<p>Hi
I am a sophomore at a top 50 school. I will have about a 3.7-3.75 gpa after this semester. i'm an econ major and will be looking to transfer to schools such as northwestern, uchicago, claremont mckenna, georgetown mcdonough, and some others.
I know my gpa as it is fairly competitive, but there is an issue. During high school, i messed around and ending up failing 2 classes at a community college my junior year. I know that all transcripts are required, so will this effectively screw over my gpa? I was hoping i could address it in an essay and explain that i was only 16 at the time and that my gpa has gone up every semester in college. any thoughts? feel free to be brutally honest</p>
<p>Also, if i transfer somewhere, I know that previous grades don't get calculated into the new GPA. so my GPA from the new school will only be for courses taken there. But, will the old grades still show up? For instance, if i transfer somewhere and get a 4.0. I will graduate with a 4.0 from X university. but when an employer asks for a transcript, the F's and such will be seen?</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure the F's are calculated. Whatever classes you have taken into account. I know that most competitive schools will look at the entire record.</p>
<p>you mean that those F's from a community college during high school will be given the same weight as the courses taken at my current university when considering my GPA when i apply?</p>
<p>Most colleges and universities don't look at HS grades or ACT/SAT scores if you will be enrolling after you have completed two full years (about 60 semester hours or 90 quarter hours) at an accredited community college, college, or university. That is to say what you have done since HS graduation is important. What you did before isn't.</p>
<p>HOWEVER some colleges and universities will still look at your HS work and will request ACT/SAT scores. What an individual admissions committe is going to do with that information is up to that committee. But, any university admissions committe that still cares that you failed two courses when you were 16 and rejects your application for that reason and that reason only is not at a university that you would want to attend anyway.</p>
<p>All of us have ugly things in our academic pasts, but they are in the PAST. It is clear that you are capable of high level academic work. Stop worrying about this.</p>
<p>Wishing you all the best.</p>
<p>thanks so much. if that's true, then it sure lifts a huge weight off my shoulders.</p>
<p>any other opinions?</p>
<p>i'd really disagree with happymom</p>
<p>yes, your two F's are in the past, but the past is the best indicator of the future...thats why admissions committees look at your past performance in college and hs...the past is all they have to go off of</p>
<p>what year are you? if you are a freshman or first semester sophmore then hs record (or what you did before college) is going to be the biggest factor in your admissions...those two f's will matter a lot</p>
<p>those grades will be looked at alongside of the grades you recieved in your current college, so in assessing how realistic a shot you have at those schools it would be helpful to factor your cc grades in with your current grades</p>
<p>if colleges ask for your hs and college grades, then they will look at them...its just a matter of how much they weigh them against other parts of your app...as it stands, a 3.7 isi not incredibly competitive for a school like gtown or u chicago...those colleges will have hundreds of apps. with individuals who recieved at least a 3.7 (on the low side) and who do not have those two f's in their past...these are very competitive colleges and a major flaw in your application like that will, i think, preclude you from being a very competitive applicant to many of the more competitive schools that you listed</p>
<p>well hopefully they can see that i was only 16 at the time of taking those classes, didn't really care about school back then. and i have an upward trend every semester of college. oh and i am applying for junior admission.
i just don't see how they can possibly hold it so strongly against me when I have proven a good record since then. haha man, what a frustrating burden.
but thanks for the input</p>
<p>any other opinions?</p>
<p>Don't worry about it (you can't change it anyway). I really think that colleges will look more closely at how well you're doing at your current college. A strong GPA at your current college along with strong professor recommendations should make you a strong transfer candidate. Stop worrying about it and concentrate on finishing your semester with a strong gpa. Pick 2 professors that know you and your potential and ask them if they would consider writing a recommendation. Send out some transfer applications and hope for the best.</p>
<p>If I understand you correctly, those bad cc grades were earned while you were still a hs student. I don't think they will play a big role given your record since then.</p>
<p>My experience with my son (he had a good grade at cc course taken as a hs student - not an F; but I'm just letting you know how things went for him):</p>
<p>His having taken that course was listed on his hs transcript, but no grade reported.
He listed the cc as one of the schools he had attended, on the section of the transfer apps where they ask you to list every school college or university you have ever attended, even for only one class.
Of about 10 schools he applied to for transfer, very few (I can only remember one) actually asked for a transcript from that school. Most only wanted a transcript from schools he had actually been enrolled in after he graduated hs.</p>
<p>I certainly don't know why dufflebagsjesus thinks a 3.7 is <em>low</em> as a college GPA for transfer, even to the very most competitive schools. If s/he has information to back this up, I would love to see it. Otherwise, imo that is just plain wrong.</p>
<p>In response to your qx in post #2: your GPA, that you will put on your resume and that will be on your transcript from your "final"/transfer school... will just be the one from that school. That transcript will show courses you took at your current institution and credits received for them, but will not include their grades. (YMMV but this is the only way I have ever seen it done and the only way I've seen others here on cc report). I would be surprised if those cc classes show up in any way on your college transcript. Do they show up on your current college's transcript?</p>
<p>Employers will possibly ask for transcripts from the school you attended previously. But I would not be surprised if they only want it for the final school and your current school, not your hs and not the cc where you took classes in hs. This is how it has been for my S. He is currently a college senior and has job offers where he has been asked to submit current transcript and the college he previously attended. He has never been asked for a hs transcript, nor for the transcript from the cc where he took a course while in hs.</p>
<p>thank you very much Andale! that information was very helpful.
However, I am considering writing an essay about my academic growth due to certain factors. I feel unethical not submitting the CC transcript, although it might come back to haunt me since most of the top schools would freak at a grade of C let alone 2 F's haha.
So, do you think it would be wise to just list that I went to a cc as a hs student and then not submit the transcript? Or to simply address it and hope they dont really care, or even see it as a plus that i went from failing CC to getting A's at a pretty good university</p>
<p>Explain to me a little more about those cc courses. I'm not saying I'm an expert, but I'd like to learn a little more to give you <em>one</em> opinion about how I would handle it. How was it that you were taking the cc classes as a hs student? Were they on your hs transcript? What were the courses? </p>
<p>No matter the answers, I believe you should list that you attended the school. I'm not current on what the app forms look like and how much they ask about each school. </p>
<p>As I said, very few schools wanted that transcript for my S. So tell me a little more and I'll try to give an opinion.</p>
<p>I think that it will be seen as a plus that you went from two failed cc classes to A's at a pretty good U. I don't know whether you should feature it in an essay, because it might not really be important what you got in those two classes. </p>
<p>What was your hs GPA, with and without those two classes? Were they figured into the hs GPA which shows on your transcript?</p>
<p>i took the classes over the summer so that i wouldn't have to take the AP classes during the school year and could instead have credit so I could take some fun electives. They are not on my HS transcript because you had to request the CC to send the transcript so I didnt do that since I had F's. In all honesty, one F was because I was just being a stupid rebellious teen who didnt care, and the other was a stupid administrative error on my part: i thought that i had dropped the class but it wasn't officially dropped yet. the courses were economics and english.
i dont remember my HS gpa, but I was in the top 10% of my class of like 750 students.
Again, the grades arent in my HS gpa.</p>
<p>Don't include them in the essay? I figure I had to explain something, two F's raise a red flag since I am looking at the top universities</p>
<p>I'm not sure what I think. I'm going to ask some of the other knowledgeable parent posters on this forum to take a look at this thread and see if they have opinions.</p>
<p>Thank you very much, Andale. Much appreciated</p>
<p>on a side note, regarding the old school's grades not showing up on the new transcript...
do transfers still qualify to graduate with latin honors i.e. summa cum laude?
Will old grades be used for that too? Or just 4 semesters' worth at the new school</p>
<p>I just did some sleuthing of the CA forms, and realize that there's a major difference between what's asked on the freshman vs. the transfer form concerning reporting colleges attended and sending transcripts:</p>
<p>For freshman applicants, they ask for: "all colleges/universities at which you have taken courses for credit;.....Please have an official transcript sent from each institution as soon as possible."</p>
<p>For transfer applicants, they say: "List all colleges or universities,.....you have attended, beginning with your first year of college."</p>
<p>So, since your CC grades don't show on your HS transcript, there's no need to list, send transcripts or explain your grades from those classes. </p>
<p>When my D applied for a transfer, she listed and sent transcripts from the CC and university courses she took during HS, I just assumed they were mandatory, but apparently not. </p>
<p>Go ahead and use your essay to talk about something else.</p>
<p>As far as what employers will see, most will only be concerned about what you did in the institution you graduated from. I attended a CCC for 2 years and then transferred to a UC and the latter is the only thing that has ever mattered with employers. </p>
<p>My UC gpa was based only on the 2 years I spent there, but I don't know whether or not that varies by school, also, that was a long time ago ;).</p>
<p>thank you entomom.
I was wondering if that information is strictly for UC schools?</p>
<p>Which information are you referring to--CC transcripts or gpa??</p>