Long story short, I took classes at 4 community colleges before transferring to cal poly Pomona, where I dropped out due to low grades. Now after a few years I want to go back to school, start at community college and transfer to ucdavis but I know my past classes will bring my gpa down. Can I do an academic renewal at 5 different schools? Or what are my choices?
After you take some classes at community college, when you apply to transfer to universities you will need to tell them about all of the college classes that you have ever taken. However, the more recent classes will be a lot more important. If you get high grades now, there will be good universities that will overlook the low grades from many years ago. I have no idea whether or not UC Davis will be one of them.
Admissions staff are humans. They understand that different students mature at different rates.
You can ask each of those different CCs about academic renewal. But it might just be easier for you to choose one CC and focus on getting good grades there. Contact the Transfer Advisor, and ask about pathways to the 4-year institution(s) where you would like to eventually apply. The Transfer Advisor at your CC has seen academic records even worse than yours and can help you come up with a good plan to achieve your goals.