<p>Basically, I'm feeling defeated. My first semester at CC I got a 4.0. I was volunteering here and there but was mostly focused on school work. Spring semester I ended up getting two A's one B and one C because the week before finals was my first week at work (part time as a cashier). I couldn't take any time off because it was my first week working and I was at a crunch time for studying. It showed with my poor grades. Over the summer, I took two night classes, four days a week. One was for my major in which I received a B. The other was more of an elective class and got a D. I'm guessing my best option is to retake that class so that it will raise my overall GPA. </p>
<p>I wanted a part time job so that I could make some extra money on the side and also apply this to my college application. Instead of helping me, I feel like its bringing my grades down and just stressing me out. I don't know whether to keep the job or quit my job for this coming semester. Will I even have a chance getting accepted into the UC's with the grades I currently have? I know extracurricular are important but grades should matter too and i'm just loosing track of them. I wanna show the UC's that I can manage both.</p>
<p>You make no mention of this, but I assume you also have friends and a significant other or something so know this: having a job and going to school means you basically have no time for a social life so think about that and decide if that’s something you’d be ok with. You need to have a study schedule and stick to it. If you’re not working or going to school on weekends or some other day, that’s a study day.</p>
<p>If you can’t handle both commitments, I think the answer is pretty obvious. You need to quit the job and focus exclusively on school or at the very least reduce your course load until you find a comfortable balance. Only after that should you maybe think about increasing it gradually if you want to take more classes. I know it’s nice to have a little extra cash, but in the long run I’m sure having had a part-time job is going to be trivial 5+ years from now. Whereas your undergraduate degree is going to stick with you for life and compromising potentially graduating from an elite public institution like many of the top UC’s could end up being a huge regret of yours. </p>
<p>To answer your question of whether you’ll get into the UC’s you should have given us more background information. What’s your overall GPA? What’s your major? What are your target UC’s? Simply listing your grades in a few classes doesn’t tell us enough. Regardless, my impression is that you’re most certainly still in a position to transfer to some of the UC’s, but it may be harder if you’re hoping for Berkeley or UCLA. Granted I have no idea how your classes are weighted in terms of units but two B’s and a C and a D (which is replaceable) shouldn’t have catastrophically ruined your GPA. I transferred with I think 4 B’s and also had a C, the rest being A’s, and I was admitted to nearly all the UC’s, including UCLA. I also did stay 3 years so I had a decent amount of time to buffer my earlier mistakes and get my GPA back to the 3.7 range. In most cases a 3.1-3.2 is good enough to get you into a couple of the lower tier and sometimes mid-tier UC’s so at the very least you should be able to bring your GPA back up to that range. </p>
<p>Lastly, you’re assuming there’s more weight in extracurriculars than there really are. For admission purposes most of the UC’s will not use EC’s to factor into their decision. As a transfer applicant they’ll focus exclusively on your academics and prerequisite completion. Of the UC’s, only four use a “holistic” review process where they take into account everything, but even then just listing a part-time job would likely have trivial impact when they’re considering you. Unless you specifically address your job in your personal statement and how it contributed to somehow making you a better student or person it’ll likely get overlooked. That and unless you had an internship or worked in a field related to your major then it also likely won’t hold much weight. Lastly, for admission purposes everything comes second to your grades. Your personal statement, EC’s, awards, work experience, etc. all of that is going to be factored in AFTER your grades and only for those UC campuses that do holistic reviews: Berkeley, UCLA, UCI, and UC Merced. So when debating academics vs work experience, it should be pretty clear where you need to focus the majority of your attenion if you want to get into the UC’s.</p>
<p>My overall cumulative GPA thus far (summer classes included) is a 3.28. If I retake that class, my GPA should increase. I’m also aiming for a 4.0 this coming semester so hopefully that will help. I’m a Political Science major-IR and I intend to TAG into UCSD. In addition, my top target schools include UCB and UCLA but I will also be applying to UCI, UCD. I’m applying for schools this Fall. Quick question: Up to when do UC’s look at grades for a transfer student? </p>
<p>Yes, I also came to the conclusion that UC’s put more weight on grades than EC’s for transfers which means it’s probably time to focus less on my job Kinda heartbreaking since I actually like my job. Anyways, a good sit down with my counselor should help me put my priorities into perspective. Thanks for everyone’s advice and suggestions!</p>
<p>Why don’t you take fewer classes a semester? It’s better to take 2 classes and get A’s than 4 and get B’s… It might take you an extra year to finish, but your chances will be a lot higher for UCLA and UCB</p>
<p>No offense, but if you’re working part time and are not able to keep up with non-STEM classes, you may need to reassess your study habits, not your hours on the job.</p>
<p>Probably but then again, I never mentioned how many hours I worked per week. What comes easy to some might be difficult to others. As a teenager working for the first time, I did find it difficult to organize my time. But I learned through trial and error, as do most. From this experience, I now understand that study habits AND how many hours you work on the job work hand in hand. No offense was taken, I just hope you understand what I’m trying to say.</p>
<p>paintress:
My son and I came back from a visit to a Cal state school visit and we’ve recently read the the local CCC rules for California colleges; the rules have changed about retaking classes in CC’s and state-funded schools because California is out of money. The state is in the process of revamping it’s retake procedures.</p>
<p>Check with your local CC but the Dean at LB told us that students who retake classes will no longer be able to “replace” their grade simply by retaking the class. Now, the old grade will be merged with the new grade. This changes things at the UC and Cal State level as well, since students will not be able to replace grades. The state subsidizes the universities and wants everyone done within a reasonable amount of time and not continuing to retake the class until they get the “right” grade.</p>
<p>I definitely do not agree with this, lol. Don’t let this scare you.</p>
<p>@OP: I’d probably suggest for you to quit your job and focus on your GPA. Your top priority should be school at this point in time if money is not an issue for you.</p>
<p>Alternatively, you could ask for less hours at your job (maybe work weekends only?) or find another more flexible job that would allow you to work less. Another alternative is finding an on-campus job since many of these allow you to do homework as well.</p>
<p>I personally think having a job while in school shows good work ethic on your application + helps with your time management skills which is crucial once you start taking harder and more classes. That’s just me though :p</p>
<p>I really know how you feel. You never really realize how much time you have to study until you get a job. I went through my first year with straight A’s, but when I finally got a part time job that was 30+ hours a week, life was so much harder. I have a girlfriend and I played for 2 hockey teams, and coached a middle school hockey team all at the same time with 19 units of school on top of my job. It was my first job too, but it was a sales job which just drains you at the end of the day. Trying to balance all of these commitments was a good challenge for me. Time management is key. I studied during any break I had, including lunch and dinner. I even studied during work when I really had to. I did get accepted to Cal and I’m attending there this fall. I completely understand that you’re overwhelmed, but if you can’t make the necessary adjustments with your hours and scheduling, you’ll just have to lose a little bit of sleep and social life to pull up your grades. It’ll feel very rewarding when you get those acceptance letters in the mail come Spring.</p>
<p>@aunt bea: Thank you for letting my know about this. Fortunately, I was able to talk to a counselor today to get some advice. Based on my CC, the D will remain on my transcript however the better grade I hope to earn will be the one added to my GPA. This means the UC’s will know I retook a class but if I did better the second time, the new grade will be the one added to my GPA and I will only earn the units for that class once, not twice. This info may vary depending on the CC but I will look into it a bit more now that you warned me about the changes. Thank you! </p>
<p>@lullabies: No worries! The social life comment didn’t bother me a bit considering most of my friends also have jobs, but thank you. You and I think alike. I absolutely agree with your statement on prioritizing school and how the experience of a job is extremely valuable for one’s self growth. After last nights slight meltdown, I got straight to work today. I changed my work schedule and talked to my supervisors about my dilemma. For now, I’ll keep my job for a couple more months, see how things go now that I am working less hours. If I still can’t manage, well I think we both know the fate of my job. </p>
<p>@HockyGiant: Thank you so much for understanding! Looking back this summer, I definitely bit off more than I could chew. After my first semester being on cloud 9, I thought I could do more. Guess I learned my lesson. Trial and error is really what it comes down to. I also work in retail and yes, it can be quite exhausting. Btw, congrats on your acceptance to Cal! I wish you the best of luck on all your endeavors. I’ll be waiting for that same rewarding feeling come Spring. </p>
<p>Thanks for everyone’s responses, kind words and advice. I really do appreciate it. :)</p>
<p>@aunt bea
Unless the CC is going back and altering the transcripts by removing the first attempt completely and then only displaying the “merged” grade, which seems unusual, then it shouldn’t have any influence on what the UC’s policy has been. The CC’s don’t dictate how the UC’s interpret a transcript, so I don’t see how their policy could have an effect for UC admissions. It would seem like the CC’s would have to display every grade for every attempt in that class on the transcript and as long as that’s the case the UC’s will likely continue to base their admission decisions following their own policy, which has been one of “academic forgiveness.” </p>
<p>I know many of the CC’s have recently changed their policy to prevent students from re-enrolling in classes they’ve already taken, but this is the first time I’ve ever heard of a merged grade policy. It seems impractical, especially for CC’s that are on a +/- grade scale. For instance, how would you merge say a C- and a C? And even for those that aren’t, if you receive a D and then a C is that a D+ or C-? It seems like there’s ambiguity there. At most what I can imagine them doing is denoting all the grades of every attempt taken, but averaging the multiple attempts only in the GPA calculation. So the transcripts would still indicate all the grades received, but for the CC records the GPA would be calculated from a merged amount of grade points. Regardless, in that case the UC’s would still do their own GPA calculations as they currently do and calculate the UC transferable GPA for admission purposes based on their current policy. Until the UC’s decide to change their policy I’m not sure anything will change for transfer applicants that have repeated coursework.</p>
Kinda heartbreaking since I actually like my job. Anyways, a good sit down with my counselor should help me put my priorities into perspective. Thanks for everyone’s advice and suggestions!</p>