Can you start over your college career?
 

I really feel like I'm at some sort of crossroads right now. I am turning 24 this year(Nov.) and realize I made bad decisions in life. Brief history before getting to my question.

Went to one of the top 3 public high schools in the State of California. Went through easily, but only acheived C average and had no desire to take any type of APs. Didn't even study for the SAT and got 1150. Not high at all IMO(I thought it sucked) but other students that took multiple SAT prep classes(spending hundreds) got 900s, but obv had better grades and APs so got into better schools. I go, unmotivated, to CSUN [img]/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img].

Stayed there 3 years, slacking off. I never finished my GE courses, although I'm probably not too far away. I ended up on academic probation and was soon given the boot. Poker had nothing to do with it as I wasn't even playing it at that time.

Since then I've been working on and off at different places. I guess I had to mature a lot. I realize how stupid I've been. I had every opportunity to have a great academic career and basically squandered it. My college GPA is probably below a 2.0.

A year ago the school sent me a note to come in for counseling. Maybe they want me back? I heard the CSU school system was losing money or something because of the Governator but I don't know how true that is.

O.K. My questions-

I realize if I did go back to CSUN, I could probably get straight As for the rest of my time there and still not pull in a 3.5. I'm seriously thinking of at least trying to go to grad school but of course getting a degree from this school, which isn't that prestigious, and not having a high GPA would nix any chance of getting into a good grad school, which I assume is the only type of grad schools worth going to?

Can I just sign up at a Junior College and get good grades, and transfer to a better school(UCLA or something, maybe USC I like their football team)? FWIW I'm black, I don't know if they still have affirmative action, etc. in the schools anymore. Basically just burying my past performance at CSUN and leaving it off any resume and not providing it when asked for school transcripts? Thus if I could get good grades elsewhere, my past would hurt my GPA.

Am I screwed? Are there other alternatives? All this working these past years showed me the importance of a degree. I have a general idea of what I want to major in, but first things first I need to just get back in school and want to go about it the right way. Thoughts?

Re: Can you start over your college career?
 

Really their are people who take APs and get 900s? Are you sure.

My friend did this at GT when he got kicked off for non academic stuff and resubmitted to U-Memphis the next year and got a scholarship, but it was only for 1 semester at GT. I honestly don't know anyone who has done it for extended periods but I don't think they do too much research on if you went to another school.

Re: Can you start over your college career?
 

Yeah I'm positive. There were a lot of people like that at my school. My high school was sorta weird. People would flunk out and go to a normal public school and get straight As. I told my mom to let me go to a bad public school because I read somewhere that if you were in the top like 2% of your class or something the UCs couldn't refuse you admission. Probably wouldn't have helped me though, but at least my grades would have been better.

I might go the community college route because it's probably the cheapest way for me to be sure I'd actually give a good try at school this time and maybe I can start all over. Would old unsubmitted school records show up in background checks for employers?

Re: Can you start over your college career?
 

Two years of comm college, transfer over to good college, get degree.

Re: Can you start over your college career?
 

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I read somewhere that if you were in the top like 2% of your class or something the UCs couldn't refuse you admission.

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This is called admission through ELC (Eligibility in Local Context). It's just like you described - the top 3% of students are offered admission to a few UCs before applying. A lot of my friends qualified for this and had offers from UCI, UCSB, UCD, UCSD, and a couple more. None from UCLA/Cal though.

Re: Can you start over your college career?
 

Thanks guys. Comm college it is. Hopefully I've matured enough to actually achieve in a manner that I know I can.

Learning- thanks for the co-sign. Unfortunately it's a little too late for me though.

Re: Can you start over your college career?
 

This is definitely a question you should ask some sort of advisor at your school asap. My inclination is yes.

Re: Can you start over your college career?
 

I did a little research and it appears SMC is the best school for transferring to USC(I'm thinking of there because it has the best film school). I'm already registered there but haven't taken a class yet. I doubt USC would ask for my CSUN transcripts, hopefully they don't frown on a 25 year old transfer. Anyone that's gone this route and has some words of advice please chime in, thanks. I'll probably be going up to the SMC campus sometime in the next month or so.

Re: Can you start over your college career?
 

It depends on what kind of grad school you want to go to. I know that law schools for sure will want your old CSUN transcripts, and they WILL know if you try to hide them. There are national databases that keep records of where every student has attended school. It will definitely show up on background checks, etc.

Things like PhD programs and the like that don't have nationally standardized application processes might be more willing to overlook your old grades. Law and med schools though will definitely see them and they will definitely be calculated in your GPA.

Not trying to be a downer, but you need to know everything before you make a plan for what to do now.

Re: Can you start over your college career?
 

Thanks for the advice. Well if I screwed up my life then it's just something I'll have to be prepared for. Meeting with a counselor tomorrow hopefully so I should know where I stand then.

I doubt I'll be able to get into a good grad school with mediocre grades from a state school, but who knows.