Please help me with my options! UC/CSU

State Forums
1

Hi! I’ve posted on this forum recently and received some great help but now I’ve narrowed down my options and wanted to see if anyone could offer any advice. Thank you so much :slight_smile:

So, I’m at cal poly and I hate it. I’m a psychology major and can’t see myself spending any more time here, I’m really unhappy and anxious. I’ve looked into clubs etc I’m just not happy here. I’m a first year but will be junior level once I finish my spring classes. I applied to UC Santa Cruz two days ago (they took an appeal for a late application) however I only will probably have a 2.5 and I know it’s almost impossible to get into UCs from CSUs.

I found out from my registrar that I can go home, take community college classes and still technically be enrolled.

So, assuming I get denied from UCSC, my options are
-immediately withdraw from spring classes at cal poly (it’ll be within the add drop period that I find out so I’ll have no penalty), come home and take transferable classes at my local California community college and write a letter of appeal and apply again for Winter admission (still technically enrolled at cal poly so I can go back if I don’t get in? Right?)
-start online college at northeastern university and begin applying for cool internships
-take a break off for a quarter to work and figure out what I want to do
-stay at Cal poly and try to get the highest grades I can and reapply for winter admission

Do any of these stand out as reasonable ideas? Or particularly bad ones? Literally any advice is so appreciated I’m very stressed! Thank you sooo much for your time

2

Your 2.5 GPA is more of a handicap for UC transfer than the fact you are at a CSU. If your UCSC ap doesn’t work, I’d encourage you to stay put through the academic year - get your GPA up and apply to transfer next year, you will have a lot more options.

3

@NCalRent if OP really wants to go to UCSC might it be a good idea to go to CC and do TAG?

http://admissions.ucsc.edu/apply/transfer-students/tag.html

4

What do you not like about CPSLO that is different at UCSC?

You can major in psychology at other schools less selective than UCSC (where your 2.5 college GPA may be enough), such as HSU, CSUMB, or CSUCI. But you need to know what you dislike about CPSLO and/or like about UCSC to figure out whether these schools would be better for you than CPSLO.

5

He/she needs to get his/her grades up to qualify to transfer to UCSC - it doesn’t matter where that happens. Going to a CC and qualifying for TAG will probably add a year to his/her bachelor’s degree - which is a high price to pay. Unless you have a failed class or two you can re-take, raising a GPA from 2.5 to the 3.2 UCSC is looking for is a Herculean task. @ucbalumnus raises a great question above. What is the OP trying to solve for by moving to Santa Cruz? Can he/she find it in another school?