In Need of A Reality Check

Transfer Students
1

Okay guys, so a little bit about myself. I live in California, I’m 2 years into CC and I’m majoring in Computer Science. I consider myself pretty smart, which most of my peers would agree is true, but we’d also all agree that I have displayed some very lazy behaviors throughout high school and half of my college career. I had some depression problems that are now well taken care of, but the household I live in breeds laziness. My family are always arguing about how lazy the other person is. I mean the environment is here is just so negative and slothful that when I’m home, I just want to go to sleep to avoid the others. I realize that I do extremely well in school, but the homework… man I can never get anything done at home. The only reason I even passed high school was because I realized early on how bad it was at home and tried to graduate early, which ultimately failed, but got me through high school.

The thing is that my transcript is screwed up. I mean, its pretty bad. This semester will be my 4th time taking Calc II… I have A’s, B’s, and F’s all over the place. I hold about a 2.2 GPA (40 units attempted) right now and I want to transfer out next Spring (the sooner the better). Right now, I’m taking 17 units and I’m having an easy time because I spend about 2/3 of my time awake at school, so I’m confident I can ace my classes (calc II, CS class, EngPhysics, EngLitWithCritThinking). I have no EC’s to speak of at the moment, and realistically, I’m mostly likely not going to have any EC’s either at the time of transfer. Assuming before I transfer, I would have completed an additional 50 units, within an A-C grade range, which decent CS schools in California can I transfer to with a realistic chance of getting accepted? I realize that for having a shitty track record, I probably am a little optimistic with the predictions of my next few semesters of class, so I’m going to need a realist to beat me down a little.

2

Universities are still selective, and with a GPA below 2.5 that would mean you’re barely passing your classes. You will be able to get into a few CSUs but other than that… grades are the most important factor in admissions. Universities are still a school.

3

@kthor94 I would look at state schools (CSU), many of them require gpa 2.0 or higher. If you can bring yours at least to 3.0, you will have a very good chance of getting in.
Of course, it’s none of my business, but are you sure you want to stick with CS? It’s 99% math related, and it will not get easier than calc 2. If you are set on CS, get yourself a tutor and ace that calc. You need to understand the basics, before you can move on to calculus - based classes, like eng physics.

4

CS may not be for you… lots of students switch to related but less rigorous majors (like CIS) in your situation. It may be worth thinking about.

CS is one of the most competitive majors at most schools. With a 2.2, your local CSU or a non-impacted school may be your only shot.

Re-take as many of those Fs as you can, that may make the difference.