I am an international student, and I graduated from high school in May 2016. I then went off to college in the USA which started from September 2016. However, I withdrew from that college in October 2016 before I had gained any college credits. The reason for withdrawing was mainly because I wanted to attend a better college then the one I was at. Due to withdrawal, my student status at that college was cancelled, and so was my student visa, and I had to return back to my home country. Now I want to apply to colleges again as a freshman applicant. I have emailed the colleges I am looking at, and explained my situation to some of them and they said that I am eligible to apply as a freshman applicant because I did not receive any college credits, and attended college only for a month and a half and then withdrew.
I also asked one of the colleges if I am obligated to mention on CommonApp that I went to college and then withdrew from there so I could apply again, and they said that they ‘encourage’ me to share my situation. From their reply, it’s clear that I am not absolutely required to mention that I went to college for a month and a half.
Basically, I want to apply to college, and not mention the fact that I went to college for a month and a half and then left. I think it’s just irrelevant information, and I don’t want to explain my reason for leaving that college if it’s not completely necessary. It will just unnecessarily complicate my application.
So, if I was to apply to college as a freshman applicant, and not mention anywhere on my application that I went to college and then withdrew, do they have any way of finding out about this? And more importantly, will they carry out a background check while reading my application, or after they accept me? Do they carry out background checks for all applicants?
Also, will there be any problems in getting a new student visa for the new college, since my old one is no longer valid?
They would definitely be able to see that you attended another college- there’s a database for that. Whether they would be okay with you not disclosing it is another matter. I would honestly just disclose it- since you got no credits, it won’t affect you.
Some high school transcripts will report where the student matriculated at the bottom. You should request a copy so you can see if this is true for your school, or call the registrar’s office and inquire.
@ABC1000 I am not an international student, so take this FWIW. 1. You will need to explain the “gap” year anyways, 2. you should not have trouble getting a new I-20. but whether you get the visa or not depends on your consulate. Good luck
But will it seem odd to colleges that I left a college that I enrolled in just because I wanted to attend a better college? I’ll obviously have to explain the reason for leaving that college. (It was a high ranked college though, but I wanted to attend a different college)
It might. How can you know without applying? You did what you did, so you can only move forward. Regarding visas, isuge at you look on the US state department website where you should find that info.
You need to be able to explain your reasons for leaving the first place. So spend some time thinking about that. You might want to start with something like this:
“By the time I had arrived, my academic goals had changed, and I realized that X was not the best fit for me. College Y is a much better fit for my major and my goals.”
@happymomof1: The college I left was a LAC, but I want to apply to research universities this time because they are a better fit for me. But if I explain something like this to colleges, won’t that leave a bad impression that I didn’t think before making the decision and that I am unclear about my future goals?
It might – but then, colleges see kids switching schools, taking time off, changing their academic directions all.the.time. Explain in a mature way, as happymomof1 suggests, and you should be OK. Being honest will often outweigh any negative impression a school might have. Honesty is something that’s very important to American admission committees (and schools.)