transferring to USC with F's on my record.

Transfer Students
1

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>I had a question. I first started college a fall of 08, my dad lost his job about two and a half after I started school and so I started to work 7 days a week at work so my family wouldn't lose our house. A few weeks later my grandpa got really sick and started going in and out of the hospital. Because of the timing of all these events, if I dropped any of my courses the financial aid would go back to the Government and I would have had to pay out of pocket for the courses, I wouldn't have been able to get refund at all. I dropped only what I could afford, which was only two of them out of four, paid for them out of pocket and got F's for the other two courses.</p>

<p>When I asked the registrar what I could do about it they said all I could do is academic renewal; so I kept the F's. The next semester my family was still doing bad, but my dad started taking money out of his 401k to support us, my grandfather was out of the hospital and seemed like he was getting better so I dropped back down to 5 days at work. Two months into the semester. My grandpa got extremely sick again and the doctors told me there was nothing they could do, so I dropped out of all my courses and managed to get a 50% refund. A month later he passed away.</p>

<p>This fall, I went to my local CC and I'm taking 20-21 credits, so far I'm getting straight A's. It's my dream to go to USC, but I dunno how much emphasis they'll gonna place on those two F's. That doesn't show my potential or my dedication to school; I know there's a place on USC's Application to explain anything i didn't get a chance to on the application but I'm afraid that they won't care. If I continue with my straight A's, I'll only have a 2.9 gpa. Without those F's it'd obviously be a 4.0. </p>

<p>I take full responsibility for my grades, but I don't want a couple bad grades to ruin my chances to get into USC all because of a bad situation I was in. Does anybody know if they take into account my situation, and how much bearing those grades will have on their decision?</p>

2

<p>Well USC doesn’t take academic renewal. I know someone on last year’s USC Thread that received transfer admissions with 1 F. But that F was on a class that was not relative to his major. If your F’s are not prereqs and you can makeup those classes with A’s then I think you would be fine.</p>

3

<p>I think that if you take the time to throughly explain why you received those F’s, they will be understanding. I doubt they’re going to completely penalize you for doing what you did. School doesn’t always have to be a person’s number one priority in order for them to be successful. You did what you needed to do in order to help your family survive. I personally can’t imagine admissions officers looking at that with a negative attitude. Just try your best in school now and I think you’ll be fine.</p>

4

<p>I know this thread is old, but I just came across it. </p>

<p>If you have bad stuff on your record, you can usually explain it away. If enough time has passed and you prove yourself with good grades, I don’t think they will look at the old stuff as much. Problem is, you’re not going to get into USC with a 2.9. There’s just about zero chance of that unless you’re really good at football. They turn down people with 3.8’s. </p>

<p>If you can’t get your GPA up to at least a 3.4-3.5 I would probably forget about it until grad school.</p>

5

<p>A similar crisis here- </p>

<p>Hello guys, its my first here on college confidential. I am an international undergraduate student interested in transferring to USC in Fall 2011. </p>

<p>Shedding some light on my college record-</p>

<p>I was initially enrolled at DePauw university for Fall 2009, but I had the worst college start there. I was enrolled in 4 classes (14 credits) namely Psy 100, Calculus 2, College writing 2 and American Islam (first year seminar). I failed in 3 of them and got a D in my seminar. I got academically suspended. I accept full responsibility for what happened.</p>

<p>I than moved to Linn Benton community college (LBCC) in Oregon and took 15 credits( SOC 204,GEOG 202 Physical Science 104 and CH 221). I ended up with a 3.9</p>

<p>For Spring 2010 semester I took 24 credits (Psy 201, Physics 201, WR 121, Political Science 204, Hist 201, SPN 101 and Religion 102). I ended with a 4.0. </p>

<p>I did my summer 2010 semester at Oregon State University, took 16 credits ( Math 252, Communication 111, ST 201, ECON 202 and a physical education class). I ended up with a 3.81.</p>

<p>I am doing my Fall 2010 semester LBCC and am registered for ANTH 103, ART 204, ECON 201,ENG 104,SPN 102 and MUS 108. The semester is going pretty smooth and am expecting a good result.</p>

<p>SAT-1800</p>

<p>I am not sure how the fact that I go to an out-of-state community college will affect my transfer application. If it helps in any way or makes my app any stronger I can transfer and do my winter and spring 2011 semester at Oregon State University (OSU). The only reason why I was holding off my plan to transfer for Fall 2010 is because I thought changing schools so many times will act in my disadvantage in the application process. </p>

<p>My intended major is Economics. I am not sure what kind of a chance I stand in getting into USC. But the dramatic change in my academic record is evident. Besides I re took all the classes I failed in and got A`s in all of them.</p>

<p>It would be great if you guys could let me what kind of chances I stand and also let suggest some suitable schools for me. I am already considering a couple of them.</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

6

<p>Well, all I can say is that try to make sure that those F’s you got won’t count as USC transferrable units and even if they do not count as USC transferrable units, you still should explain some discrepancies on your transcripts.</p>