<p>First of all, I apologize if this has been brought up a billion times. I searched for a similar story but couldn't exactly find what I was looking for. I'm a little stressed out about transferring. I've been working on my TAG application (which yes, is due by tomorrow) and I'm not sure how it's going to pan out. So a few questions:</p>
<p>1) I have made some stupid, careless mistakes. When I graduated high school I was a careless and dumb kid. I first began attending Palomar Community College & racked up a bunch of Fs and a few Ws. The next year I decided to go to Mira Costa instead and "start over". Too bad I wasn't prepared for that - I just withdrew from everything. Went back to Palomar. Did okay, still made a couple mistakes (good God), but never finished. Decided college wasn't for me. Fast forward: I'm 22, married, living in San Diego, and decide to go back for real this time. I started attending Mesa, major is history. Now after two years I have a 3.6, but that isn't cumulative. SO, all that to say - there are some classes that are the equivalent of the ones I'd previously failed, however I never formally had them changed on the former transcripts (I'm not even sure how to go about that). Will the college recognize that and factor that in? </p>
<p>2) Because of my past horrible academic performance, my GPA shows up as a 2.8 right now. With said classes mentioned that I have retaken at a different community college, will they take note of this during their review, or will they solely look at the GPA, see that it is 2.8 and throw it into the "rejected" file? </p>
<p>3) Am I just totally screwed here because of my past?</p>
<p>If the classes you failed and the class you took recently (and got a better grade) are the equivalent, I think the TAG application will automatically say it was taken again (at this semester) and calculate a new GPA. (although I’m not 100% sure)</p>
<p>really hard to tell. if applying this year doesnt work out for you, i suggest you Academically Renew all the crappy grades you got and at all the colleges you got them from, (has to be atleast 1-2 yrs in the past), which will boost your gpa. then confidently apply next year. </p>
<p>but i say you go ahead and submit the tag for now. i think davis accepts ppl who tag with a gpa of 2.8…not sure.</p>
<p>I have similar circumstances Melowe. I went for a semester to a CC, did poorly, and failed a class. I retook it at my current college and got an A. The TAG App is not recognizing it as a repeat like it is recognizing other classes that I failed and retook at the same college. It sucks because it’s bringing my GPA down. The Tag App does say that the GPA is “preliminary”. I hope for both our sakes a person goes through each application with a fine tooth comb and corrects these types of errors. </p>
<p>I don’t believe the bad grades are removed if you repeat a class. They stay there and the second class shows up as a repeat (at least on my transcripts). I believe academic renewal is the closest thing to that as redoplease mentioned. If I don’t get in anywhere them I am definitely going that route and trying for UC’s again next year. </p>
<p>Thanks for the replies. I went ahead & submitted it anyway. I figured I might as well. UCSD was really a last minute decision, hence why I filled it out next to the last minute. I will definitely look into academic renewal. </p>
<p>RockLobstar - I am also hoping when they review the TAG they take those things into consideration but I’m not feeling very optimistic about it. Worst case scenario the transfer process for me will be delayed longer. I really don’t want that to happen, but I suppose it comes with the consequences of having the past I do. </p>
<p>Now if I apply without the TAG, will the college recognize I clearly changed my ways? The transcript that holds my low GPA is from Palomar CC and was years ago. Everything I have done at San Diego Mesa has been stable and my GPA there is a 3.6 - not competitive, but decent. All of the courses that matter have been taken there as well.</p>
<p>i disagree! i think a 3.6 is pretty competitive, esp in history. ppl have gotten into berkeley as history majors with lower gpas than that. my major is history too and i have about that gpa!</p>
<p>I called UCSD and UCI to ask this exact same question for a friend of mine and here is the answer. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Both schools will recieve your TAG applications and begin reviewing them October 1st. They will then send out conditional acceptances via the TAG website and/or email throughout the month of October.</p></li>
<li><p>DO NOT pay attention to the GPA posted on the TAG application. Both UCSD and UCI do not even look at this! Rather, both UCSD and UCI will have admissions representatives do a complete review of your TAG application and these reps will calculate your GPA for you. During this time they will replace any and all grades that should be replaced.</p></li>
<li><p>Here is an example: Lets say you took calculus 1 at college 1 and got a D and then took calculus 1 again at college 2 and got an A. The TAG agreement will average these grades yeilding a C+/B-. The UC rep however, will recognize that these classes are indeed equivalent and they will then REPLACE your lower grade with your better, and more recent grade. So in this example the D would be replaced with the A (not averaged).</p></li>
</ol>
<p>^ Thank you for sharing this! That definitely does ease my mind a bit!</p>
<p>With the GPA comment, I guess I figured it was more on the average side based on some of the posts I’ve read here. I’m personally pretty happy with it (and I know History isn’t as challenging to get into as some other majors there), but in retrospect I just feel like I could have kicked it up a notch.</p>