I’ve always heard that if you go to a community college for your general education you can get into almost any University of California or California State University you want with a 2.5 grade point average or better. My case shows otherwise.
I worked on my general education at three different schools for the previous two years, yet I still did not get into either of my two choices for public California universities.
In fall 2004, I attended California State University at Bakersfield. In spring 2005, I transferred to Bakersfield College. In fall 2005, I moved back to my hometown of Thousand Oaks and began attending Moorpark College, just completing the spring 2006 term. I received A’s in every class I took except one, in which I received a B.
I applied to California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, and the University of California, San Diego. Both rejected me.
The letters did explain that the pool of applicants was very competitive and that they looked long and hard at my application, yet still could not offer me admission. What is more competitive than taking higher-level courses, completing general education requirements and having a 4.0 grade-point average for the first three semesters? In addition to my college-level work, I also have credit from the sole Advanced Placement test I took in high school, which was calculus. I received a 5.
Something is wrong with the California educational system when a near-4.0 GPA student who has completed the general education courses cannot gain admission to either school of his or her choice. Who is getting admitted to these schools if I am not? I know that we reserve lots of places for underprivileged students or students with 1 percent of American Indian blood, but where do white American students with perfect grades go?
—Mike Morris, Thousand Oaks
I don't know about UC San Diego, but Cal Poly SLO has a strange criteria for admission where they give extra points if you live in the area of the school (this seems pretty unfair to me as I think all California residents should have an equal chance).This is how the man who is suspected of killing Kristin Smart 10 yrs ago got in. He had a very low GPA