Transfer from CCC to Berkeley and UCLA with 4.0 except previous schools grades haunting me

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - GENERAL
1

I am a non-traditional student. I had pretty dark past, graduated HS with a 3.2, went to a University and ended up getting a 2.44 there with 26 units completed. I didn’t really care about college back then, was battling depression, and a ton of other personal things.

I ended up leaving that state and moving to CA and here I am now in my mid 20s, I’ve changed a ton. Very serious about school now. I’m now about half way through CC with a 4.0 and planning on keeping a 4.0 but I naively thought I could get a fresh start and never have to worry about my previous University grades again. Now I’ve done my research and it seems like there is no way out of my bad grades and I’m going to have to accept them. The University has policies that keep me from doing Academic Renewal. I have an F (from a concurrent Trig class from 2008 in HS), and a D (in Biology), and a couple C’s.

I am planning to apply to UCLA and Berkeley. I will have completed all transfer requirements for both Anthropology and Political Science to both schools before I transfer. My question for all of you is how forgiving are these schools with past grades? Obviously I’m going to talk about all my hardships and explain everything in the essay. Will they look at my CC transcript and my previous University transcript separately or will they combine the GPA into one? If they combine everything my 4.0 will probably be brought down to a 3.5-3.6. I’ve carried a full time job, done several volunteering jobs, and I’m really going to focus on getting involved in more extra curricular activities in coming months. I think my essays will be good. I am not able to do honors program because of my job hours. I am planning on retaking my tests (did bad in HS) and I think I’ll be able to score high now.

Do you think I still have a good chance? It really kills me that I’ve improved so much yet my bad decisions from my teenage years are haunting me :frowning:

2

Go have a chat about this with the Transfer advisor at your CC. That person has seen students with even worse old grades than yours, and will ve able to give you an evaluation of your admissions options.

Are you completing an associates degre at the CC? If so, be sure that your CC has all your old college and university transcripts too.

3

Bad grades from 5-10 years ago aren’t uncommon for non-traditional transfer students. They will be looked at and won’t simply be ignored because they’re old, but your current grade trends of stellar grades will overshadow them. I’m sure your essays will also address them and show how you overcome some very limiting hurdles and how you’ve grown as a person and a student because of it all.

Even if they combined for a 3.5-.6, that isn’t terrible … and again, most important is where you’re at now as a student.

Your essays to tell your story will be key, as will the additional comment boxes if there’s anything else to clear up.