CSU Acceptance opinion's! please help!! (Chico: credit, find a job, transfer)

[elise2010]

okay, so i'm a senior and have already applied to all my schools and am waiting for replys. i just finished my first semester of senior year and totally screwed myself up. all through high school i've taken every AP and honors class i could get my hands on. i usually make a few A's, mostly B's and a few C's. that's already not too impressive, but this year was the WORST. i made not only my first D, but THREE! they were in three of my AP classes and i can't make them up in any way! i know it's a VERY bad thing to have any D's on your transcript, especially senior year! can anyone tell me if they think i have ANY chance of getting accepted to a CSU (i know the UC's and ivy leauges are out! hahah) at all? i need to know if i need to start considering...a community college. :|

[Clarks]

What else have you done? Community service, school leadership, athletics. Schools look for a package. they want the best well rounded student to come to their school to engage in mass drinking, orgies on beach and riots on Saint Patricks day.

[elise2010]

i've done some community service and a lot of work for non-profit clubs at my school. no sports though. my SAT is only average as well. do you think i have any hope?

[Fiddlehead]

Originally Posted by elise2010

i've done some community service and a lot of work for non-profit clubs at my school. no sports though. my SAT is only average as well. do you think i have any hope?

So hard to say. Personally, as a guy with an embarrassing amount of education, I would say that getting some mediocre grades in hard classes is right where you should be. Why wuss out with easy classes just for the grades? However, there are certain juncture where the trend and impressions are important.

Your failings Senior year could stem from very challenging courses or a case of senioritis. I know the latter my suspicion, given your good grades before. Why not apply to CSU and find out. If not, go to the Junior College and get some solid grades in first year classes.

I was a terrible student in High School, starting in Junior High. Somewhere around 18 years old, a light went on and I said to myself, "What were you thinking, do you want to be stuck in this hel)$%### all your life?!!!!" Well, I went to the Junior College, earned a B+ average in tough courses and took it from there. I ended up at CSU, UC, Europe, and with a doctorate many years later. I am personally glad I spent a couple years at the JC. I needed to mature a bit, then became a very good student.

More important than "getting in" is to figure out what went wrong this year. If you bit off more than you could chew, no big deal, just shake yourself off and pull back a bit. If it was partying,etc., then you should think about how you will discipline yourself and do better. The point is to learn from what went wrong this year.

Best Wishes!!

[FresnoFacts]

Your grades should not be a problem for most CSUs near where you live as long as the overall GPA is 2.0 or higher.

You don't say which campuses you applied to though. There are some majors and/or campuses that look for a high GPA and high test score, but those are the most competitive majors/campuses. (an example would be a campus like Poly-SLO) Also due to the budget crisis, many campuses are giving a priority to students who live in the county(ies) nearest the campus.

As Fiddlehead said, go ahead and see what happens first. You already invested the application fee and some time but its too early to give up until you get notified either way.

If you get refused then just plan on a community college.

If you end up at a JC it is not a bad route, college is very different than high school. For some students a JC provides a good transition. Plus you can knock out the general education requirements much cheaper and focus more energy on your major courses later.

[Clarks]

Two years at Community college, walk into a CSU.

I too was a mediocre high schools student, then I did four years in the Navy and realized that I needed that College education. Heck, I have never take SAT or ACT.

[bhcompy]

As long as your overall GPA is still decent you shouldn't have much of a problem getting in to a non-impacted school/major. If you can't make it, go to JC and transfer. Save yourself a boatload of money in the process.

[18Montclair]

I agree with Clarks and bhcompy.

1 Go to a Community College

or

2 If your transcripts are decent overall, you should still get into a CSU.

[bouncethelight]

In the past sure, you could still get in, as long as your overall GPA was high enough - but maybe not this year. It's been all over the news lately - here's an article from today that came up when I searched for CSU on Google News.

California State University, the nation's largest public university system with 23 campuses and 450,000 students, is seeking to reduce enrollment by an unprecedented 40,000 students over two years. Before the state budget crisis, most CSU campuses accepted nearly all students who met the minimal qualifications.

By Dec. 1, CSU had already received a record 610,000 applications, a 28 percent increase, for fall 2010, which means large numbers of qualified students will be turned away, said Jim Blackburn, CSU director of enrollment management systems.

College applicants face intensifying competition - The Daily Breeze

You have to remember that the UC system is also squeezing out potential students, who will then look to the CSU system as an alternative. And then on top of that, you have unemployed people going back to school when they can't find a job. So lots of competition for fewer spots.

If you really want to go to a CSU school I'd suggest applying at some of the less popular schools - there's probably not much chance you'll get in at SDSU, but you might have a chance at CSUSB...

[Clarks]

I did not finish my post, got called away, and didn't fix my grammar either. I wound up with two years at community college, Cuesta and Butte and then graduated from Chico, since then I have moved far beyond the credits needed for a Masters, and yet, out of high school I would never have made it. Taking a break is a good thing. and.... drum roll, do this for a year, colleges like this stuff; AmeriCorps

You get a little maturity, see the world, serve your county and you get a liit money for college.

My son did it, he loved it all, and now he thinks he is going to beat his old man and get a doctorate, likely in some useless subject, like his old man.