<p>So i really don't know where to go to have this question answered so i decided to give this place a shot. So a few years back i applied to undergrad at University of california schools. I had omitted a transcript and had a time gap in my application. When asked about it by an adcom, being young and naive, i kind of pointed out that i had went to a community college and she subsequently drilled me about it threatening to ban me from the entire university system if i didn't supply the transcript. So i forwarded it to those schools i applied to in that system. I then refused admission because i didn't want that transcript to mess with my GPA. I ended up completing my undergrad at another school without that transcript being ever brought up. I want to apply to UC schools for a professional degree, but i am afraid that UC schools all share a common applicant database and if i were to forward apps to those schools they would bring it up to the application system and basically screw everything up. Interestingly the UC schools i want to apply to for professional school, i did not apply for undergraduate. I mean it sounds all complicated and i should just forget about the UC system entirely, but they are the only cheap public schools in my state for what i want to do.</p>
<p>my gpa was around 3.8 and with that transcript it went down to like 2.9. I knew even if i completed my undergrad at a UC it would be almost impossible to bring that gpa up to apply to the professional schools i wanted to apply to. So like 2 UC schools know about that transcript. I'm curious whether all UC schools know about it now or not. The UC schools i want to apply to now for professional schools are not the 2 that know about my ommited transcript. I really dunno if they share applicant files throughout the whole system, which has me very paranoid as you can see.</p>
<p>Instead of committing fraud and risk getting kicked out of school, get academic renewal on your old transcript. Send them the old transcript with the grades crossed out. No fraud, same gpa, problem solved. </p>
<p>You’re lucky the other school you went to never found out.</p>
<p>Aren’t you clever. As if solving this through that method had never occurred to me. Some colleges for some programs do not acknowledge academic renewal in GPA calculations.</p>
<p>UC’s require you to report ALL schoolwork. There’s a place in the UC application that allows you to explain education. That’s where you should explain why you fudged up early on, but fixed yourself.</p>
<p>You’re screwed. Short of (again) committing fraud and risking getting kicked out of school (as Ella put it), you have no choice but to list the transcript.</p>
<p>College coursework never goes away, particularly when it comes to grad and professional schools. All you can do is plead your case and hope for the best.</p>
<p>To answer OP’s actual question (“Do UCs have a shared applicant database?”)… No, I don’t think so. However, there are other ways a UC could find out about that early coursework, including through the National Student Clearinghouse. And, if you have a gap in education that they don’t buy your excuse for, they could conduct a more thorough investigation–say, by contacting the other UCs and seeing if you’ve ever applied there.</p>
<p>It sucks. I’m in a similar situation myself, with old college coursework potentially killing my GPA (dropping it from a 3.96 to 3.4). There’s just no way around it.</p>
<p>The UCs now all use an internet service that tells them all of the colleges and universities, including community colleges, that an applicant has ever been enrolled at. When the UC professional school checks your name and sees that you have been enrolled in a CC that you did not submit a transcript from and did not list on your application form it will be an automatic rejection.</p>
<p>I seriously doubt they check everybody’s academic history. If they had all our transcripts at their fingertips they wouldnt even bother asking for them. </p>
<p>They do use that National Student Clearinghouse though, which will give them everything they need should they want to look for it…but that requires time and most adcoms are lazy as hell. </p>
<p>I wouldnt do it…but if you are desperate I dont think you have a choice.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t try to act as if the transcript never existed. Just be honest with them and explain how you picked yourself up. The proof is all there. You did in fact pick yourself up with an outstanding GPA. Get some great extracurriculars and you’ll be fine. They’re more interested in your more recent coursework anyways.</p>
<p>UCSD asked me to verify something on my application and warned me the information would be shared with the other schools, if that means anything.</p>
<p>Hey guys, thanks for all the helpful replies. Yeah i think i might go the honest route and take the hit. I just don’t know what i would do if i were to get to my last year and then get expelled with in excess of 120-150K of debt. I applied to a year of post bacc. in case i want to boost my gpa.</p>
<p>Haha you know what, i might very well do that too. It sounds kind of futile though, i mean are adcoms that vain. I basically got 4 Fs in college prep classes (algebra 2/prep chem/prep physics and prep english)… i was new to the united states and had no idea you could withdraw classes. I was 18 and honestly school was the last thing on my mind. I applied to a cheap state school for post bacc, if that doesn’t go through, i might just power my way through with inordinate amount of CCC units. The whole process is so absurd, i wished colleges used more flexible and reasonable judgment instead of sticking so stringently by by their stupid code. That **** just shouldn’t count.</p>
<p>There really ought to be a universal policy to allow students to not report coursework over, say, 5 years old, when subsequent coursework is clearly better. </p>
<p>E.g., “Grades of “D” or below will not be considered if the coursework is over 5 years old, and if the student has completed at least 30 semester units since with a 3.0 GPA or higher.”</p>