<p>I attended a 4 year university and have about a 2.5 GPA there, but am under 80 units so am eligible to transfer to a UC school (CAL/UCLA/IRVINE are the only ones I am eligible for because of the amount of units I will have. I was an athlete, got hurt, etc, (other reasons to save for the application) and now moved out to California from Ohio to take school seriously. I should have a 3.67 by the end of fall 10. I am applying for Fall of 11, so then I can still bring my GPA up in the spring. I will have been a research assistant in a psychology lab at Cal for 2 years by the time I apply, along with research at the Institute on Aging in SF. I am worried that when my previous grades are factored in I will not even be considered through the application process. I have showed an upward trend, while also participating in 24 hours a week of research. What if my overall gpa was a 2.9 or 3.0 when my previous grades get factored into my 3.7 (which can be even higher by the end of spring) gpa from community college? I don't even know which ones will transfer so I cannot do any calculations myself. </p>
<p>does anyone know anyone who has been in a similar situation?????? ANY ADVICE?</p>
<p>JRod, my D was in the same exact situation with a combined GPA not unlike yours and was just admitted to UCSC for fall 2010. She could not figure out her transfer GPA for the same reasons you state. Your upward trend GPA (good job, keep up the good work!) should help and you might consider addressing your former college challenges in the app essay. I also think IGETC factors in favorably so if you are currently attending a Calif comm college and haven’t looked into that then you might want to stop in at the counseling center–Counselor can help you with the IGETC transfer compatible courses–you could help by printing out the course descriptions for the evaluation for certification.
Watch out for the UC critical thinking/writing requirement and try to complete that this fall 2010 semester if you haven’t already. Reason I say that is my D was denied admission in winter qtr 2010 for UCSC–she had not checked the IGETC box on the UC app and was in the process of completing the critical thinking/writing requirement the semester before transfer. One other thing that likely helped was the completion of many of her major’s core requirements at Comm College and a very good GPA the prior semester. Best of Luck!</p>