I’m wondering how to handle a potentially forged GPA. I graduated from high school roughly 30 years ago. When I graduated I got my final gpa and noticed that it was higher than I thought it would be. I would have been ineligible to apply for college if my gpa wasn’t at least a 2.0. I think it was exactly a 2.0. I didn’t think anything else about it. I assumed if it came from the school it must be right. I got into college to play a sport (no scholarship). I didn’t think anything of it until a few years ago when I was talking with someone and joked that someone must have forged my grades or I wouldn’t have gotten in. After being in the world for awhile and being a bit less idealistic about people, I’ve realized that a coach might have actually done that without my knowledge. Obviously I should have double checked if I had doubts, but I didn’t do that at the time. I haven’t really thought about it until recently.
How would I look into this? What would be the repercussions? Will I lose any degrees I’ve earned if this turns out to be true? Can I contact my high school to find proof one way or the other without them finding out why? This is a weird situation, but I think I need to know this. I wouldn’t want it to come out during a background check or something. How can I find out about this and what can I do about it if it’s true?
No one is going to care about your 30 year old GPA. You are certainly not the person you were then, and if the GPA was flubbed it wasn’t your doing anyway. If the college awarded the degree they are not going to rescind it, all of those records are on old imaging systems or microfilm in their vaults, and it is far too much work to do a forensic audit to hassle a 55 year old. Back in the day they awarded degrees to football players who could barely write. If it is high school no ones cares anyway. Let sleeping dogs lie.
The only exception might be If you are a politician with a lot of enemies, but that would break all kinds of federal laws.
Are you implying I’m not important enough to scrutinize? : ) I have been considering a presidential run. Seriously though, if someone wanted to look into this I think an admissions department would probably take it seriously. Maybe not though. It’s not like my college grades were forged. I earned those.
I will clarify one thing. It does matter to me. I would like to know. However, if checking into it means it will automatically get looked into by the schools I’d like to know that before choosing to do it. That way I could be ready if it comes up and know what the potential repercussions would be.
Then contact your high school and see what the transcript says that they submitted to the college. If it is lower than 2.0, then contact the college and request a copy of your records.
Honestly, I think you should move on from thinking about your HS GPA. You earned the college degree fair and square and that is the degree people will care about.
And remember colleges can recalculate a gpa under their own rules. California does it. Some schools only count core classes, others include everything from PE to advanced calc. Some give credit for honors, others do not.
The NCAA has its own rules if you were at an NCAA school, even if you didn’t get a scholarship.
It is entirely possible that your final grades in high school weren’t quite as dreadful as you had expected them to be. Your teachers could very well have decided to give you every possible benefit of the doubt so the your GPA squeaked up to where it needed to be. It also is possible that you were admitted to college in some kind of probational status that you weren’t fully aware of. That could have got you in, and your later successes would have removed the provisional status.
If you attended a public high school, the school district (or the state) is likely to have your final record on file. Drop them a line and ask for a copy of your final transcript. That way you will know what the school would have sent out.
You are a worrier. Even if you ran for president I think the spin would be that people can be successful regardless of a GPA. My first thought was, “let sleeping dogs lie” and read another poster said the same thing. You need to have a good chuckle over this and for whatever reason, this was your path. I’m sure you’ve done good in your life and will continue to do so! That’s what you need to focus on.
I think going back thirty years ago is a waste of time. There would be zero way to determine if it was incorrect unless you retained your high school transcript for comparative purposes. Some teachers may have been kind but that is not forgery.
If YOU were not responsible for a grade change, and were unaware at the time, then I don’t see how this implicates you at all. I agree with the others. You earned the college degree, etc., but if it is bothering you then go ahead and request the transcript.