<p>I recently transferred to UCI and might decide to drop out before the W-grade deadline.</p>
<p>If I do this and apply for transfer to colleges next year, do I have to disclose that I attended UCI despite not having received any grades (not even Ws) during my time here?</p>
<p>Yes, the standard instructions say to report all post secondary institutions enrolled in or where courses were ATTEMPTED. </p>
<p>They can check because about 93% of all schools in the U.S. are contracted with the National Student Clearinghouse which is a private company that acts as a legal “agent working on behalf of the college or university” (see FERPA) and stores your records from the colleges you attended and also retrieves them for admissions officers. </p>
<p>So, because 93% of all schools just happen to use this one system it kind of acts like a central database, even though each school has individually authorized NSCH to act as an agent. </p>
<p>This way, NSCH is allowed to grab your stored records and disclose them electronically through a computer to the admissions office of the college you’re applying to. </p>
<p>I can’t tell what the procedures are of each admissions office is though. </p>
<p>But if they say you have to report it and send a transcript, then you have to.</p>