Can colleges change their mind and accept you?

You've got a 2.3 GPA and I don't see how you can improve this greatly in your senior year. You will need to start at a community college.

Yes, since it is always possible to appeal an admissions decision. One of the other answers mentioned a certain Gpa. At that Gpa level, a certain level of Sat or Act scores are required to be eligible for any CSU. CSU and UC campuses do not consider freshman year grades when calculating the A-G Gpa nor do they consider grades in classes in which a grade less than "C" was earned and were repeated. Only the grade in the repeated class is considered in the Gpa. If Senior year grades are available at the time of submitting the CSU application, they are counted in the Gpa. UC's only accept Freshman applications in November when Senior year grades are not available and only consider Senior year grades for applications that are tagged for augmented review during the admissions process, and where the applicant chooses to submit the senior year grades for consideration.

http://www.calstate.edu/sas/publications/documents...

http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshm...

CSU Eligibility Calculator:

http://www.csumentor.edu/planning/high_school/elig...

Good Luck!

What you can do is file an appeal of their admissions decision, and show them your senior year marks as proof of why they should admit you. But it's unlikely you'll be able to get into the school on appeal, because the CSU's tend to be oversubscribed. In addition, if your overall GPA and SATs are low for the school, know that one good year isn't enough proof of your ability to do well over the long term to get them to take a chance on you. And finally, know that the CSUs have specific rules re: GPA and SAT combinations - if your combined GPA and SAT are too low for them to admit you, you won't get in, period. I've attached a link to their eligiblity index, below, so you can look your scores up and see if you have any shot.

But you can try to appeal. You've got nothing to lose by appealing.

You want to make sure you apply to the CSU closest to your home. The CSUs have been instructed to give preference in admissions to the students in the counties closest to their school. In addition, apply to several other four year schools. Make sure that some of them are truly fit schools for you, where your GPA and SATs are right in their averages. In addition, apply to at least one backup school, where your SATs and GPA are on the high side for the school. That'll make it more likely you'll get in somewhere.