Ucla: Did I Mess Things Up????

Applying to College
1

<p>Hi everyone. This is my first post and the reason why I joined this site.</p>

<p>I'll try not to bore you, but let me give you an overview of my situation:</p>

<p>I graduated high school in 2006. I always considered myself a good responsible student, and unlike all my friends who are still at home failing community college, I had aspirations to the MOON! Like your typical high school senior I thought I had everything figured out. I had been accepted into the United States Air Force Academy Prep School, and after attending for one year, I would be lined up for admission as a Cadet in the highly competitive USAF Academy, with hopes of making my Fighter Pilot dreams a reality!</p>

<p>Well I flew away from home and went to school at the Academy for that first year as a Prep Student.....AMAZING experience. To shorten things A LOT, I finally realized that the Academy was not where I wanted to be.</p>

<p>So....when my classmates were admitted as Freshmen into the Academy for basic training in July 2007, I was at home feeling the pangs of "I spent a year at a NON-ACCREDITED school and now I have to start over."</p>

<p>Feeling like 19 was too old and I was wasting time, I PANICKED and enrolled in my local state school (the Univ. of Arizona) for 2007-2008....and here I am.</p>

<p>For the 1 person that's still reading this thank you lol.</p>

<p>So here is the issue:</p>

<p>Turns out I shouldn't have panicked and went to school just to go (thats a shocker). I realized that I wanted to attend UCLA or another UC...and I should have spent this year turning that "reach" school into a "good bet" by volunteering, retaking the ACT's (I have a 27), etc.</p>

<p>What sucks the most, besides the fact that it's been almost 2 years now since graduating high school (it goes by fast!), is that my grades for Fall Semester look like this:</p>

<p>W
W
E
E
E</p>

<p>I felt sorry for myself because I didn't want to be here at U of A, so I thought it would be a bright idea to stop going to classes and start in spring instead....only I didn't technically withdraw from 3 of them!! So I have 3 E's (failing grades) I'm an idiot and I don't know what I was thinking!!</p>

<p>Now if I planned on graduating from this school, that wouldn't be a problem (the school allows you to just retake the 3 courses and get a grade replacement)</p>

<p>But I don't want to be here!! </p>

<p>I read that UCLA doesn't have Spring Admission, only Fall. So that means yet another year has to go by before I can be admitted (knock on wood) since I missed the deadline for 2008-2009. If I can work my butt off to get into the Air Force Academy your damn sure I'm going to do whatever I have to to make UCLA a "good bet" from now till then.</p>

<p>I've talked to my school advisors at U of A....but I'm just a Number to them and they only tell me what I can already read in a pamphlet.</p>

<p>I would love some REAL advice on what I should be doing. Can I apply as a freshman to UCLA without having to mention going to school this year? Anything I haven't thought about that's worth mentioning? </p>

<p><em>deep breath</em> </p>

<p><em>sigh</em></p>

<p>You are AWESOME for reading this ;)</p>

2

<p>best solution is go to a california community college, do well there and transfer. go to santa monica college. i heard the people there have a 95% transfer acceptance rate to ucla.</p>

3

<p>No, you can not apply to any colleges as a freshmen. If you do so, you risk having your admission rescinded.</p>

<p>Either work hard where you are, improve your grades and transfer or transfer to a community college now, and later transfer to a college that’s where you want to be.</p>

4

<p>Retake the classes you failed and get a grade replacement. Then apply as a transfer student to UCLA or other schools. You can apply as a transfer student in your 2nd year.</p>

<p>You need to stay at UA long enough to get those grades replaced.</p>

5

<p>This link might be of interest.
[Can</a> a Student Start Over at College Without Revealing a Bad First Year? - Ask The Dean](<a href=“http://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/archives/000135.htm]Can”>http://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/archives/000135.htm)</p>

6

<p>Retake your U of A classes, then transfer to Santa Monica College. Get As in every class at both schools. Apply to UCLA, UCSB, etc. as a junior transfer.</p>

<p>And get someone in your life you can discuss these decisions with so that you avoid rookie mistakes.</p>

7

<p>

I guess you’re thinking about lying when you come across the part of the app that says “list all previous schools and dates of attendance” and are indirectly asking if/how they can catch you. My advice is don’t try it. If you accept any financial aid it’s fraud and can lead to prosecution, the inability to get many types of jobs (anything requiring a security check or bond), etc. If they find out once you’re enrolled they can kick you out, and if they find out after you graduated they can revoke your diploma. If you think things are bad now, imagine being in your 30’s and applying for jobs without being able to say you’re a college grad (although I guess at that point you can go on lying and hope they don’t call the school to check).</p>

<p>You might wonder “how do colleges find out”; its really simple for a college to check. One way is thru company called the National Student Clearinghouse [National</a> Student Clearinghouse: Degree verification & enrollment verification](<a href=“Home - National Student Clearinghouse”>http://www.nslc.org/) set up to provide exactly this information; they claim to have data on 91% of the US college student body. It’s routine at most colleges to check for various reasons; to see if you’re eligible for financial aid and how much you’ve already used, to catch students who “forget” to list a college, etc. They list as a sample use of their service detecting exactly the type of fraud you’re considering under their StudentTracker service, and it only costs 5 cents a student to check. If you filled out any forms for financial aid (even just to see if you qualified) that creates a paper trail, too. Since the 911 hijackers attended flight schools in the US, one step the government has taken is to make it a lot easier to share records of attendance so there’s probably other databases that can be checked.</p>

8

<p>Okay well I’ll definitely not try it! I figured it could be bad. I guess I’m just looking for reassurance that things CAN still work out, giving I work my butt off. But talk is cheap I know it’s up to me. So basically I should stay at U of A until I fix my grades, then transfer to Santa Monica College? Would transfering from that college give me a better shot than from U of A? I suppose I would be an in-state student if I went to SM for a year.</p>

<p>Thank you all for the advice. Anything else? I’m all ears.</p>

9

<p>unfortunately the UC schools have quite stringent requirements to get -in-state tuition rates. Unless you graduated from a CA high school or your parents have lived in CA for more than a year, it’s pretty much impossible.

See also [UCLA</a> Registrar’s Office: Residence Classification for Tuition Purposes FAQ](<a href=“http://www.registrar.ucla.edu/faq/residencefaq.htm]UCLA”>http://www.registrar.ucla.edu/faq/residencefaq.htm)</p>

10

<p>thx for the info. i used to live in california and went to middle school there, but didn’t graduate from high school there. My mother was born there and has lived there for more than a year in the past, but idk if that qualifies me for anything. Probably not ;)</p>