<p>I attended a law school for a year before i was academically dismissed. i am now applying to a top school in ca. i basically got the thumbs up to start the grad program from the program director. but i never mentioned about my year in law school on my application. i've heard that financial aid of this school can't see my students loan from law school since it is school specific. and on the national clearing house how will the school know which school to search if i didnt state on my application?</p>
<p>@ nietzsche fan</p>
<p>Why were you academically dismissed? (You don't have to be very detailed if it's a very personal matter.) Your law school record will be visible to the admissions and financial aid people. Don't ever lie about it.</p>
<p>They all say that your acceptance can be withdrawn if you lied on your application. You didn't lie but you were disingenuous about your history. I would keep my mouth shut and hope they don't go searching around for anything.</p>
<p>i agree with belevitt,
first i didnt say anything because other grad schools told me they only want undergrad transcripts because they dont count professional school as grad school. this school asked for graduate work and since law school isn't technically grad school i didn't think i should divulge the information; one that doesn't not reflect my capability and future potential and also being academically dismiss carries a stigma of impudence. </p>
<p>i don't think the information will get out unless i announce it. they can't find me on the national clearing house site if i dont tell them where to look. as for financial aid, i dont think they can fully see the activities of my past student loans and grants. i am hypothesizing on the latter theory.</p>
<p>belevitt what's your logic on the issue?</p>
<p>Financial aid depts are quite separate from admissions (at least in the United States). There are legal liabilities forcing even the most admissions focused institutions to separate their financial aid and admissions depts to ensure that private financial info isn't being shared with the wrong people.</p>
<p>If the only hard source showing that you flunked law school is financial aid in nature, nobody else will find out. </p>
<p>Don't broadcast this, and make sure that you can't find the law school stuff by googling your name.</p>
<p>I think they may be able to see your financial aid information. There are cumulative caps on loans such as Stafford loans and how could they enforce this if they cannot see the information anywhere? But i don't know how they do this.</p>
<p>BELEVITT,
I have googled my name the moon over and i can't find anything. i have researched on who is allowed to have access to my financial aid record and if i understood the protected law it is accessible only to the bank, the people working for the gov. depts. i don't think schools can see my entire loans record through financial aid.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Financial aid depts are quite separate from admissions (at least in the United States).
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Actually quite the opposite is true. At most schools this is not the case as the vast majority of schools are not need blind but need sensitive or need aware so the ability to pay and the FA information is a factor in the admissions process. At the handful of need blind schools the FA and admissions offices ae probably in 2 separate places.</p>
<p>If you have filed a fafsa, or have taken out any federal loans when the FA office at your school pulls up your application, they will see the loans (remember there are stafford loan limits and the school will see how much monsy in stafford loans you have borrowed over your undergrad and graduate career). From a FA standpoint, it will not be hard to find inconsistencies in your application.</p>
<p>As a person who has gone through the grad school application process a number of times at different schools (I currently hold 3 masters and an advanced grad certificate ), and I have yet to see a grad school application which did not have the following?</p>
<p>Have you ever applied to any school(s) or college(s) at _______ before?</p>
<p>they want to know when, if yes ,you must supply your id number.</p>
<p>In the education section, they require that you list all schools attended whether or not they were part of a degree program and you must provide a transcript from each school.</p>
<p>the end of the application states</p>
<p>
[quote]
I certify that have read and understand all instructions accompanying this application and have answered all questions thrughtfully to the best of my knowledge. ** I understand that misrepresentation or omission may be cause for denying admission or permission to register at any time. I understannd that this application and all materials received beome the praoperty of ______ and will not be duplicated or returned to me for any reason. Furthermore I understand that that _______reserves the right to deny admission or permission to register or require the withdrawl of any student at any time for any reason it considers sufficient, including scholarship, character and personal conduct.** I understand that this application may be superceded and that the university reserves the right to alter the requirements or change deadlines.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>then you sign your name to the statement.</p>
<p>Yes, I also know people who were kicked out of my grad program for misrepresentation on their application. The student received a fellowship and had to pay back all of the $$.</p>
<p>"Actually quite the opposite is true"</p>
<p>Actually the opposite is not true. The financial aid department cannot share your specific financial information with the admissions dept, they can only share an overview of current need/funding situation. They cannot disclose the factors that lead to the situation such as previous loan disbursements, bankruptcies and cosigner rejections. While in theory the financial aid dept could see your Stafford loans from law school (though Sybie799, a careful reading of the original post indicates that he did not get federal money, just institution money) it is very unlikely at a large institution that someone from the financial aid dept would rush over to the admissions dept asking to see a random students application to compare transcripts.</p>
<p>Certainly this omission is fraudulent and could potentially lead to the offer being rescinded. However the odds against a financial aid counselor at a large school in California calling up a previous school (that would not be included in the federal aid report) to see if any institutional loans were issued to a specific person, and then running over to the admissions dept to squeal is exceedingly unlikely.</p>
<p>The school did not ask for post graduate transcripts and it is unlikely that the law school experience is relevant to your (philosophy?) graduate degree so you do have reason to exclude it from your app. I wouldn't let people know about this but it is really unlikely, despite the anecdotal evidence that Sybbie mentioned, that you would be found out and expelled.</p>
<p>I think nietzsche fan should just come clean about this. It is clear that his/her conscience is perturbed because he/she has discussed the issue in several threads, and has gone so far as to google him/herself as thoroughly as possible to look for possible ways that the university in question could find out the truth.</p>
<p>I have no idea how difficult it would be for any given college or university to track down all the potential missing transcripts for any given student. I do know that the registrar's office at my current university told me that having all of my transcripts on file was not their own peculiar rule. It is a rule imposed on them by the accrediting body. In other words, one missing transcript for me could mean they are in big trouble when it comes time for re-accreditation. In fact, they lost one of my transcripts and I had to have it re-sent because while there was a checkmark in the file indicating that it had arrived, the paper copy had gone missing!</p>
<p>The people on the admissions committees have seen ugly transcripts before. (Probably most of them have an ugly transcript or two in their own pasts.) They know the difference between getting ugly grades because you are in the wrong program at the wrong time, and getting good grades because you have found yourself and are in the right program at the right time.</p>
<p>Talk to your advisors. Tell them the truth. Mail the ugly transcripts. You will sleep a lot better.</p>
<p>Send the law school transcript, you can easily address it in an addendum. You will not be the first person to go to law school and find out that law school was not for them. </p>
<p>But getting caught with the misrepresentation and being rescinded can be more damaging long term than admitting that law was not for you.</p>