Transferring to new school with bad grades

[EngTechno]

I have taken courses for 3 semesters at the community college of my home town. My problem is about my acedemic record. My current GPA is just above 2.2 and some "W"s. This is a problem for my hope of transferring to Good Universities. So, I would like to close current acedamic record and to open new acedamic record with new student ID and same name at the same college. My question is " Can I do like this ( new record ) in the United States ?"

 

[faust9]

I have taken courses for 3 semesters at the community college of my home town. My problem is about my acedemic record. My current GPA is just above 2.2 and some "W"s. This is a problem for my hope of transferring to Good Universities. So, I would like to close current acedamic record and to open new acedamic record with new student ID and same name at the same college. My question is " Can I do like this ( new record ) in the United States ?"

Most likely not. How would you justify this to your new school? Would you just not put it on your new application? If you did that you'd essentially be lying on your application.

Take some of your lower score classes over again take more classes to bring you GPA up. Get your GPA up to a level where the uni you want to attend will accept you into their LSA program. Once you transfer to the new school, your old GPA goes away. Do well at your new school for at least one semester then try to transfer to the program of your choice.

 

[ZapperZ]

I have taken courses for 3 semesters at the community college of my home town. My problem is about my acedemic record. My current GPA is just above 2.2 and some "W"s. This is a problem for my hope of transferring to Good Universities. So, I would like to close current acedamic record and to open new acedamic record with new student ID and same name at the same college. My question is " Can I do like this ( new record ) in the United States ?"

I tend to agree with faust9. You cannot hide your grades since you are going to the same school, and I'm sure they check your name/SS#/etc. And getting caught lying about on your application is a no-no.

However, there is another issue here that needs to be addressed. How do you know that the cause of your poor grades will not rear its ugly head again no matter how many times you try to reincarnate yourself? Rather than try to sidestep this by starting all over again, shouldn't you first address the source of your problem? I mean, I'm not trying to put down community colleges here, but if you're having loads of problems already with their classes, think of how much of a problem you will be facing when you go to a "Good" university?

Zz.

 

[MathStudent]

I also agree with what faust and zapper have said. Your supposed to list all classes taken (even the W's) from all schools you've attended, and failure to do so is reason to terminate acceptance.

Here's a horror story for an example. I was talking with a transfer counselor one time, and she told me of this guy who transferred to UCLA with pretty a pretty decent gpa ( i think it was around 3.7 ). Any way, he went through the program there for Chemical Engineering and in his last semester, right before he graduated, they found out that he had taken a class at a different community college that he didn't report. He had withdrawn from the class a long time before, and since it was the only class he took at that school, and it wasn't a major requirement, he decided to leave it off his application. Despite the fact that he was about to graduate, and a really good student, they banned him from the school. And what's worse, is that they erased his transcripts and any record of him being there - meaning he couldn't use those classes anywhere else, he would have to start all over again at a different school.

I know this sounds like a made-up story used to scare kids to prevent them from doing what your considering, but I was talking to the counselor for a completely different reason, and that story just happened to come up. I don't believe she had any reason to lie to me. But I do know for sure that shools have ways of looking up student's histories, and they do so frequently during the application period.

On the other hand, one of my good friends went to ASU for a year, and flunked out. He went to a community college, and when he transferred he never mentioned ASU on his application. He got his degree without any problems, no one was the wiser.

Personally I think its risky. And like Zapper said, even if you do decide to "start over" how do you know that history won't repeat itself?

 

[EngTechno]

I also agree with what faust and zapper have said. Your supposed to list all classes taken (even the W's) from all schools you've attended, and failure to do so is reason to terminate acceptance.

Here's a horror story for an example. I was talking with a transfer counselor one time, and she told me of this guy who transferred to UCLA with pretty a pretty decent gpa ( i think it was around 3.7 ). Any way, he went through the program there for Chemical Engineering and in his last semester, right before he graduated, they found out that he had taken a class at a different community college that he didn't report. He had withdrawn from the class a long time before, and since it was the only class he took at that school, and it wasn't a major requirement, he decided to leave it off his application. Despite the fact that he was about to graduate, and a really good student, they banned him from the school. And what's worse, is that they erased his transcripts and any record of him being there - meaning he couldn't use those classes anywhere else, he would have to start all over again at a different school.

I know this sounds like a made-up story used to scare kids to prevent them from doing what your considering, but I was talking to the counselor for a completely different reason, and that story just happened to come up. I don't believe she had any reason to lie to me. But I do know for sure that shools have ways of looking up student's histories, and they do so frequently during the application period.

On the other hand, one of my good friends went to ASU for a year, and flunked out. He went to a community college, and when he transferred he never mentioned ASU on his application. He got his degree without any problems, no one was the wiser.

Personally I think its risky. And like Zapper said, even if you do decide to "start over" how do you know that history won't repeat itself?

Thanks for your advice. By the way, I have 3 Ws, 2 Ds and my current GPA is only 2.26. I am looking forward to transferring to Cal Poly,SLO that is competitive or Cal Poly,Pomona or San Jose State University. But, I will still have to take 80 more units before transferring. Do you think that I can have a place in one of those universities mentioned above?What do you think of it?

 

[MathStudent]

Depends... what is your major? Are those grades received in some of your major pre-reqs? As of now, I wouldn't think so for Cal Poly. I'm not familiar with San Jose. Schools do recognize drastic improvements in your transcripts however.

For example, Another friend of mine got a gpa of 0.8 in his first year of college (I think he got one D and the rest F's - moral: drugs are bad mmmkay). He left that school and went to a community college in CA. There he maintained a 3.8 GPA, while being very active in extra curricular activities (president of Honor society, lots of community service, etc..). He got accepted into most of the UC schools, however some like UCLA and Berkeley rejected him because they used his overall academic gpa which when factored in with the 0.8 came out to like a 2.7. They took one look at that and said NO! But other schools recognized the drastic change in academic behavior as well as his involvement in other activities. He goes to Irvine now studying psych.

For you, I think it depends on what your goals are. If you have hopes on getting into a competitive major (engineering, business) at a good school then obviously your record does matter. Those things you mentioned earlier are considered black marks for any school you apply to. If you think you can make a drastic improvement, then maybe its worth looking into going to a different school and trying to "start over" hoping to get a clean slate - keep in mind that this is very risky though. I don't know if they could find out, but if they do... it could be really really bad (see earlier post).

Some tips for the future no matter what path you take:
-Do the best you can in school - that's all anyone can hope for.
-Particpate in extracurricular activities! Such as community service, school clubs, petting your neighbors dogs fluffy and muffin, etc.. These activities are very important, and can add a big advantage.
-Don't worry too much! After all, if you don't get into the school you hope for, its not the end of the world. You can still do well in which ever school you transfer to and try for a good grad school (if desired).
-keep in mind that with 80 more units to go, its possible to pull that gpa up in the 3.6 range.