<p>Hey guys,</p>
<p>I'm a Junior Transfer student with a 4.0 from my community college who just SIR-ed to Cal.
The thing is - I'm in the Navy Reserve and had to go through military training first before the weekend drills. I will be on job training till mid-September, which overlaps with the classes.
Anyone had to take 2-4 weeks off the first semester due to a valid reason (like military duty, emergencies etc)?
How was your experience?</p>
<p>I don't want to defer admission to spring or next fall. What I was thinking is to go to CalSO, register for the classes I need and buy all the books and study while I'm absent. homework should be posted online from what I've heard...so I should be able to just do it on my own.
My major is Legal Studies, if it helps</p>
<p>Please, share your experience if you had a similar situation or know someone who went through something like that.</p>
<p>I've tried to contact a few people (from the Legal Studies dept and VA department), but they don't really give me a definite answer. They just told me it would be dificult to catch up...</p>
<p>Thanks in advance for any help!</p>
<p>Do you plan on going to grad school? If so, you will need to maintain a high GPA and would strongly consider defering for a semester. It would be better in the long run. However, if you’re not planning for grad school, you could probably catch up WITH a lot of work.</p>
<p>Hey bro, I was in a similar situation as you. Although I was active duty while I was attending Cal. I missed two weeks of classes which jacked me up pretty badly, making me fall behind and to this day, never caught up. My gpa ending up being abysmal. But if you speak with your professors and let them know your situation, then they could be lenient. You have nothing to lose by just asking. Another thing is, instead of taking a full course load, which is a minimum of 13 units for L&S, and 12 units for financial aid, you can fill out a lower than minimum credits waiver form, which allows you to take fewer than the 13 units. However, it’s determined by the amount of hours you work, but it was pretty easy to get it approved. I was working over 60 hours a week and lived over an hour away from campus so making it to class became extremely difficult. But you got into cal, so you’re a hard worker and at least on paper smart. Transitioning from the military, through community college, and then to Cal is a rough one. I think you should ease into your first semester at Cal. Also, find out exactly what you need for your degree, because I found out I could have transfered 80 units from CCC and that would also have eased the burden of classes here. Good luck</p>
<p>I know it won’t be easy…</p>
<p>but who do I contact to inform about the planned absense? I’d like to be able to get in touch with the advisors and instructors to create some sort of plan and establish communication so that I don’t fall behind.
I strongly believe I can do this, all I need is some help with organization.</p>
<p>Oh and yes, I am planning to go to grad school (Law School). I guess, we’ll see what happens :(</p>
<p>you’ll meet your advisors at calso. once you’ve picked your classes, either email or stop by and speak to the professors of the courses you’re going to take. if they aren’t cool with it, take another course and see if they are. repeat the process until you can satisfy what you need. Trust me, you aren’t the only student that has other obligations at the school, so it’s not new to the professors that hardship comes along with attending University.</p>
<p>It’s one thing to miss one or two weeks, three weeks is quite another.</p>
<p>I strongly suggest that you defer until Spring. If you work harder then, you shouldn’t have much problem catching up and graduating the same time as anyone else.</p>
<p>When it’s three weeks, you might just get back, and on the first day you actually attend, you have a midterm.</p>
<p>Take the deferral – it’s meant for cases exactly like yours.</p>
<p>The first 3 weeks of classes are critical. If you don’t get the support from your advisers or profs during your initial conversations, I would take the deferral. GPA is critical for law school and you don’t want to mess up your GPA by missing the first weeks.</p>
<p>Thank you for your service.</p>
<p>thanks for all your input, guys.</p>
<p>Like I said before, deferring admission is not my option right now. I’m looking for solutions, not an easy way out.
I’d really appreciate some advice how to make it work.</p>
<p>If you know some easy-going, caring professors at the Legal Studies dept that work with students individually? Pls, post their names and what class they teach.</p>
<p>Hm - just from my personal experience with transfers/new students withOUT the additional burden of missing class, the difficulty transitioning to a new school and courseload requirement is impossible to overestimate. If you still choose to miss those first weeks, you have to acknowledge that so much will be said (especially in non-science classes) that simply cannot be conveyed in a textbook, such as the prof’s subtle opinions that may influence how you write a paper, points where he may disagree with the text, etc. There is no way to leave your training camp early (excuse my ignorance)? If getting a degree and hoping for grad school is really a priority for you, I would give yourself the patience to split up responsibilities to give each thing you care about your full attention. You may regret it otherwise.</p>
<p>you could sign up for p/np non major specific courses. all you need is a 70 to pass and doesnt count towards your gpa. you’re allowed 16 units of p/np classes for a bachelors. but i believe you’re only allowed 4 units a semester max. you might want to check that out</p>
<p>^I have been told by a major advisor, there is no limit on the amount P/NP taken in one semester.</p>
<p>Your end goal is to get a degree on-time and do it well, right?</p>
<p>If that’s the case, deferring is a solution, not an easy-way out. The easy-way out is to either not do the training or not bother with the degree.</p>
<p>I just think it’s quite reckless and irresponsible to allow yourself to knowingly miss three weeks of class and still attempt to go through with it.</p>
<p>Anecdote: a friend of mines was run over by a car at the beginning of the semester and ended up staying in the hospital for more than a week before leaving all disabled and unable to do much by herself. She had the same attitude on trying to make it work out, while everyone recommended a withdrawal for the semester. Ends up that few weeks in, she ends up dropping most of her courses and doing the remaining ones P/NP.</p>
<p>If you had already been at Cal for a few semesters and knew how things worked, what was expected of students, and how intense the workloads are, you could probably pull it off. And by pull it off I mean minimally passing your classes, certainly not getting A’s or B’s.</p>
<p>That being said, missing your first 3 weeks of your first semester at Cal after coming from a CC is just not going to be doable (I was a CC transfer). The fact that you need to maintain a decent GPA completely takes this route off the table. To quantify what you’re facing, expect to work significantly harder for a C at Cal than you did for an A at your CC. During my time at Cal, I spent roughly 8 hours studying for every hour that I studied at my CC.</p>
<p>You will be struggling to catch up while simultaneously trying to digest course material that depends on earlier coursework that the professor will assume you’ve mastered. You might even get the feeling that you’re catching up, until the first round of midterms strikes. If a class of 150 smart, diligent students averages 60% or 70% on a midterm, how do you think you’ll do? </p>
<p>You’re going to get left in the dust and no one is going to give a damn.</p>
<p>I might have p/np confused with independent study 97/98 197/198 with a max of 4 units per semester.</p>
<p>You could also not start until the spring and take classes next summer to make up for the fall. Not necessarily the easy way out, though summer profs tend to not expect as much to be taught in a short amount of time. I agree with the others that the first three weeks are important, especially when you’re new here. </p>
<p>Or take lonesoul’s suggestion.</p>