<p>College:
-University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign (College of Business)
-Sophomore (Class of 2016)
-Finance major (want to change)
-2.82 GPA</p>
<p>I turned down a lot of great private schools to attend my local state flagship for money reasons as well as the desire to be close to home (Chicago suburbs).</p>
<p>I could waste everyone's time about the reasons why I've done poorly in college, but I'll cut to the chase for this first post. The only essential fact is that I live with a debilitating illness that I thought I could survive on my own, but simply can't.</p>
<p>I want to leave UIUC and go to Harper College in my hometown to be closer with my parents, or at least to go to Santa Monica College and live with my older brother. As long as I'm with family. </p>
<p>Is there any hope for me to somehow start fresh in community college (as if I were a Freshman again) and transfer to a 4-year after two years?</p>
<p>In other words, can I simply 'start over'? I don't care if my credits are invalidated as long as I have the chance to "re-do" college without all the baggage my current grades are carrying on me. I want to change my major to something I actually like (History) with the hopes of going to grad school for something along the lines of International Relations afterwards. </p>
<p>The struggles of my illness along with all else have become overbearing and I can't go it alone any longer. I could have easily carried a >3.5 GPA if I had the support of my family as well as the extra "motivation" to do work I not only enjoyed, but would have excelled at (ACT: 35 English, 32 Reading, 12 Writing).</p>
<p>What options do I have?</p>
<p>Thank you in advance for all constructive responses</p>
<p>Short answer, no, your transcript of all your college grades will follow you wherever you apply and are part of your post HS record. You have to submit your post HS transcript to apply to transfer to any other post HS U or CC. </p>
<p>What could have been is not what transfers require–your transcripts ARE required! Doing well and improving your health will improve your transfer options. Good luck!</p>
<p>Right, as HImom said, there is no erasing past transcripts, they are valid forever. However, it is up to you to treat it like mental baggage or not. There is no reason you can’t still achieve your new goals. There are more things that grad schools look at than freshman grades. You can show good grades in your major and that may trump everything. Don’t let mental blocks stop you from recovering from your current situation. Stepping back to a CC won’t really make your transcripts stronger than just switching majors. However, if you can’t handle life on your own that’s the call you have to make. Maybe you just need a leave for a year to work on your health issues.</p>
<p>At this point many applicants are thinking “what if I just break the rule? If I move across the country how can they ever find colleges I attended before?”</p>
<p>There is a national database that has information on where people have gone to school. You are in it. If you decide to ignore previous schools it will be found out.</p>