Hi all, I am currently a student at Foothill College. I am trying to transfer to SJSU as a computer science or software engineering major. I have completed my AST, have over 90 units, and am a local student. However, my GPA is pretty low (was 2.9 in the winter quarter, but dropped to 2.7 in the spring). My questions are:
Will taking classes that are transferable but not major specific/related help raise my GPA or even count?
If not accepted to any universities (preferred), what would be my next option or step? I know that the AST provides guaranteed acceptance to a local school, but if I chose not to go to that school, what would I do in order to make myself more eligible for the next year (if that's even an option)?
Do I have a chance of getting accepted into either major?
Taking more classes can help boost your transferable GPA but based on the information from the 2018 admission cycle, you will not be able to meet the thresholds listed below.
Here are the Transfer GPA thresholds for all majors at SJSU:
Computer Science:
Applicants who completed five course requirements were admitted above a 3.50 GPA.
This major did not have the enrollment capacity to admit applicants with fewer than five course requirements completed.
This major did not have the enrollment capacity to admit applicants as alternate majors.
Software Engineering:
Applicants who completed four course requirements were admitted above a 3.30 GPA.
This major did not have the enrollment capacity to admit applicants with fewer than four course requirements completed.
This major did not have the enrollment capacity to admit applicants as alternate majors.
If not accepted to your preferred university and you are already at 90 units, I would add a couple of non-impacted CSU’s where you are guaranteed an acceptance and complete your degree. A CS degree is very marketable and your undergraduate school will not make much difference. Employers are more interested in your job skill set than the name of the school on your degree.
I wonder if you could try University of the Pacific? The tuition and costs are much higher than Foothill, but they also have a coop program. Coop programs allow you to work for a semester. Those earnings offset some of the costs.
UOP is really tough to rationalize at full tuition. I’d look at a couple of non-impacted CSUs like SF State and CSUEB. Both offer better proximity to the Silicon Valley and cost $8k a year for tuition.
@Gumbymom thank you so much for the detailed reply! It really really helped me. None of my counselors would even answer the questions. It was driving me crazy with stress. Even with the AST advantage and the locality, I would not be able to make my self eligible for the transfer?
all the schools I listed will give you a solid foundation in CS. SJ is a lot tougher to get into (for CS) so, i imagine the typical CS student is more studious than SF or EB. UOP is a lot smaller and it is further from the Valley than it looks on a map. SJ has D1 Football and has been working hard to create a more residential campus but, it is really unlikely to admit you so, like Stanford down the road, great school but, not really relevant as a transfer target. I encourage you to apply to all of them - just be sure you have a couple of viable (financially and academically) options for next year.