<p>I've transferred into James Madison University from Tidewater Community College. </p>
<p>Transitioning was a difficult thing for me. I had a rude awakening when I saw that the study habits I had in my previous institution were not adequate for my upper level courses. I was also lost in what was a very strange environment to me. </p>
<p>Overall, I have two A's, (In very easy two credit classes) a B+ in a 3 credit class, a C- in both a four credit language course and an elective communications course, and I withdrew from my four credit statistics class.</p>
<p>I am really worried about the C-'s. I took Arabic 101 and Intercultural Communications out of curiosity, and I felt that it would benefit me when I work with the Peace Corps after my undergrad. I did miserably in those courses. I was never required to take them as I am attaining a B.S. degree in general psychology. The Intercultural Communications class could easily have been substituted with another course more related to psychology, or a section taught by a more lenient professor.</p>
<p>I am really scared. I don't wanna use my two repeat forgives on these classes, and retaking them to average them out will not be covered by my scholarship. </p>
<p>I know what to do now as far as my study habits go. I saw a fair amount of improvement through better study habits and working with my professor towards the end of the semester, but it was far too late. The only good grades I had were in the courses related to my major. </p>
<p>When I leave my undergrad, I want to do either Teach for America or the Peace Corps. But when I come back to grad school for school psychology, (I am looking at George Mason, James Madison and Radford for grad school), I am worried they will hold this against me strongly for the two C-'s. </p>
<p>I’m currently applying to school psych programs in the MD/DC/VA area and the schools that you listed above tend to look at the last 60 credits. I have one C on my transcript in a non-major class, and all my professors in my psych department believe I’ll be accepted in at least 2 programs. </p>
<p>I know you said you transferred from a CC, but I’m sure if you transferred after earning an AA. For some when they do the calculation it is only your major GPA, others it is Junior and Senior year. </p>
<p>If you are really worried, you can usually counterbalance it with a good personal statement or recommendation letters from professors. </p>
<p>You just might want to watch your GPA, and do anything you can to boost it, closely because the average for students accepted to these school psych programs is 3.5+. </p>
<p>They care somewhat but not really. An intercultural communications class might be kind of interesting to a school psychology program, especially one that specializes in multicultural or urban school psychology, but it’s not related enough to psychology to give them strong pause IMO. I don’t think the language class will matter at all. You will definitely need to retake the statistics class, as that’s usually required by school psychology programs and they will be very interested in your grade in that class. Try to get an A to show that the W was a fluke.</p>
<p>So number 1, two C-s won’t necessarily tank your application if you keep your grades up from here on out and do really well. The upward trend will help you, and a high psychology major GPA will strongly offset mediocre performance earlier. Most graduate professors understand that there’s a transitional period in college.</p>
<p>But the other thing is…you’ll have to forget about them for now. What’s in the past is past; you can’t change your performance in those classes, so there’s no use worrying about them! Focus on achieving to the best of your ability. If you get a great GPA in your upper-level psychology classes and your last two years, and you have a distinguished two years in TfA or the Peace Corps, a C- in your freshman year of community college in a random Arabic and communications class 6 years ago is not really going to matter that much.</p>