Straight out of high school I applied to an engineering school. I didn’t really like it at all and I was going through some personal problems at the time, so that reflected on my grades, which were pretty bad. I got involved in some extracurricular product design courses and fell in love with the field and was able to exceed in it. I ultimately dropped out and applied for a Design major, and since I was so successful before, I asked the new school to transfer the credits I took previously in product design, so they were included in my transcripts and I also included those projects in my portfolio.
Now I have pretty decent grades and am happy with my career and academic life and want to apply for a masters. The requirements for some schools include “transcripts from all the colleges you obtained credits in”. Do I need to send in the transcripts from my previous school? I never graduated from it, I only transferred some credits of design related courses to the new school and the document makes it clear what my grades where, when i took the classes and the institution I took them in. Honestly, I have way better chances of getting in with my latter results and I have now successfully obtained a bachelor’s degree. Still, I am proud of some work I have done before.
Is the Design transcript (including the old credits) enough for applying? What should I do?
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That is not clear enough?
“but I don’t wannnnnaaaaaa” is a kid response. Understandable to feel it, not acceptable to act on it.
The great thing about grad school is that what will really count is your work in your field. (indeed, many schools ask for your cumulative GPA and your major GPA). You aren’t the first person who didn’t land gracefully on the first try, but you finished in style, and that’s the part that is relevant to your grad program.
I went to two different undergraduate institutions and dropped out of both during my late teens/early 20s. Got a couple of Cs and one Incomplete. Went out into the world, had a life, enrolled in a third no-name undergraduate institution eight years later and got straight-As, excelled in research, did very well. Applied to five top universities for graduate school, got into all five with full-ride scholarships (NSF AND Jacob Javits, though I had to choose one and not accept both). Went to Harvard for grad school.
I did list those first two undergrad institutions and had transcripts sent, because yes, that is required. None of the universities cared. They cared very much about what I had done once I had enrolled at that third college. The first two were obviously part of a former life and were, I suppose, dismissed as not relevant as to what I could do now.
I also was arrested in my early 20s for being “drunk in public” outside a bar and had to explain that on all my applications. Still got into every grad school to which I applied. Guess since that arrest happened eight years before I applied and was not even technically a misdemeanor (?), they didn’t care about that either. Or maybe it made my application stand out a bit, lol. Not that I’d recommend having that experience. Probably not the best way to stand out.
Yes, you must report all transcripts. Colleges can check a National College Clearinghouse to ensure you do.