<p>Here's some info so yall can get an idea where i'm coming from.
Basically I screwed myself over during summer school = earned 3 C's which brought my gpa to 3.19. Thinking this experience would serve as a great impetus for fall quarter, I enrolled into 5 classes. Dropped 1 and withdrew from the rest. Why? Never recovered from taking so many classes during summer and couldn't find any determination/motivation/want to learn. PLUS, i had to commute 1 hr to the CC i was going to and another hour back home. So if you think about, 8hrs a week worth of driving = 32hrs a month = 96hrs for a quarter...... -____-</p>
<p>With that said, learning from my mistake during summer school; my highest priority was protecting my gpa at all costs; then raising it. Was supposed to transfer by next year (enrolled into CC summer of '08). But i am now pushed back another year - which isn't so bad because i can do academic renewal for all my grade hiccups. </p>
<p>Within my college career; I've accumulated 4 or 5 W's so far. I know UC's look highly upon upward grade trends but i don't exactly know how they view excess of W's. and i think excess of W's begins at 5.</p>
<p>So..... UC's that i have in mind are UCSD, UCLA, UCSB, and UCB. Major = Philosophy and im thinking of adding business as a minor. Because these colleges aren't the easiest to get into, with the exception of UCSB, obviously i need to get my gpa ~ 3.8ish. Philosophy has high acceptance rate but after crunching the numbers; highest my gpa will reach is 3.7655 (about 35 A's if that possible from now until spring of 2011).</p>
<p>My questions are, should i continue my mindset of protecting my gpa at all costs or should i allow C's if they occur - keep in mind where i want to transfer to. and secondly, if i earned anymore W's, when does that begin to reflect badly upon me. if for the sake of argument, i would be earning straight A's but also getting hella W's along the process. hella w's = > 8. </p>
<p>i know i wrote a lot but this whole thought has been in my head for a while...</p>
<p>4 to 5 Ws will NOT affect you at all at any of the UCs, as long as you have a GOOD explanation for them. I had a very lengthy conversation with an admission rep at UCLA about these things, and that’s exactly what he said. It is also important that the PATTERN of your Ws makes sense with your explanation. However, since I’m an Engineering major the response I got was from that department. But I believe it pretty much holds true for any major. And to answer your question, generally speaking, protecting your gpa should be a MUCH HIGHER priority than getting Cs, which can bring your gpa down very very quickly!! (Bs, on the other hand, are OK provided you don’t get too many of those) …and BTW 8 Ws is kinda “pushing it” (although if you had a very good explanation, it is far better than getting a boatload of Cs and a low gpa: LOW GPA == virtually NO CHANCE of getting into the more competitive UCs)</p>
<p>I think it depends on whether or not you can EXPLAIN the Ws. In your case, withdrawing from all classes in one semester makes it clear that something happened. If you can give a legitimate reason for withdrawing, I think you will be fine. If you give the reason “It was too hard and I couldn’t keep up,” you might have a problem. “It was too hard and I couldn’t keep up” will not get you very far at Berkeley or UCLA. The admissions committee won’t feel that you are prepared for the rigorous coursework at these schools. </p>
<p>From now on, I would recommend choosing you classes wisely. Do not take 5 really hard classes per quarter. Pace yourself and try to drop classes before the drop deadline instead of withdrawing whenever you can.</p>
<p>If you have to protect you grades at CC because the classes are too difficult, then maybe you shouldn’t be trying to go to such a high level school. I heard University of Phoenix is always accepting applications.</p>
<p>I believe the Avg GPA for Philosophy admits at UCLA was around 3.6 … so if you get to that number, you shouldn’t have TOO much trouble getting in, as long as you have good essays and extra curriculars. </p>
<p>Also, just try not to get any more W’s. Research BEFORE you register (how easy the teacher is, how tough that specific class is, ect) If you can prevent getting W’s, then why not prevent it. </p>
<p>One more thing. Be realistic. Getting 35 A’s in a row is very, very difficult. Be prepared for some B’s here and there.</p>
<p>hahah. whoah people are starting to get the wrong idea here. The classes weren’t difficult for me - succinctly put; i needed a break from school because of the overload i took during the summer. Now that i had my break, I’m ready for school again. lol UOP; what a joke as my accounting teacher would say. he taught there from a while before he started teaching at de anza. </p>
<p>i’m pretty sure i can articulate my reason for fluctuations in my gpa. yeahhh i agree with you azhir; it’s only best case scenario and i do accept getting B’s again. and i do research my professors. the bottom line is had i not earned those 3 c’s during the summer; my gpa would be about a 3.5 right now. seee what bull shizz i came from? </p>
<p>annnnnnnnd i think within the time frame i setup; i might get like <25 classes in. 35 is like…bogus lol. with that said; hopefully i can get towards a 3.6631 - 3.7059. realistically i think i could earn a 3.64ishh or something.</p>
<p>He’s got writing skills, and I think UChopeful’s comment is pretty offensive. Anyway, you don’t really need a 3.8ish to get into Philo at Berkeley, and thos W’s look bad but they won’t really manke a decisive factor unless your GPA is lower than 3.4ish-5ish. You can take a look at the link I’m about to provide so you can see the average GPA of ppl accepted into Berkeley and stuff.</p>
<p>How is my comment offensive? I was only pointing out that the OP might want to look into going to a lower level school. University of Phoenix is a great institution. It is just not as great as the top 3 UC’s. If I had to rank the schools it would look like this:</p>
<ol>
<li>UCB</li>
<li>UCSD</li>
<li>UCLA</li>
<li>University of Phoenix</li>
<li>San Diego State</li>
<li>UC Merced</li>
<li>San Diego Mesa College</li>
<li>UCI</li>
<li>UC Davis</li>
<li>Humboldt State</li>
</ol>
<p>Hey guys. I have 7Ws and I’m planning on transferring to UCLA or UCSD as an undergraduate sociology major. What are my chances of getting into those schools in this economy bringing the competitiveness to transferring?</p>