Hey everyone,
I’m looking to transfer to UC Davis for Computer Science using the TAG program for either Fall 2017, or Fall 2018 depending on the circumstances. Prior to the current CC I am at now (which I’m doing incredibly well at) I went to another CC and did horribly. I didn’t even bother to transfer the grades over mainly because my transcript consists of mostly 'W’s and 'F’s with a very small amount of 'B’s and 'C’s scattered throughout. When I go to apply for TAG do I have to self-report those grades? Will they know if I don’t, and if I don’t will I get denied? Any advice? Thanks for the input.
You’re suppose to report EVERY school you went to and EVERY grade.
don’t tell them. what’s the worst thing they can do? blacklist you forever? pshhh
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they will know, because there is a National Student Clearinghouse that records that information
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no, you won’t get denied. You’ll get rescinded. It costs money to check a name, so they wait until accepted students have paid their fee to register and then they check the new students.
When you fill out a document and sign under penalty of perjury that it is correct, don’t lie.
Hey mikemac, thanks for the info. So any advice on how to proceed? Are colleges generally understanding with this? My whole explanation goes along the lines of during that time I was supporting myself in a very expensive area (Bay Area CA) and my work constantly cut into my ability to attend school. At this new CC in a cheaper area I don’t have to work and can survive off of small loans and grants, allowing me to focus only on school. Should I just see a counselor at my CC and explain the situation to them and see what they say?
How long ago did you go to the other CC? You can maybe look into Academic Renewal and then the grades don’t factor into your GPA. I did Academic Renewal for F’s I recieved in 2003 and 2004. They still exist, but they just show up as AR on my transcripts and don’t count towards my GPA. Schools that offer Academic Renewal usually have a limit on how much time has passed and have certain rules about it.
Hey boxandwhiskers. Hm, maybe, but I’m guessing it hasn’t been long enough. The grades go from 2011-2014. They aren’t semester after semester as I’d usually take a one semester break after doing bad because I realised that I needed to work more to support myself (which is why I failed/dropped the class). The problem is that after only working for a semester I started to feel unsatisfied (“I’m working too hard, I need to go to school so I can stop slaving away at these minimum wage jobs! I can pull off some school in between!”), I would go back to school, then start the cycle again. It was really stupid, and at the time I didn’t really understand the impact it would have.
If you have unsatisfactory grades as far back as 2011, you may qualify for Academic Renewal. You might not be able to get rid of all the bad grades, but getting some is better than none. But again, it depends on the CC’s rules and regulations regarding Academic Renewal, you should still look into it though. I don’t think it would hurt. Even if the grades earned weren’t in one semester following another semester. I went to 3 seperate community colleges a long time ago, received bad grades, dropped out and took years off, then tried again and received bad grades. So I have lots of gaps in between those bad semesters, and I still was able to get AR.
The UCs send counselors around regularly to the CCs in the state. Check with the xfer center at your school to find out when they come next, set up an appointment to talk about how they’ll evaluate you for TAG or if there are other pathways for you.
You should also look into Academic Renewal as suggested by @boxandwhiskers Many CC only require 2 years since the classes for AR, so if you want to xfer in 2018 it sounds like you may qualify. Also talk to the UC rep about this. You need both your school and Davis to recognize it. It does seem like UC will recognize it according to http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/q-and-a/calculating-gpa/#2
Hey again boxandwhiskers. I looked into it a bit further and came across the info that UC’s don’t even look at W’s. Since W’s are most of my problem here I don’t think it’s too bad. Also, I sucked it up and went back and looked at my unofficial transcript at my old school (I was just not looking at it due to the anxiety that it gave me) and I realise I already retook all of my F’s but one at my new school, but it seems that academic renewal would be nice just to get it all removed entirely. The only problem is that the school’s policy is five years, but even then I can still get the one out of there from 2011. Thanks for the advice. Maybe the situation isn’t as bad as I thought it was initially.
Mikemac, awesome, I had no idea that they would send reps around. I’ll do that ASAP; talking to someone about the whole thing that’s from the school and seeing how they’ll evaluate me would be amazing. Like I said before, I retook most of the failed classes already, so as far as I can tell UC’s will only look at that new grade for my GPA.
Thanks everyone for their input. It seems like the situation is actually looking a lot more manageable than I initially thought. One last question/confirmation: I saw that UC’s don’t care about W’s, is that true?
If it’s mostly W’s, that’s fine. UC’s don’t pay attention to them. The only reason why I would push for the AR for that one grade, is if that bad grade lowers your GPA and would then make you ineligible to TAG to Davis. When I tagged, I realized that I probably had F’s from all the old schools I went to a long time ago and sure enough when I looked into it, I totally had F’s. When I calculated the F’s into my overall GPA, it put me below the 3.2 GPA requirement for TAG and I scrambled to get the AR for those grades which totally saved me.
So if the F from 2011 doesn’t drastically lower your GPA, then just make sure you explain the F in your UC TAP when the new TAG cycle is going, and you should be okay.
Hey, thanks so much for the info. Did your TAG work out for you? Did you get approved or are you still in the process of getting to the UC?
You’re welcome. TAG worked for me, and I was officially admitted today. I’m really happy that I remembered about those schools I went to a long time ago. For some reason I thought that because I went to these schools over 10 years ago, that they somehow didn’t count? And I only got F’s in those classes because I only went to the first day then decided I couldn’t do school and work and just didn’t go back to the class ever again, which resulted in them giving me an F. I like, didn’t realize that I had to drop the class myself. I was an idiot.