Overcoming a bad GPA

[lawqueen04]

I can sympathize with you. Out of high school I had been accepted to a pretty high ranked private school in CT. I was overjoyed because I wanted to go there but once there..being away from my family, laziness, feeling lost, not loving it the way I thought I would I flunked out the first semester. I was taking 5 class 15 credits and I received 5Fs. I also signed up for pep band which was a 1 credit class and I received an A in that class.shocked, I had been dismissed and had to come back home. I then started school the next fall at my local community college. I did much better and recieved a few As and B+s and even a C+ in Physics. But even with all of those Fs my GPA is about a 2.7 and I still have half my degree to finish and raise my gpa. I really wanted to test out (faster and cheaper) but I want to raise the GPA more.

I chatted with an admissions person at TESC and asked about the transcript, if it would be required because I would love to forget about it but I was told that unless the transcript is complete w's I would have to forward it to them. In my opinion with some work I can absolutely raise my cumulative gpa so why would I chance getting caught lying if I can still raise it to a respect abpe number.

[soliloquy]

I saw this form and thought of this thread so I thought I'd post it. Not sure if it's applicable to the issues being discussed.

Credit Removal Form

https://acorn.charteroak.edu/preview/ics...8fb95be035

[Waldorfteacher]

I enjoy the practical questions with ethical implications which are discussed here. The dilemma as posed is roughly stated as "should I possibly limit my future academic opportunities by not cloaking my past poor academic performance?" I am guilty of having not shared a community college transcript which contained an A grade in a single course on multiple occasions. ln my interpretation of ethical individualism I determined that not revealing this transcript would not harm myself or anyone else.

There is a Kantian perspective of morality that is sometimes given voice here that looks for a moral absolutism that I find lacking in precision. It is clear I broke the stated policy of full disclosure of previous academic work on multiple occasions. I do not fear repercussions, expulsion or otherwise, for my lack of full disclosure. I simply determined that sharing this information was neither applicable or necessary for others to judge my academic merit.

You have nothing to fear by way of reprisal by not submitting your old transcript. The only way a school knows if you attended another insritution is if you reveal it or it is included on another school's transcript who you revealed it to, as is done on TESC's transcripts. The only ethical question that appears socially relevant is "would not reporting your
grade keep another who disclosed their academic record completely out of graduate school?" If you are determined to attend TESC, a decision I would encourage you to reconsider, I would base my decision to reveal the poor transcript solely on the social question posited above.

in my experience, credit by exam is so ridiculously easy in relationship to attending classes I find it unfair to those who do not know about CBE, who I competed with in the graduate school application process. I worked at least five times harder studying for the classroom credits I recently earned preparing for graduate school so I have a recent yardstick to compare the two methods. I certainly kept a worthy, hardworking individual out of graduate school because I was a little more savvy than the competion in that I tested out of non-prerequisite courses. The economic method known as capitalism prizes savvy to a level of religiosity that would never consider how our success might prevent another from advancing themselves. Here on degree forum, we are both privileged enough and thoughtful enough to ponder the ethical implications of our deeds.

[sanantone]

I blew most of my fellow graduate students out the water. While someone might complete more assignments in a course, it doesn't mean they learned more in that course. CLEPs and DSSTs are based on what your average student would retain. Yes, a pass is equal to a "C" student. However, there are scales that equate CLEPs and DSSTs to As and Bs. Most of my test scores were at the A-level. This is one reason why so many competency-based programs are popping up. Why make students complete a bunch of silly assignments when they already know the material? CBEs are available to everyone and accepted by thousands of colleges, so I don't see how there could be any ethical dilemma in using them. Most schools have a page dedicated to challenge tests. If someone did not do his or her research to find out about these options, then maybe their research skills aren't as great as one might think. Or, maybe they just don't have an inquisitive mind. These are great characteristics for scientists to have.

[cookderosa]

I enjoy the practical questions with ethical implications which are discussed here. The dilemma as posed is roughly stated as "should I possibly limit my future academic opportunities by not cloaking my past poor academic performance?" I am guilty of having not shared a community college transcript which contained an A grade in a single course on multiple occasions. ln my interpretation of ethical individualism I determined that not revealing this transcript would not harm myself or anyone else.

There is a Kantian perspective of morality that is sometimes given voice here that looks for a moral absolutism that I find lacking in precision. It is clear I broke the stated policy of full disclosure of previous academic work on multiple occasions. I do not fear repercussions, expulsion or otherwise, for my lack of full disclosure. I simply determined that sharing this information was neither applicable or necessary for others to judge my academic merit.

You have nothing to fear by way of reprisal by not submitting your old transcript. The only way a school knows if you attended another insritution is if you reveal it or it is included on another school's transcript who you revealed it to, as is done on TESC's transcripts. The only ethical question that appears socially relevant is "would not reporting your
grade keep another who disclosed their academic record completely out of graduate school?" If you are determined to attend TESC, a decision I would encourage you to reconsider, I would base my decision to reveal the poor transcript solely on the social question posited above.

in my experience, credit by exam is so ridiculously easy in relationship to attending classes I find it unfair to those who do not know about CBE, who I competed with in the graduate school application process. I worked at least five times harder studying for the classroom credits I recently earned preparing for graduate school so I have a recent yardstick to compare the two methods. I certainly kept a worthy, hardworking individual out of graduate school because I was a little more savvy than the competion in that I tested out of non-prerequisite courses. The economic method known as capitalism prizes savvy to a level of religiosity that would never consider how our success might prevent another from advancing themselves. Here on degree forum, we are both privileged enough and thoughtful enough to ponder the ethical implications of our deeds.

I look at it differently, but still agree with what you're saying. For full disclosure, I have over 250 undergraduate credits, and I've never sent all my transcripts ANYWHERE, nor will I. So...
The practical aspect is where I come from.
1. Those "F" grades will not be part of your TESC transcript, TESC does not transfer grades (passing or failing) so sending or not sending does NOTHING to your TESC GPA.
2. Those "F" grades will always be part of your permanent academic record, thus require disclosure when applying to grad schools that ask for your full record and will STILL be used for cumulative GPA. They are forever, whether or not you send them to TESC.
3. Sending that transcript to TESC means that the course that will appear, will then forever in the future prompt schools to require TESC + school #1. This is the case whether or not it was 1 class or 20, but at the end of the day, whatever credits make up your transcript mean you're going to have to send them all. This may not seem like an annoyance, but I have 7 credit sources that make up my TESC transcript. Therefor, every time I've applied to a new school (9 times) and in two cases for jobs, It has cost me over $100 per application to do so, and EVERYONE wants this done by mail, so start printing and stamping. Hardly makes it worth it. I have a University of Iowa course for TWO credits from 1991 that was a free elective at TESC. Costs me $20 and 2 stamps every time. PAIN IN THE REAR, Complete waste of time, money, and brain space. I should have never used it in my TESC degree.
4. If the credit is not part of a degree, I see no reason to include it unless you're using it on your new degree. I have a lot of loose credit that was for personal interest (grad, undergrad, DSST and CLEP) that I've never used and have no intention of using. I have no ethical dilemma at all.

*EDIT* I wanted to emphasize to the OP that excluding that credit does not improve your TESC GPA and including it does not lower your TESC GPA. TESC will not use it in your GPA.

[cookderosa]

Matchmaker, what ever came of this?