I’ve not always known that I wanted to major in engineering, so I’ve taken many courses at Chaffey College that are worthless for a Computer Engineering major at CPSLO, such as Business Law, Intro to Management, and Written Communication for Business. These don’t even count toward CSUGE/IGETC. But if I were majoring in business they might articulate. They are listed in Chaffey’s catalog as CSU transferable. Must I include those grades in my GPA even when applying for Computer Engineering? I could bump up my GPA from 3.89 to 3.99 without them.
Also, do I really need to report all colleges I’ve attended in the past? I took a few classes online from an out-of-state college that also aren’t applicable to engineering, and I made the mistake of not completing one of them and not dropping either, so my GPA there isn’t so great. Can I just omit that school from my CPSLO application?
I’m not trying to lie. If I’m not actually expected to report irrelevant information, I shouldn’t do so when it could unnecessarily impact my MCA.
What about the Chaffey courses that are useless for engineering? Of course they’ll see them on my transcript at some point, so I’m in no way trying to misrepresent anything. I’m only wondering about the meaning of “CSU transferable units” and whether that’s intended to include units that only transfer to other majors. For most students, this distinction isn’t significant. Most only take classes that are useful for their major, so their goal is to transfer as many as possible. On the other hand, since I took many classes applicable to a different major before deciding on engineering, I’m hoping to exclude them since they are not useful.
So is the intent and expectation of admissions that all courses, useful or not, be included in the GPA calculation?
If you are going to submit your Chaffey transcripts all courses will likely be counted toward your GPA, especially if there is a minimum required for admission. Check with your school to be sure.
Any previous and prior work, beyond high school, is required to be reported.
If you choose to “omit” courses that aren’t relevant to your major, then be prepared to be rescinded (they don’t do it right away because they tend to get behind in checking the information) but, you will eventually
be caught. (Roommate of my friend, was dropped in her senior year-3 months before graduation and after receiving a job offer!) Then, they immediately place that information in the data bank, so that other universities become aware of your status.
The universities have you electronically sign your admissions forms. You sign, indicating that you have provided all necessary information, that is true and accurate, and that you understand that any information, contrary to the application, is grounds for further admissions review and possible denials.
As above posters have mentioned, you have to report.