Too many Fs in transcript, how will that impact me?

[Nixi]

My math shows you'd need 60 additional credits at "A" to bring your overall GPA to a 3.0

(63 credits @ 4.0 + 21 credits at 0.00 = 3.0)

Dfrecore's suggestion of replacing those 7 courses AT THE COLLEGE YOU EARNED THE "F" is certainly a lot less work and cost.

Ha! Exactly, it's not worth the time or money to take additional courses to raise the GPA for an uncompleted degree.

I just checked my previous university's policies and it turns out I can CLEP for 6 out of 7 of the Fs in my first transcript and have them removed--it's good to know I have that option (it's one I'll only do as a last resort, right now I'm thinking too far ahead and should focus on completing my current degree ).

[soliloquy]

When I first began my degree journey, I had an F in a course that I thought I had withdrawn from. I didn't discover the bad grade until I pulled my transcripts almost 13 years later.

Granted, my reasons for not finishing that course were because I had to fly across the country to be with a parent who was dying from cancer and I had to get permission from the military at the time to go because I was also dually enrolled in the language school. There was so much going on in my life at the time that I never did think to follow up on whether they approved my request to withdrawal.

Literally 13 years after I was enrolled to take that course, I wrote the college a brief letter regarding my request for academic forgiveness and asked that they turn my F into a W. I did send them a copy of my parent's death certificate so that they could verify my story as well. It took about a month but the college agreed to change my grade to a W.

If you have a good enough reason, it might be worth requesting academic forgiveness. If you explain your goals, what you have learned, and are very humble in your request, perhaps they'll be willing to make the change. The worst thing they can say is no.

[Nixi]

When I first began my degree journey, I had an F in a course that I thought I had withdrawn from. I didn't discover the bad grade until I pulled my transcripts almost 13 years later.

Granted, my reasons for not finishing that course were because I had to fly across the country to be with a parent who was dying from cancer and I had to get permission from the military at the time to go because I was also dually enrolled in the language school. There was so much going on in my life at the time that I never did think to follow up on whether they approved my request to withdrawal.

Literally 13 years after I was enrolled to take that course, I wrote the college a brief letter regarding my request for academic forgiveness and asked that they turn my F into a W. I did send them a copy of my parent's death certificate so that they could verify my story as well. It took about a month but the college agreed to change my grade to a W.

If you have a good enough reason, it might be worth requesting academic forgiveness. If you explain your goals, what you have learned, and are very humble in your request, perhaps they'll be willing to make the change. The worst thing they can say is no.

I'm glad to read your college replaced your D with W, you truly deseved it. I'll definitely try your suggestion, thanks!

[cookderosa]

Ha! Exactly, it's not worth the time or money to take additional courses to raise the GPA for an uncompleted degree.

I just checked my previous university's policies and it turns out I can CLEP for 6 out of 7 of the Fs in my first transcript and have them removed--it's good to know I have that option (it's one I'll only do as a last resort, right now I'm thinking too far ahead and should focus on completing my current degree ).

Without knowing your previous school's policy, I have $1 on them not allowing you to replace an F with a CLEP exam. Typically that's spelled out in the catalog- you might want to check and see.

[soliloquy]

Academic forgiveness is not a novel concept although the rules vary from institution to institution. I'm certainly not suggesting that anyone be dishonest.

[Nixi]

I suspect Jennifer might think Nixi is considering claiming family illness to appeal a grade. But I think Nixi was actually referring to this advice:

Exactly what jsd said. I'm not doing anything dishonest!

[cathgrl]

I'm not sure what cookderosa meant, but perhaps she is referring to a common policy that colleges have of not allowing a person to replace a failing grade with a CLEP.

[dfrecore]

Also, normally a college will allow you to retake a course for a better grade, but it will not remove the old course - it will still keep it on your transcripts, but not count the grade. So other schools WILL be able to see that you repeated the course, and will see the old grade. It just won't be counted in your GPA at that school. Some schools may be different, but that's been my experience with a number of different schools I've looked at - state university, state college, community college, private schools, etc. All the same.

And NONE of them would allow you to replace the bad grade with a CLEP exam.

I would look at your school's policy again, and probably call and talk to someone to get clarification.

[cookderosa]

I'm not sure what cookderosa meant, but perhaps she is referring to a common policy that colleges have of not allowing a person to replace a failing grade with a CLEP.

It looks like this thread has been cleaned up (thanks Rebel) which makes it confusing, but my reaction was not to the policy, it was to the use of a 4 letter word. Perhaps I should have linked to a thesaurus so there wasn't any confusion? LOL It's all good.

[Nixi]

nevermind, deleted