<ul>
<li>High school GPA was terrible.</li>
<li>Graduated from a CC with a 3.7 GPA and an AA in art.</li>
<li>Spent three years at the CC. During one of those years, I received several W grades and a few C grades in courses not related to art. (This is the one year that brought my GPA down.)</li>
<li>Completed IGETC.</li>
<li>Worked as a freelance illustrator (children's books, digital illustrations, etc.).</li>
<li>Participated in lots of ECs, mostly related to art and literature.</li>
<li>Enrolled in UC Irvine and am quickly finding that it wasn't a great choice for me. </li>
<li>Age: 22</li>
</ul>
<p>Let's say I decide to drop out of UCI (before the W grade deadline). I would take at least one semester, but possibly an entire year, off of college.</p>
<p>Is it possible for someone like me to then transfer to a top university or LAC? I would apply to colleges with relatively high transfer rates (Notre Dame, Reed) as well as those with low transfer rates which accept supplementary materials (Stanford, Haverford).</p>
<p>I doubt that anyone here can say the likelihood of my getting in, but I'm just wondering at this point whether it's even possible ...</p>
<p>Would taking a year off be frowned upon, especially when coupled with that bad year I had in CC?</p>