Hello CC. I was a transfer student in a UC until yesterday when my admission was cancelled. Transferring has been a 5 year endeavor for me due to health problems, so I was devastated. I had a really tough quarter (fires burned down my mothers home while I lived on campus. I never slept due to the constant loud party scene worsening my insomnia). I abandoned my old home and work and college to transfer this year.
I made an A- & two Bs for my major, and an F in the Math requirement that I needed for my transfer acceptance. I now realize I took the wrong class for my major and it was extremely hard, but now it is too late. My appeal of cancellation was denied. The readmit process will not let me attend UC again before Fall 2019 effectively delaying my degree to Spring 2020 at the very least.
I’m 25f, have no home, no car, $9000 in bills and debt, $100, a duffle bag of belongings (I had to remove all of my things from my dorm and could only take what I could carry to the greyhound), and 111 credits with a UC GPA 2.8 as I changed majors 4 times. I sleep in a temporary fire victim shelter that might give me financial assistance. I’m looking into enrolling at the closest community college, using the last of my Pell eligibility, and getting internships or a job while in SoCal to get an apartment ASAP and paying the UC bills/loans over this setback year. I feel disenfranchised and very, very depressed by the UC system I’ve looked so forward to in my entire academic career. I will consider any alternatives.
Does anyone have any ideas, tips, or suggestions? Thank you.
Don’t join the reserves. It will just exacerbate your problems. How is your mom doing? Is she back on her feet with housing or is she in the shelter with you? This is an emergency situation and you need to go into crisis mode. Did you appeal the decision if it’s allowed? You can write a letter explaining that the class you took was the incorrect one and also appeal based on the fire crisis. Ask if you take the proper prerequisite course at the cc while staying in the shelter would the offer be extended again. Do those things first.
@CCtoAlaska the OP said her appeal of cancellation was denied. I’m a bit confused, you took the math class in which you got an F once you were already at the UC? Because you said it was required for transfer acceptance so I thought that would mean you had to have taken it at your prior school? Or were you admitted as a transfer but told you had to take this math class and receive a certain grade to remain enrolled? Which UC was it by the way? Concerned to hear you couldn’t sleep due to the constant loud party scene.
@thestandard thanks for the suggestion, but I have always been extremely underweight and have chronic congenital heart disease which is the illness I was referring to.
@CCtoAlaska My mom is with a new boyfriend in Arizona. I understand I am in a homelessness crisis but the college is not responsible for accommodating the disaster or my failure. In response to my long appeal letter, I was was given a curt “Sorry for your troubles, but you signed a contract. Your admission is cancelled. Try again next year.”
The transfer math course sequence including remedial prerequiisites will take 2 or 3 semesters to complete. For the Fall quarter, I should be readmitted if I pass all of the Math classes. They do not readmit for this Winter or Spring, but Summer classes are open enrollment, so the soonest is June 2019.
@CAtransplant thanks, I missed that. That is a cold-hearted system!
@CCtoAlaska the university may not be responsible but sometimes there is state relief in such situations/special circumstances if you are homeless due to a natural disaster. OK, so it’s not just one class you have to take, it’s also remedial classes. That is a haul. Good luck.
@CCtoAlaska & @CAtransplant
I was admitted as a UCSC transfer with the condition to pass the math course (C or higher), but I was unaware that the course was so rigorous that the professor who I mistakenly chose came with hundreds of reddit/facebook horror stories and a really low ratemyprofessors score. I didn’t know what or where TA section was, or where the building was to leave homework in the dropboxes, so I was on my own besides studying with my class friends; all 4 were 2nd/3rd year computer/med/psych majors taking the course their second or third time for a B. I did not pass and I was not given a chance to retake it. I will have to retake them next year in a community college, but the prerequisites are several non transferable remedial courses. Thanks.
I was too late to get financial aid/housing and was rushed into the Porter College apartments. There are 10 mini UCLA-sized colleges around the campus to give it a smaller community feel – Porter is known to be the wildest most “lit” traditional college (the naked run, 420 event, party scene, greek life, etc.) so I tried to avoid it. There were noisy smelly weed parties in the woods path outside my room even though I have asthma and heart disease, constant screaming of “POOORTEEER!!” outside my window at all hours through the night, people screaming songs in the quad, terrible neighbors, and loud get togethers in the common room non stop the entire quarter. I have had insomnia for 13 years and once I built a tolerance to my sleep pills, I was extremely exhausted every second, running on 2-3 hours of sleep and 10 cups of coffee a day.
I was too late to apply for special accomodations, all my papers had half grades taken off after I spent a week too worried that my family was nearly burned alive, and the dean of students support system ignored my multiple requests for an appointment. Even the “easy going stoner hippie slug” UC is still extremely academically serious and strict and heartless to anyone.
@ichorandambrosia OK, this is where I get stuck. How were you allowed to take the class at UCSC that you would have to take a few prereqs at a community college for? Are you sure you’d have to take those prereq classes? Will you not be able to test in to the class? Usually community colleges give you a math placement test or they would recognize prereq classes from UCSC. Just confused about that. And sympathy on the prof. My daughter just took a class like that where 2/3 of the class dropped out and the remaining ones were mostly people who flunked it first time around and had to retake. She passed on the first try which I think is a Big Deal but she got a D.
@CCtoAlaska I told admissions I couldn’t take the class in community college. They told me that I was allowed to do it this Fall and I leapt into the wrong course, with no testing or prereqs, and that was my mistake. The professor was notorious for being awful at his job, but I don’t think my math is at a level I can test into the UC level – I am a working adult who has finished my high school diploma 8 years ago. My statistics skills need a lot of work before I can pass.
One change you should be aware of is that the community college system is drastically scaling back remedial classes, and introducing alternatives to allow students the additional support to handle college-level work. At San Jose City, for example, they will for the first time be offering special classes of intro stats with a corequisite 2-credit tutorial session to provide the remedial support. If you can get into one of these classes, you may be able to make up this ill-fated math class in one semester.
It sounds, though, as if there was a lot more that went badly with your UCSC experience than just the one class. Yes, housing in Santa Cruz is a nightmare. What is your intended major? Do you even want to go back to Santa Cruz?
The universities are now learning how to deal with homelessness. You need to contact the counselors at UCSC and let them know about your situation. They should have options for your housing and other issues.
@aquapt I don’t think so, its just called “Statistics”. I am trying to enroll in classes and the community colleges near me (calabasas/malibu/thousand oaks) will require at least 2 semesters. The fires and nonstop partying and financial aid errors did really throw me off, but my time in UCSC was actually mostly amazing. I’ve made more friends and mentors, had a winter internship and a job lined up, and have gotten more involved in the community than ever, and I already miss the woods and the beach and the savannahs. It became my new home despite the problems, which is why I am deeply truly saddened to leave and start all over again. I would love to return but I am just focused on finishing my degree by any means before the 10 years mark and am willing to transfer elsewhere. I am a visual culture/art history major. @aunt bea Well they actually contacted me last week to let me know I will be homeless in an email, telling me to cancel my housing application immediately. The support and assistance are only for enrolled students.
Is there any possibility of finding a place to live in the Santa Cruz area, so that you could take pre-stats at Cabrillo and then stats in the summer either at Cabrillo or at UCSC, and have some continuity as far as your involvement in the community? Was the job you found a community job or an on-campus job that you can only do if you’re enrolled at UCSC?
Cabrillo MATH-112-2 Pre-Stat, Spring 2019
Instructors: Suresh, J (jysuresh@cabrillo.edu)
Meeting Information: Tu, Th 11:10 AM 1:35 PM
Main Campus, Building 700 715 (Lecture)
Dates: 1/28/2019 - 5/25/2019
Seats Available: 9 of 36 Total
Credits: 5
Course Description
Develops quantitative reasoning skills needed for elementary statistics through hands-on explorations of descriptive statistics, data analysis and probability, and linear and exponential models; satisfies prerequisite for MATH 12 only; NOT a prerequisite for any other math course.
@aquaapt thank you for the research. Moorpark is about 20 mi from my shelter, so the cost of transportation is something I’m worried about. I could move back to SC, but I will not be able to work the on-campus wok study job that I planned upon and the shelters there arent set up for Woolsey victim. I also wouldn’t take it with a lowly rated professor ever again.
@ichorandambrosia now I get it. That is tough but I would talk to the community college first, take their placement test and really make sure you need the remedial courses.
@CCtoAlaska I think that my score is low because I already have taken the test last year and was placed at a high school level. I have worked really hard to learn stats, but it was hard being in a self taught class.
I’m sorry for your suffering. Yours is a sad story, but you are an obviously capable and driven individual, so you should not beat yourself but instead should be kind to yourself. What’s done is done. Making mistakes is what we humans do, and yes we will both make more.
I think you need to take a break from your education to take care of your most basic needs. There is no rush to complete your education; you have more pressing problems. Things could be worse, you don’t have kids and you’re not on drugs so you are not stuck in a cycle of poverty. You’re just having a rough patch.
I think you need to find a full-time job in a place where the job you can get would allow you to live safely indoors in an apartment. Do you have any friends or relatives anywhere who can put you up while you are trying to get back on your feet? The economy is pretty good in many places. I think you need to find such a place and try to make a go of it. Many larger companies have internal training programs that you can be eligible for after working for a while. Think CVS, Walgreens, Home Depot, Lowes, Best Buy, etc. Bank teller jobs can be very good. People do start out at a low levels and eventually work their way up.
Your education will be there when you are in a better financial position and someday I predict that you WILL earn that degree. But for now, while the economy is still decent, work to stabilize your life and put yourself in a position to earn a living and dig out of your hole. I think that you can do it.
@CCtoAlaska The UCs are known to be academically tough and bureaucratically serious, theres no testing out or missing deadlines or tolerating subpar grades. Students are expelled, assaulted, and even killed on campus, so a 6 months setback isn’t the worst that can happen.
@ClassicRockerDad Thanks, I am trying not to mope, but it feels like the ground has crumbled under my feet. My college friends live on campus, and my family has moved of state where the tuition would be really high. I am making appointments to get signed to a model agency in LA which would provide a dorm style apartment, as most places I’ve applied to in the past weren’t going to accomodate my class schedule. I am rushing to finish as I have worked really hard for so many years to finish and go to grad school, and I will also be the only person in my family ever to have completed a bachelors degree, so they are all looking up to me.