<p>Hi all! I'm in a dilemma. I have been a student at UCR for the last 4 years as a biochemistry major and due to the economic crisis that hit my family during the last 2 years, I ended up working full time to help support my family and also pay for my schooling. Well, it didn't go so well because I ended up having to miss many of my classes and my GPA just plummeted down to a 2.45. During my 4th year I couldn't take all the stress of trying to be a full time student and work a full time job anymore so I decided to drop out before I completed my degree. The following year I decided to attend a community college as a part time student to continue my studies. As of now my family's economic situation has become better and I can finally stop working full time and I'm now ready to complete my education, but I have no clue how to go on with it. I wanted to transfer to CSULB, CSUF, or Cal Poly instead of a UC to save some money and also because during the time that I was at the community college I took some classes which made me realize that I'm actually more interested in engineering (computer engineering to be exact) than I ever was in biochemsitry. All I need is some advice on how I should approach this, should I continue in my studies at the CC and then transfer? How would the units at UCR affect my transfer chances? (because I have a lot of units already 150+). Last of all with my UCR GPA being that low would it be impossible for me to do anything at all? Please give me some advice. Thanks!</p>
<p>take a look at [UCR:</a> CHASS Student Academic Affairs](<a href=“http://chassstudentaffairs.ucr.edu/readmission/index.html]UCR:”>http://chassstudentaffairs.ucr.edu/readmission/index.html) to see about going back to UCR</p>
<p>For the CSU schools your specific situation (upper division xfer applicant with senior standing) the online info doesn’t seem to specifically say that it is allowed or not allowed. I suggest you contact the admission dept. at the schools you are consdiering. You can find contact info on their websites; for example
If possible I would suggest that rather than trying to talk it out over the phone you see if you can set up a 15 minute or so appt and visit in person, bringing a copy of your transcripts with you.</p>
<p>You should also be working with the xfer center at your CC. Often they have direct contact with counterparts in admission at the CSU and UC schools and can get answers quickly for you.</p>
<p>Changing from biochem to engineering might take a long time; typically 4-year colleges will want you to have finished all the lower-division classes for a major before you enroll and so even assuming there was a CSU campus that would take you as an engineer I doubt there is a lot of overlap between the lower-division biochem and engineering. If so this would mean taking the necessary classes at your CC. Again, something to bring up with the counselors.</p>
<p>Great advice mikemac. Cal Poly Pomona or Cal Poly SLO? In your situation, I think that Cal Poly Pomona would be best. Cheaper than SLO and many other schools and still very, very good. Probably close to your area since you went to UCR.</p>
<p>With a GPA of 2.4, it may be tough to get into many of the schools; you may have to consider non-impacted CSU campuses like Northridge. See [CSU</a> Campus Impaction Information | Student Academic Support | CSU](<a href=“http://www.calstate.edu/sas/impaction-campus-info.shtml]CSU”>http://www.calstate.edu/sas/impaction-campus-info.shtml) . Note that San Jose State needed a 2.60 GPA for transfer to computer engineering for fall 2011: [SJSU</a> Admission](<a href=“http://info.sjsu.edu/web-dbgen/narr/admission/rec-1211.html]SJSU”>http://info.sjsu.edu/web-dbgen/narr/admission/rec-1211.html) . And spring 2012 transfer admissions there was harder: [SJSU</a> Admission](<a href=“http://info.sjsu.edu/web-dbgen/narr/admission/rec-1210.html]SJSU”>http://info.sjsu.edu/web-dbgen/narr/admission/rec-1210.html)</p>
<p>As noted above, take a look at readmission to UCR, since many schools are more friendly to readmitting students who were previously enrolled in good standing than they are to transfers from other schools.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice. I guess the next step for me would be to talk to an admissions counselor at one of the CSU and see what they say. At the moment I’m at a CC taking the prereq courses needed to transfer as an engineer. The reason why I don’t see UCR as a viable school for me to attend anymore is because of the price of UC tuition which would probably be too big a burden on my family right now and also due to UCR’s unit cap that wouldn’t allow me to change majors and still be able to graduate.</p>
<p>Would you be eligible for the [Blue</a> and Gold Opportunity Plan](<a href=“http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/paying-for-uc/financial-aid/grants/blue-gold/files/blueandgold_factsheet_11_Eng.pdf]Blue”>http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/paying-for-uc/financial-aid/grants/blue-gold/files/blueandgold_factsheet_11_Eng.pdf) if you returned to UCR? Basically, it means that your grants would be topped up to cover systemwide fees, so systemwide fee increases will not affect you (although if other costs like living expenses are too high and you get insufficient aid for that, it could still be a problem).</p>
<p>However, if you are running into unit cap issues, it is possible that other UCs and CSUs have similar limits, especially since you already have units from a four year school.</p>
<p>From what I have been reading many of the UC’s also have similar caps, but CSU doesn’t. My main goal here is to just get into a CSU that is close by my house so that I can just commute and not have to worry about off campus expenses. I’m looking into CSU northridge thinking that it might also work out for me. As long as I can complete my education and get a BS degree in computer engineering, it doesn’t matter which university I go to.</p>
<p>Also, I’m wondering about the differences between fall, winter, spring and summer admission? Since I missed the Fall 2012 application timing, is it possible for me to apply for summer admission in feb or would I need to wait till the winter/spring applications are open?</p>