you repeat the same courses. So if you have any D or F grades, it is best to repeat them (and do well in them, of course) to help bring your GPA up enough to get off of academic probation.
Some selective schools accept sophomore level transfer applications (apply during frosh year), but a poor college record as a first semester frosh will make admission unlikely. For transfer at the junior level (apply during sophomore year), your college record will be the most important part of your application.
Keep in mind that even with academic renewal, the grade is still on your transcript, just not included in your GPA calculation. So if colleges were to recalculate all applicants’ GPAs, it would still not be favorable. Also, if you were to retake the failed courses, some colleges either don’t do repeat-to-replace programs, or they average the two grades.
If you stayed and Berkeley and did well, I imagine your odds would increase significantly. Yes, you can transfer after sophomore year. Most colleges take junior transfers and some even take second semester sophomores.
8k per year is a lot for me because I don’t really want a conventional job - I’d like to do activist work or something like that.
Thank you all so much - I really appreciate it.
Hate to break it to you but, in order to afford college, most students end up getting a conventional job (unless they have ridiculously wealthy parents/relatives). I appreciate that you want to do activist work, but activist work does not pay the bills.
I would especially consider getting a job because you said no one is helping you pay your loans back.
Activists can have regular jobs as well.
Be aware that it is mainly the most selective schools that will beat an $8,500 per year net price on need-based financial aid, and those schools would be very reachy for transfer admission if you have a lot of low college grades. Also, some of them admit very few transfers, and some of them give worse financial aid to transfers than students who started as frosh.
What you need to do is do the best you can where you are now, as this is essential whether or not you transfer. However, realistically, your best chance to transfer is probably as a junior, but that is when a big university becomes more advantageous relative to a LAC (which is more advantageous in the frosh/soph years for those who prefer smaller classes and the like).
@ucbalumnus I interpreted the OP as only wanting to be an activist and not wanting to get a conventional job full stop. Not being an activist who also has a side job.
But otherwise, if you can, try for really high grades at UCB this semester and try for applying as a junior transfer to your schools of interest. Maybe also talk to guidance counselor or admissions counselor who can support you in getting good grades and then transferring. The counselors are there to help you succeed, wherever you end up.
Why do big universities become more advantageous in the junior/senior year?
By the way, the only things I can imagine myself doing would be being a teacher, a journalist, an archivist/something like that or maybe going to grad school if I got in and becoming a professor or researcher. I would prefer to find some other way to live, some alternative lifestyle, though. So ideally, yes, I would just be an activist rather than have a conventional job in addition. I shouldn’t have rushed into college, but I don’t think I could have stayed with my mentally ill parents. I suppose I could drop out now, but I will still have all that debt to pay back, and I probably wouldn’t survive. Maybe I’ll flee the country when I graduate?
When you transfer junior or senior year (if the school accepts seniors), colleges no longer look at your high school transcript or don’t value it as much because you’ve had enough college work that what you did in high school becomes irrelevant.
Ask a guidance counselor for some advice but, I would not drop out of college… Also, if not now, there will be a day when you have to sustain yourself through means of working a job, so don’t count out jobs just yet. It’s really great that you would consider being a teacher or professor as those are some of the most important jobs out there.
“Flee the country” sounds too much like you’re a fugitive… But definitely open yourself up to exploring the world if that’s what you want to do. I would keep in mind that traveling to and living in another country also requires a lot of start-up money.
Big universities’ advantages compared to LACs are in greater offerings of advanced level courses, most of which have smaller class sizes. LACs’ advantages compared to big universities are in smaller frosh/soph class sizes.
Starting at a big university and then transferring to a LAC in junior year minimizes the advantages and maximizes the disadvantages of each type of school.