Background: Hi everyone, I am a Business major applying to transfer to a UCLA, UCB, UCR,UCSC,UCI,UCSB, Cal Poly SLO, Cal poly Pomona, USC and some CSU’s. I go to a California Community college too.
My current situation is that i have a 2.6 and barely making it at the minimum. The reasons why is I’ve some big personal life situations of: my mother having cancer, 2 deaths in my family. It was a really hard time. My grades did slip for awhile its because I was emotionally not stable, but i did show up to class determined to at least passing my classes doing the the best I could. Although people might have it worse than me, I do not want sympathy for what i went through it shaped me into the person I am. These experiences helped me become stronger and work hard. Plus, It is life, we all go through struggling times.
But in the end, I just want to be accepted into a a good school. I never learned to love education until I picked myself up after my personal issues and saw how beautiful education really is. It helps you grow as an individual. Also, have done a lot of extra-circulars of volunteering for non-profits, Associated student government, and etc. I have the whole package except the bad grades.
My questions I would like answers to:
Will I have a chance getting into a good UC? if not which ones would be most likely I can get into?
Do UC’s only look at the GPA you give them in the beginning and thats it, or do they look at your current semester grades too, and base your acceptance off of that? For example, I have a 2.6 and plan on getting 4.0 GPA’s both semester’s at the community college and hopefully that will raise me to a 3.0, and th UC’s will look at that and change their minds hopefully?
Do extra-circulars and good personal essay give you a good chance?
What should I do? I am completely lost.
Also, any miracle stories would be completely comforting… Please help me out.
How many units do you have? Are there any courses that you can retake (i.e. you earned a C- or less)? How long have you been at your CC, and how long are you willing to stay?
The good news is that the UCs do consider your fall grades for admission. You send in an update in January with your final grades.
Now the bad news. Honestly, I’d take UCLA and UCB off your list if you are applying this fall and save the $140. Buisness econ at UCLA has an average admit GPA of 3.95 and a ~12% admit rate (https://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/adm_tr/Tr_Prof14_mjr.htm#LS) . UCB Haas is even more competitive. ECs and an essay will certainly help, but they probably won’t make up for GPA.
If those are your top schools, I’d spend 1-2 more years at CC raising your GPA before you applied there. Like goldencub said, repeat any D/F grades which will raise your GPA quite a bit. Get straight As, and show that your rough academic past is behind you. There is no harm in taking your time to raise your GPA.
goldencub: I currently have 63 transferrable units and that includes classes I have retook! I have grades that are C and better. No F’s or D’s. I have been at community college for 2 years and planning to stay a third.
luckie1367: Thank you so much for the helpful links and tips means a lot. I just am lost on where I should apply. What steps I should do to be successful in getting admitted into a good UC.
A 2.6 GPA on 63 units means you need around 26 units of straight A’s to even get to a 3.0 GPA. To get to a 3.2 you would need about 50 units of straight A’s as well. Sadly I agree that UCLA and Cal are out unless you switch majors.
Realistically, I think you need to forget about “prestige” and concentrate on where you can get the most opportunities to improve yourself against others in similar situations. (e.g. Research experience, volunteering, personal connections with professors, amazing letters of recommendation, publications) Whether that is at UC Irvine or somewhere like CSU Bakersfield shouldn’t matter. If you play your cards right and get the grades, you can use your background and upward grade curve (at that point) to leapfrog you to a lot of elite schools post-bachelors. Essentially aim at the grad school level rather than undergrad.
