Say you went to a college, did badly, went to a JC, and want to transfer.Will the bad grades affect your GPA?

Question

I went to Long Beach State for a year, and flamed out. So I decided to come back home, attend a JC, and transfer to a school in my area. Will those bad grades be part of my overall transfer GPA, even if I'm not including them as part of my transferable units? I need 60 units to transfer, and I should have that number after my next semester. I did 27 units at Long Beach, and only completed 12. My GPA as it stands without those grades is a 3.6, with them it plummets to a 2.4. The applications say something about being in good standing with your LAST school. But I'm still not sure. If anyone who has experienced this, or works as a counselor could provide me with an answer, that would be appreciated.

Answer 1

You will almost assuredly have to submit a transcript from Long Beach State (as you attended there at some point) but you can explain the reasoning for your grades and they shouldn't affect your transfer admissions decision too much.

Once you get admitted as a transfer, your grades at Long Beach State will not count in your GPA (they'll probably just be noted as "credit awarded" for those classes you're getting credit for). Only your GPA at the institution you transfer to will show up on that instituion's transcript.

Answer 2

I have also seen the statement about being in good academic standing at last institution in college applications. I think this is to prevent people from leaving one sinking ship behind and jumping onto another. You will be sending transcripts from both LBSU and CC and I do not think you get to pick and choose which grades to include.

The problem you have is twofold. First, I am assuming that you weren't in good academic standing when you left LBSU, which will become a problem when applying. Second, if all your grades count, then your GPA may not be high enough to be competitive.

Do you qualify for TAG (transfer admission guarantee), by the way? If you indeed have to fix both problems, you will have to reapply to LBSU. I believe they have a different process for readmission and if you have been doing well at a CC, then I don't see why they shouldn't readmit you. Perhaps you can attend one or two semesters and retake the courses that you received D or F. That way, you can fix the GPA and also achieve good academic standing. It will probably bring back bad memories to come back but if you can do well and then transfer, it will give you a sense of closure.

Answer 3

I think that you should be able to ignore the Long Beach credits. The basis for transferring should be from the Junior College, taking into consideration your performance there.
Good luck!