Please help. Very stressed.

Hello everyone.

I’m sure my story won’t be new to some of you but I’m in need of guidance just the same.
I have a 2 yr RN degree from a community college and have been working as a nurse for years. I finally decided to go back and get my 4 yr degree finished - I wasn’t sure if I wanted to stay in nursing so I didn’t go back right away. Anyway here is my issue; I applied to a 4 yr institution to finish that degree and got accepted for spring 2013. I thought nothing of it until I overheard people at work discussing omitting previous college transcripts and I saw the questions about it on the college application and of course I started inquiring online and came upon this website. There lies the crux of my problem.

I was signed up and paid to start college as a freshman in the fall of 1987. I had gone to a couple of classes the first week, and then I was hospitalized for a bleeding ulcer. My homelife had become quite stressful (my mother had moved her new boyfriend into our home only 8 months after my stepfather who raised us passed away. This new guy was not a nice guy). So I moved out on my own and worked multiple jobs to keep a roof over my head and keep myself fed for years. I never went back to properly withdraw from the classes for whatever reason…probably embarassment.

So in 2000 I decided to finally go back to school. I called the college that I had first gone to and explained what transpired to the woman in the registrars office. I told her that I had I’s but never withdrew so I assumed they were F’s, she concurred. She stated that I had 2 options: one was to try to get every one of these professors to change my grade and since at least one had passed away and number of others were retired, my chances for that were slim. My second option she said was to not put it down on the new application at all. She stated that I was probably dropped from the fall roster and that she couldn’t even find a record of me since I had paid cash and did not apply for financial aid. I didn’t give it much more thought and applied without ever having disclosed that first institution. I just assumed that I didn’t have a transcript…I’m betting I do somewhere reading what I have read on this site.

So I hold a 2 yr degree and a license that I’m terrified of loosing. I’m just sick about this. I want to make it right, but I don’t have a clue how to at this point. I’m on univerisity #3 and haven’t disclosed it yet and want to. Would the 4 yr college notify the 2 yr college and if so what will happen. I don’t want to keep this going. Could someone please help?

Thank You in advance.

So you are concerned about a transcript coming up from a school you attened for a few weeks 25 years ago, and that the school themself cannot find any record of?

Even though technically school applications want you to state all grades from all schools attened previously, applicably I think they show some leniency for school records >20 years in age. Some people could not tell you which classes they took, or which grades they received in classes 20 years later, especially without their own transcript for referrence. I would think, though I’m no school admissions official, that the “report all grades ever” rule is used more for those applicants that may be trying to decieve from more recent grades - those who knowlingly ommit such information because it may disqualify them from applying.

I would ask myself, “Would it have made a significant impact on a school’s admission decision if they knew about a couple incompletes or withdrawls (possibly turned F’s) from a quarter decade ago?” I would think that the education you started in 2000 is more indicative of your academic merits and abilities than the education you attempted 13 years before that.

You’ve been admitted, so if the school wanted to check into your academic history, then they would have done so, and chances are they did not find anything either since you were in fact admitted (or they did find it and didn’t care, like I allude to above).

IMO, you shouldn’t be worried. Focus on the grades you receive from now on.

Turtlerock,
Thank you for your advice. I really do appreciate it. I think you’re right, I will try to not think about it.