I’m going to graduate with a BA soon from my university. After that, I plan on applying to grad school.
My transcript at this university looks good.
HOWEVER- I took a few unrelated classes at the local community college which would be completely irrelevant to my grad school app. I never transferred them over to my university, so my university has no record of them. Do I really need to send the transcripts from this community college over for the grad school app? OR can I pretend I never took those classes?
I’m asking because the grades for the classes I took at the CC will drag down my cumulative GPA.
You didn’t tell your current college you attended another school? That might cause you issues there. Did you apply as a freshman? If they would have considered you a transfer had they known about your other courses that could be a problem, especially if you accepted financial aid you wouldn’t have qualified for as a transfer.
You need to speak with the people at your current university, and find out what they require you do about the CC classes. They will probably need to have it in your file, but it also is possible that they won’t be required to transfer any of the credits.
As for grad school admissions: a grad program that rejects you for not-so-hot grades in courses that are completely unrelated to your grad program, is a place you don’t want to be at anyway. So unless those CC grades are truly dreadful ( F and D for example) and require formal explanation on your paret (“When I was young and lazy and lacked direction about my academic and career goals…”), don’t worry about this, just send the transcript,
agree with happy mom. You first should bring these course to the attention of your current college, so that there is no misunderstanding later. They may not care, but you should still get them on record as saying that they don’t care before you obtain your BA/BS. (The issue is that you were admitted to your current college under false pretenses in that you did not tell them that you have previously taken college courses elsewhere. You need to clear that up and fast.)
Usually, even if you take classes ‘on the side’ as a non-degree/transient student, you still have to let both the receiving college (your CC) and your home college know that you’re taking the classes. It’s not the hugest transgression but something to keep in mind.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could all just omit the things that would disadvantage us and only include the things that make us look better? The good news, though, is that if the classes are truly unrelated they won’t matter as much for your admission as the classes you actually took as part of your major (and graduate programs are unlikely to ‘average them into your cumulative GPA’, per se. That would be a lot of work for just 2-3 classes).
The good news, though, is that if the classes are truly unrelated they won’t matter as much for your admission as the classes you actually took as part of your major (and graduate programs are unlikely to ‘average them into your cumulative GPA’, per se. That would be a lot of work for just 2-3 classes).