<p>I apologize in advance that this may be a little long-winded.</p>
<p>Hello, I have a few questions that pertain to my specific situation. I have just completed my first semester at Grossmont Community College where I took 16 units and obtained an A in all of them, giving me a Grossmont GPA of 4.0 so far. While I intend to maintain this 4.0 record there is something which I am almost certain will affect me.</p>
<p>When I was in High School, I was definitely not the best student. While I took all the top level courses, I barely managed a weighted GPA of 4.01. In my junior year, I took Calculus 1 and Calculus 2 offered by Mesa College where I obtained "B" and "C" grades respectively. My senior year I took Political Science 1 and 2 offered by Mesa as well and got an "A" and a "B". Before leaving High School I had a Mesa College GPA of 2.93.</p>
<p>Since Junior year of high school I have begun to work extremely to hard redeem myself academically. If I were to continue getting all As in my courses while filling out all the recommended classes for the Computer Science B.A major in the college of Letters and Science, my GPA with my high school Mesa classes factored in would come out to be 3.77 by the end of Fall semester of next year, 4.0 without them.</p>
<p>So after explaining my academic situation, do I have a reasonable chance of transferring to UCB's College of Letters and Science? Will they consider that the courses lowering my GPA were taken when I was still in High School? Lastly, I intend to develop applications for the Android market, is there anything else I can do to show that I am serious about my future?</p>
<p>Hard to say. Whats on your GPA is what they’ll see. The last thing they want to hear was that you were not the hardest working student. I wouldn’t put that if I were you. I just applied as a computer science major with a 3.93 GPA and took Calc I and Calc II while I was in high school jr year/sr year respectively as well. Got both A’s. Keep in mind that there is such a thing called a Major GPA where it calculates the GPA of your prereq courses listed on ASSIST. Both Calc I and calc II are prereq courses for Computer Science.</p>
<p>When you transferring from community college your school record and school GPA doesn’t matter. You need to talk to the counselor in your community college. But you doing well and have a good chances to be in your dream school.</p>
<p>Ask about academic renewal. They offer it at Mesa and the rest of the SDCCD.</p>
<p>Also, explain your GPA in your personal statement. It is by no means a bad GPA, people like to come to this board to collectively panic and over-worry about things. The fact that you took those classes in High School is still impressive despite the grades. You show a lot of initiative in your story and that you are a self-motivated ambitious student. That will shine through in your application.</p>
<p>@sgcs150: I would have to respectfully disagree with xcaliberse on the point made about explaining your poor H.S. grades taken at a cc. Berkeley’s College of Liberal Arts & Sciences uses a holistic approach when making admissions decisions. It’s okay to explain that you were a poor or unmotivated student in high school. Just don’t attempt to make excuses for it. Own up to it and state how you have come to have a renewed sense of purpose in your current academic endeavors. Adcoms like rising grade trends (just as much as they abhor falling ones).</p>
<p>Right, because they look at the overall person when making a decision. But my point was just don’t think they will disregard those grades because they won’t. But they will understand those grades if you stand up for it. It is really about what the person you are right now rather than back in high school. They want the most up to date personality of yourself :D. But yeah I agree with everything CalBear2009 said.</p>
<p>I had 2 F’s and 1 D on my transcript from my first semester (but a great upward trend). I started college at 16 too. What really matters is if you’re resilient…not if you failed a couple courses early on, trust me.</p>
<p>Btw Cal is awesome. Hope to see you here someday!</p>