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?