Transcripts from All Schools Attended Question

[marianne202]

Ok, so I thought this might be a good topic for discussion since it has come up several times recently. I know schools often ask for all transcripts from all schools ever attended. My question is what if you had a bad few terms, say as a teenager straight out of high school, which leaves you with failing grades on your transcript. If you go back to school later in life and you don't want to use those old credits, why disclose the old school or order transcripts from that school? Would any school know what schools you attended if you don't tell them?

If you didn't use finanical aid, I don't believe there is any way they would find out about that school. I would think that if you really didn't want to use any of those credits you could just exclude sending those transcripts or disclosing your ever attended that particular school. Now if you previously used some of those credits at another school that you do want to include now, that school might show in the newer schools transcript under transferred / accepted credits. If you choose to not include a school's transcript is that really bad?

When I went back to school at age 45, honestly, the work I had done when I was 18-20 really would have no bearing on my abilities or commitment 25 years later. I just wonder if anyone has ever done this or even thought about it? When I do student advising or credit evals if the student doesn't provide us with transcripts we have no way to know of knowing their school experiences. If they used financial aid, we would be able to know how many terms they received aid, which could raise questions if it doesn't match your provided history. What do you think? Am I the only one that has thought about this?

[bawhitsett]

I really think it depends on the school. For example with me UIS was stringent on getting every updated transcript; for UND, I only sent transcripts from schools I'd earned degrees from, and it was fine.

Do you guys do a cursory review of their FA and other records or do you go over it with a fine tooth comb, looking for discrepancies?

[cookderosa]

like you, there are a few years <cough decades> between when I did my first associate's degree and then returned to school. My AOS degree didn't transfer in at all, so in theory, it wouldn't show up anywhere. Now, you mentioned financial aid - but also what about the clearing house database? I'm 99% sure I'm not in it for my first degree (I looked it up once- wish I had that link). I still think it's risky. The consequences are too high, I've never even considered leaving that degree off.

Now, in the case of loose credits, especially old ones that were bad grades, I've told people more than once not even to bring them over if they are applying somewhere new like TESC. I remember someone had 6 community college credits or something like that, and one was an "F" and the other a passing grade. Ok, seriously, that's going to be more trouble and cost over time than it's worth. Transcript requests will be a pain FOREVER if that 4 cr class is sitting on your TESC transcript. I would say, however, that down the road if a grad school asked- then yeah, you should include everything.

[brothert69]

Failure to disclose all schools attended may land you on the wrong side of a college's academic honesty policy. Also for professions with a "good moral character" requirement (legal, medical, financial, etc) it could cause you to lose your license. Personally I feel that you should not put yourself in a position where someone could destroy your hard work over something that is essentially an non issue. Low grades from some time ago are unlikely to affect your admissions prospects if you can demonstrate recent academic excellence.

[Tedium]

When I went back to school at age 45, honestly, the work I had done when I was 18-20 really would have no bearing on my abilities or commitment 25 years later. I just wonder if anyone has ever done this or even thought about it? When I do student advising or credit evals if the student doesn't provide us with transcripts we have no way to know of knowing their school experiences. If they used financial aid, we would be able to know how many terms they received aid, which could raise questions if it doesn't match your provided history. What do you think? Am I the only one that has thought about this?

I just thought I would comment on this, since I posed this question to the forum recently. You are absolutely right about some past credits having no bearing on your abilities now. Maybe you were young and dumb, or maybe you had some personal issues like I did. It is really tempting to start all over, bury your past, and hope no one digs it up.

But there is one important thing that we should all learn, and several people have brought it up already in this thread and mine. That action could potentially derail your future prospects. Degree earned under false pretenses? It's gone. No more degree? There goes your job, possibly. And it may kill any chances that you have of achieving other academic goals. Essentially, by being dishonest, you are displaying the same mind-set and behaviors that got you the bad grades in the first place. That's just not worth it to me. Because I know I'm going to turn things around and do well, and the thought of someone taking that away from me after I found all of this hope and focus and drive and put in all of this effort is unacceptable.

I couldn't see that at first, and I was flipping out thinking that I had ruined my chances at grad school and the only choice was to start over and "bend the truth" a bit. I've since come to see that is the complete wrong way to look at the situation. Is my GPA bad? Yes. It's so low I'm too embarrassed to type it on here. Do I have a lot of work ahead of me these next 4 or 5 semesters? You bet. Will I have to do a lot of explaining to schools and possibly not get in to some of the more prestigious ones? Absolutely. Does that mean all hope is lost? Of course not.

There are still many excellent, well-respected programs that allow for situations like this: "3.0 in the last 60 credits earned." "Exceptions to GPA requirement can be made with strong enough writing sample." "Each case will be handled on an individual basis." And the awesome thing is they are not low-ranking schools.

There is always another, better way. There is always a back door or a way out. You just have to search, sometimes long and hard, but it's there. It may seem easier to just sweep it all under the rug, but I for one will be more proud to come back from such a horrible GPA, earn my BA, and get into a Master's program. I think it will go a lot further toward showing that I am more mature now, than leaving the bad grades out of an application.

Ha ha. That came off as more of a sappy, inspirational pep talk, but you get the idea. Just my opinion, but as long as there are still people behind those desks making decisions there is no reason to lie. Call me a changed man.

[marianne202]

I thought this might make a good discussion topic! I agree that you should always be honest. Even though I had some horrible semesters when I was 18 and 19 I still disclosed them. I think my GPA from then was like 2.36 with a ton of W's. I completed my MHA with a 3.97, only one B or I would have had a 4.0, so quite a difference. I do agree that schools usually look at only the most recent 60 credits and for my application to my MHA program, my EC GPA was like 3.18, 3.38 and 3.56 depending on the degree. Because some old courses were included I couldn't raise it a great deal, I could have chosen to remove them from consideration and retaken them, but time was more important than GPA at the time.

I think as long as your current work is 3.0 or greater or for some schools 2.5 or greater you will be fine. Would I get into Harvard or Yale with my EC GPA, probably not, but at my age I don't need a status symbol degree, just a solid degree recognized by those in my industry. While personal choices and circumstances are always a factor, we are human and schools realize things happen and people change. I'm sure everyone agrees that honesty is the best policy when at all possible. So while our past may embarrass now, showing honesty, growth and maturity can sometimes count for much more than old classes on a transcript.

[ryoder]

I think most of us on this site that previously attended B&M schools are probably not so proud of our cumulative GPA. I am not. But I looked past that and enrolled into TESC, transferring all my credits and the not so pretty ones too. Its just a GPA, its not that big of a deal.
What matters is that you learn something and earn a degree, IMHO. I just got an A- in one of my doctoral courses and for some reason, some people get really worked up about that. I do not. An A- means that I tried really hard and did really well but have room for improvement. Thats how I see it now. The same goes with a B or C.