I had a very rough upbringing and I have been lost for all my 20’s. I just turned 30 a month ago and its really hitting me hard. I dont want to be a nobody all my life.
I’ve finally had enough and I have a fire lit under my ass to change my life, but before I can, I need some questions answered:
1.) I want to go back to community college and transfer to a UC (berkeley or UCLA) to get an EE or CS degree. I know I am capable of it and I know I can do it, there is nothing stopping me, I am very hungry for it.
However, in my early 20’s I was enrolled at 1 or 2 community colleges for a few semesters and flunked out. When the time comes that I want to transfer, will this screw me over? I have heard in the past that they will find out all schools you went to, is this true? These events happened about 10 years ago, do community colleges keep transcripts this long for inactive students? Could I simply just enroll into a community college that I have never attended?
2.) Going back to my rough upbringing, I dropped out of highschool due to some really unfortunate events that I will not share because writing them will probably make me tear up. So I have no high school diploma or GED. Can I still transfer to a UC from community college?
3.) Logistically speaking, do UC schools give the same amount of chance to transfer to all community colleges? Like, do I have a higher chance of getting into berkeley if I went to X community college instead of Y?
4.) Is it possible to transfer in a year? I plan on tackling this more than full time so I can take a huge amount of classes per semester. I know it will probably kill me, but in the hope that it will turn my life around, I will do anything.
I am in dire need of guidance on this before I plan to pursue this avenue. I’m at a huge crossroads in my life right now and I really need the help, thanks to all that answer.
I did a little mental digging. I actually went to 3 community colleges in my area. 10 years ago… Now I feel even more screwed. I really dont know what I should do.
You should start by visiting the CC closest to where you live. Take all of your records. Your records are permanent. They don’t just vanish after a certain period of time. But you need to know that the counselors at the CC have seen many students just like you. They will be able to help you determine the best pathway to finish your education.
Ask about registering for classes. Ask about grade renewal (you might be able to re-take some failed classes for a higher grade). Ask about the GED. The rules about financial aid have changed since you were in college the first time. Now you need a high school diploma or a GED to qualify for federal financial aid. You need to find out if there are exceptions for students like yourself. It might be possible to use CC classes to complete HS diploma requirements if you are only missing a few classes - that could be easier than studying for and taking all the GED exams.
Since you have not been in school for a while, it might not be a good idea to try to overload the classwork for at least the first semester. You need to become familiar again with the whole studying thing.
Wishing you much success with your new plans!
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Yes CCs keep transcripts indefinitely. I had CC transcripts from 1996 when I applied to transfer in 2013. Look into Academic Renewal (AR) at your former colleges. Every school has different requirements for AR, so there’s no one answer on how to do that or what can be renewed. But the general idea of AR is that poor grades (Ds and Fs) can be removed from your transcripts. The classes still appear, but the grades arent factored into your GPA. Generally approval for AR is the passage of time and satisfactory grades currently.
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UCs don’t care which CC you attend. Some CCs offer more classes or more flexible schedules, online classes etc, so you should find a convenient one that meets you academic and scheduling needs.
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How quickly you can transfer depends on a) your major (after transferring), b) how many units you can handle, c) how many transferable units you already have, and d) where you place in terms of math and English.
A) STEM majors require a lot more CC classes than social sciences.
B) If you can manage 18-19 units and still get A’s with the occasional or non- existent B, then go for it. I wouldn’t recommend more than 6 classes regardless, which is about 18-20 units. 5 classes is normal full time and some people do 4 classes full time. No shame on any of it!
C) If you already have 15 transferable units that count towards your transfer units, then obviously it’ll take less time than if you’re starting with 0 units.
D) If you don’t place at college level math and English, then it will take time to take enough classes and semesters to reach the college level. Or if your major requires you to take Chemistry (for example), but you place in College Algebra for math, you may have to reach Calculus math before you can take Chem. So semester 1 would be college algebra, semester 2 would be pre-calculus, then semester 3 would be Calculus. THEN semester 4 you could take Chemistry. It all just depends.
If you get started next semester in Spring, then you can do summer and Fall, before applying for transfer in Fall 2017. That would give you 3 semesters and a summer to get in all your classes and units. Depending on all the above, that’s toatally doable.
What im confused about is for all 3 of the different CC I went to, can I go to just 1 CC and take care of all the issues?
So if I want to apply for academic renewal, do I have to go to all 3 CC’s individually to apply? Or do I only have to do it at one?
Yes you will have to go to each school to file for AR separately.
Don’t worry! You have a lot to offer. By having so much life experience, you will add much to the classroom and to campus. The advice given above is great. Take more simple classes first, then as you get your feet under you, you can ramp up the difficulty level.
You can do it!
:-bd
Do you guys think it would be in my best interest to choose out of the 3 community college I went to, the one that I picked the least classes at before? or the most?
I’m pretty sure I spent at least more than a year at OCC, a year at IVC, and 1 semester at santiago canyon college.
Or does this all not matter and I should just pick one that suits me the best, and file for academic renewal at all of them?
You don’t even really have to choose just 1. When I was at CC before transferring, I was at 3 different CCs (not counting ines from long ago). If there are classes you need to retake because you failed it, then you can retake anywhere. It would probably be less of a headache to retake it where you took it initially, but it doesn’t really matter. Don’t focus so much on your past academics. Find out about AR at each school, see what you have to do, and then go from there. Map out your classes based on your major and IGETC (if applicable). Take classes where you think you’ll be most successful.
I strongly advise choosing the school(s) that suit you the best. Your comfort is what’s important.
Also, you may want to first try taking a free online course to try out “college” before starting over again.
Coursera, Edx, MIT, and several other places have free courses that you can try online. Just choose any subject! See if you like it. That may help you get your mind back into things before you go back (in fact it’s a way to do a class before you have to take it “for real.” For example, you can take calculus online, practice it a few times over a summer, and then in the fall take the class at Community College for a grade.)
Here is list of MOOCs with free courses that you can look at.
http://knowledgelover.com/best-mooc-massive-open-online-course-providers-list/
My last question is do I need a GED to recieve FAFSA?
I don’t know how a lack of a GED affects FAFSA. However anything concerning FAFSA, I would highly encourage you to do your own research on their website rather than relying on internet strangers.
It’s definitely possible, but you’re going to have to pull really high grades to show them how much you have improved. You have the opportunity to explain your past in the essays. I doubt you can do it in a year especially if you’ve been away from school for that long. You might have to take placement tests in English and Math and depending how you place it can take a couple semesters to get through the courses.
Good luck. I’m in a similar situation.
I totally forgot about those placement tests. I took up to calc 2 but remember nothing lol. I think I will score pretty high on math. English, not too sure.
A little practical suggestion, in community college the curriculum may ask you to take technical math and technical physics. I suggest taking Calculus math and the co-requisite physics. I made that mistake when I went to community college, but fixed it by taking the engineering math and physics before graduating from CC and then enrolling in engineering school.
If you can, try to re take the classes you screwed up before. The previous grades will show on the transcript but at least you proved you were ready for the classes this time around!