Questions about transferring from CC after finishing Associate's

Transfer Students
1

Hi guys. I understand that I’d probably be able to get more specific answers from contacting the schools themselves/coordinating with my own, but I just wanted to see if I could get some feedback first.

Here’s my situation:
Preface, I’m 24, so I was finally able to apply for the FAFSA without any EFC (since my parents wouldn’t actually help, though understandably). I’m taking this as my second chance to go back to school on my own terms, trying my hardest and focusing to do as well as possible.

I graduated from high school in 2010 with decent SATs (2290?), APs (Pretty much 5s in everything with some 4s; National AP Scholar), and an OK gpa (somewhere like 3.1-3.3?). I applied to a few schools, got accepted to one, and deferred to the spring for another (better for my program, Computer Science). I decided to go to the first school (A) since I was getting most of my tuition paid by a scholarship offered; I did OK, had something like a 3 point something GPA and then transferred in the spring to the other school (B).

This is where it gets messy. My first few semesters were OK, but long story short my grades started to fall and were never very good in Math - I was younger, stupid, and didn’t have really any kind of work or study ethic; I hardly ever went to class and any of the grades I got were pretty much from winging it, for years. I was academically dismissed junior year, with about as many credits requiring a semester or two left to graduate.

I was told to transfer to another school (it was somewhat of a hybrid online/in person class kind of school, C) and then to re-apply later with good grades. Again, unfortunately, I blew it - I wasn’t able to get back in to my school (actually because of a bit of a blunder… I got a D in one course because my Professor didn’t accept my final exam), so I decided to continue in this school… as you can imagine, I didn’t suddenly grow a good work ethic overnight, or even months later.

So in short, here’s my situation:
School A, one semester, right after highschool. GPA was not terrible, mid 3.0s.
School B, 2 years or so, immediately after one semester of school A. Failed out with a 1.6? 1.8 GPA.
School C, right after getting academically dismissed from B. Stopped attending, but final semester (I really don’t know why) I just didn’t do anything and got Fns instead of just withdrawing. So, basically failed out too due to that last semester (1.8? 1.9 GPA).

So yeah, my academic history is extremely terrible, and it’s kind of painful just to type that all out. That being said, I’ve gained a lot of work and interpersonal experience in my 6 years between high school and now (in addition to the 2 or 3 or so years I’ve been out of college). I decided going back, taking school much more seriously and finishing my degree, with a silly hope of maybe law school in the future if I can manage to get an extremely high GPA.

My situation now:
I’m taking classes at my local community college. Since I have so many credits, I’ve basically transferred most of what I can, and will be able to finish my associate’s this semester (I wish I knew I could’ve applied for FAFSA at 24 last semester; didn’t realize you could apply for the school year in which you turned 24). Maybe it’s kind of unbelievable, but I’m striving for a 4.0 through 15 credits, or at least as close as I can get to it.

I have a few courses already taken here for random things like high school college courses and transfer credits from the summer, so I have like a mid 3.0s average again through 2-3 courses.

So now that I’ve outlined my situation, I have a few questions…

  1. I’m planning on transferring (reapplying?) after finishing my associate’s, but since it’s basically going to be only this semester in terms of having grades, how do you think it would work/I would go about this? Is it possible to delay my transcripts for a 2017 Spring enrollment until all my grades come out for the Fall 2016 semester? Or do I need to take a gap or something to let everything settle in? And if I do need to take a gap, what should I be filling this in with (e.g. should I maybe take some more classes at my CC… transfer/reapply to maybe an old school so I can be using this time, or I don’t know, maybe an internship or getting some work relevant work experience or something)?

  2. My goal seems a bit far-fetched for me now with some more research, but I want to transfer to a better school to finish my Bachelor’s, hopefully within 1.5 years. School B that I went for is actually pretty good, nationally, for my major (Computer Science), but I have a terrible GPA/bad academic history there. Given that I kind of want a clean slate, I am honestly looking to apply somewhere else so that I can keep a cleaner GPA and, like I said, given enough work and dedication to maintaining a high GPA, maybe apply to law school afterwards.

In case I can’t get into any of the schools I transfer to, I also plan to re-apply school B. However, having been academically dismissed and having my requests for reinstatement denied, is it possible to even re-attend this school again (e.g., they say I should continue my education elsewhere… if I fixed my GPA and showed good faith this semester, would they reconsider)?

  1. The main schools I’m looking at are schools in California and UT (UTexas@Austin), among others. Maybe this part will be irrelevant, but it looks like most UC schools only accept new applicants in the fall… Is it even possible to transfer for the spring? It looks like it may depend school-to-school.

And finally, 4) How likely is it I’d be able to make a smooth transition assuming I’m able to achieve high grades this semester? Do you think I’d even have a chance to transfer to another decent school and finish my Bachelor’s, or would I perhaps need to do more interstitial work (e.g., apply to another school, do a semester or two there, then re-transfer AGAIN)?

To anyone who reads all of this, thanks for your time - and thank you again if you’re able to/decide to answer my questions.

2

I think what you’re doing now, taking community college classes is exactly where you need to be. However, I think you need more CC classes under your belt to show a true change in your academic progress. Schools, especially UCs, really like upward trends, but it takes 3-4 semesters (IMO) to really show a change. Even if you have done the coursework to complete an AA, that doesn’t mean you need to stop. I know you’re anxious to finish your BA, but just as it took time to tank your GPA, it will take time to raise it.

From what I understand, right out of high school, you attended college for about 4 semesters. Assuming you were going full time, you would have around 48-60 units reflected in your transcripts. It seems like your cumulative GPA from schools A, B, and C, is likely around a 2.0 or so. If that’s the case, it would take another 48-60 units of 4.0 semesters, just to get your total cumulative GPA to be around 3.0.

On the upside, depending on where you went to schools originally and where you want to transfer, all of your grades may not be transferable, so you may have Ds and Fs that won’t count against you. You may also want to look into academic renewal at your last 2 colleges. Most schools don’t offer that, but some do, and if they do, you may be able to get those bad grades off your record. Some schools may do it if enough years have passed, others do it if you show that you have successfully passed a certain number of units at a different school. Other schools do it if you have successfully passed courses that you previously failed with them. It’s worth asking and checking out.

With regards to the UCs, yes most schools only take Fall transfers. Last year I believe UC Irvine did Spring admissions, but it was only offered to people who applied for fall- it wasn’t a separate application. If you apply for Fall 2017, only your grades through January 2017 will be considered for admission.

In all honesty, I think you should focus on applying for Fall 2018. You will likely find that if you have stellar grades at community college during 2016-17 and fall 2017, you will have an excellent shot at some good schools. If you transfer for fall 2017, I believe you would only be accepted to school that are not well ranked. If your true ultimate goal is law school, then you have to think about if an extra year in CC is worth it or not.

3

Thanks for the elaborate response. I was thinking that maybe I should finish another AA as well, just to spend some more time on it and getting more grades.

Does academic renewal really matter/affect anything relevant to what I’m trying to do? I read up a bit on it, at least for one of the schools, and it requires that I’m re-attending for it to be an option. In addition, I think it still shows your grades, but it just doesn’t count against me… then again I realized that you’re probably talking about cumulative GPA.

That being said, it’s definitely a good idea to ask and see how it can apply to me.

Two questions, then:

  1. Any suggestions for what I should be taking then assuming I do take more courses/finish up another AA? Maybe something business oriented, or honestly, I’m not really sure. What do you think prospective colleges might like to see most?
  2. Do you know if it would be even possible, then, to try re-applying to some of my old schools for the 2017 Spring? I’ll have to ask them directly to find out for sure, I suppose.

Anyway, again, thanks for the constructive advice - this gives me a lot more to think about going in.

4

Well I see two options.
Firstly, it appears the bad grades happened in the beginning of your college career. That would most likely mean that it was the lower division course work that you messed up on. Even though the academic renewal policy at your prior college may not work for you, it doesn’t hurt to retake that lower division course work at a CC. I’m not sure of the policy regarding course repetitions, however, when applying to UC’s, you can choose whether or not a class you recorded was a retake or not. In other words, take the course work at the CC, then when applying to colleges, state on the application that the courses were repeats. UC applications has a function specifically for this. It’ll also update to reported gpa accordingly. Whether or not the UC’s will accept a repeat from a different college, I do not know exactly for your situation. You’d have to call and ask. However, I should say in my case , my counselor at my CC said it does. (Intro to Sociology was the class in my case; the class name was the same at both colleges)

Secondly,
You’ve been out of college for 2-3 years. You can potentially go back for a different AA, and get high marks (3.6+), while ““repeating”” (see above) some old grades here and there on the side. Either way, I agree with @2016Candles that it will take more than 1 year to “redeem” yourself. But this time do it right and maybe add an internship over the summer and some EC’s.

**By the way, you don’t need a law degree to be a lawyer. In CA, Virginia, Washington and a few other states, you can do what is called, “reading the law”. First you have to find a Judge that will mentor you. Basically you study law under the judge for an established amount of time. Then, you sit for the bar exam. Pass and you’re ABA certified. However, there is a low passage rate compared to those who attend Law school. Also, Job prospects are gonna be heavily dependent on your networking skills and how bad you want it! (Pursuit of Happiness; Will Smith)

5

You should also go have a nice long chat with the financial aid office at your current CC. There are limits on the number of semesters you can receive federal financial aid, and there are maximums for certain kinds of federal aid money. If you will need aid to complete your bachelor’s degree after transferring, you don’t want to use up all your money on multiple semesters completing extra AAs.

6

Thanks for all the responses. I’ll be getting in contact with all the schools that I can so that I can roughly try to figure everything out.

And about the financial aid - you’re right; I haven’t considered that, though I don’t think it’ll be a huge problem as last I checked Pell Grants were the only aid limited by LEU (6 years?). That being said, it’s good to keep that in mind in case things start to last a little longer than hoped/expected.