1.9 GPA over 4 years at 2-year school. What was I thinking back then?

Underwhelming

Hey folks,

In the early 2000's I went to this community college and slacked off alot. I'm going over my unofficial transcripts now and seeing mostly C's and W's. There are one or two A's, B's, D's and F's. I changed majors two or three times. Wow, I was just going nowhere. I ended up in an Art Associate's program and never even finished.

Then I spent three quarters at an art school near Chicago doing the same thing.

I realized my life was going nowhere and I had no motivation so I joined the Army for some discipline. Spent three years in there, met a wonderful girl, moved back near home with her and I'm going back to a different community college for Computer Science now. I'm working hard and having no problems focusing. I'm very happy with life now. I feel like I've grown up a lot but seeing my old grades bums me out about that point in my life.

I feel like that GPA is gonna be a cinderblock tied to my ankle for the rest of my life. I'm thinking about taking online courses at my original school to finish my Associates in Art so I can have a little closure on all that. I still need to meet with them and find out exactly what I still need. I'm pretty sure I got all the core art classes out of the way, though.

I guess I'm not looking for any specific advice or anything, but this forum seemed appropriate. Any of you guys dealing with something like this? What did you do/are you doing?

BlochWave

Unless you try to transfer those credits to the new school, I don't believe anybody on earth never needs to see those transcripts again. You will have wasted the money you spent, but it sounds like you're at peace with that

ASimPerson

This could very possibly be terrible advice, so other folks feel free to help here: can you just forget the whole thing never happened? Is that even legal? I honestly don't know.

ZeroCow

Are you looking at getting a 4-year degree?

That's really where the impact will be. A 1.9 gpa will probably make you unadmissable at any competitive 4-year institution and if you are admitted then you'll probably go in on academic probation. Also while you might be able to get into a 4-year school, it could hinder your choice in major. It would be difficult/impossible to get into some competitive programs at certain schools.

If you gave us more information on what you would like to do then that would be more helpful.

:edit: Also if you apply to a new school, don't pretend it did not happen. You might get by admissions with lying, but you would be caught by any sort of financial aid review. I work at a major 4-year public institution and two things happen when students get caught by Financial Aid: admission is revoked and the school will get back any aid money that has been despirsed.

kedinik

I think you can just choose not to transfer credits and then you don't have any compulsion to bring it up.

Not 100% on that, tho. Ask admissions counselors at a few schools you're interested in.

Fagatron

Would you even be able to transfer them after ten years? I think you're probably in the clear dude.

Underwhelming

That program was Art. Now I'm in a 2 year Computer Science program. I'd like to learn to program video games, but realistically I'll probably do something with software. I don't even know, really. I figured by this point in my life I'd have found my calling, but I haven't. Nothing jumps out at me. But I'm comfortable buckling down and focusing on school, so that's something.

Darkewolfe

You'll never get a job with the federal government, as they ask for GPA's and transcripts.

Iceman.USAF

I think at 10 years those credits are "useless" anyway. I know my college was 7. If you had outstanding credits not applied to a completed degree that were 7 years old (or more) they were deleted.

Rikushix

kedinik wrote: »

I think you can just choose not to transfer credits and then you don't have any compulsion to bring it up.

Not 100% on that, tho. Ask admissions counselors at a few schools you're interested in.

I went to a four year university here in Canada, spent two years in Computer Engineering and failed out. Came back home to Vancouver and went to college. Looking at transferring back to university (a different one). Here it is a requirement to provide transcripts from your past schools, regardless of whether you intend to transfer courses or not. Technically speaking, it's a criminal offense to not report your enrollment history at other schools, and they make it clear that you are to provide transcripts from each school.

I feel kinda awkward because when I applied for the college here in Vancouver, I just acted like I was coming out of high school and submitted my secondary school transcripts alone. They would've taken me anyway, but still...

edit: if you aren't transferring credits, they won't necessarily be included in your GPA but they may still use them to decide whether to accept you or not. it is true however that after a certain number of years credits become "dead" and are nontransferable.

Unknown

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Demerdar

I don't see the problem here.

Finish your current CC run and submit both transcripts, the ones from ten years ago and the ones that are current. If your current GPA is good compared to your 10 year old GPA, they should have no problems accepting you. Along with your application you will be required to reveal your military background, which will only help your cause.

Don't even worry about it :^:

Chases Street Demons

You're overthinking this. The 1.9 GPA was a killer, but don't hide from it. Transfer whatever you can into whatever new programs you start down the line, and talk to an admissions person face to face.

You were young, you messed up, you served in the military and grew up. Now you're looking to continue your education. Not an uncommon thread and honestly the GPA likely won't matter as much as you think it will.

Best of luck. Remember, employers (especially Law Enforcement) LOVE Honorable Discharges and completed terms of service. If you were still looking to branch out Police/Corrections might not be a bad place to look.

LadyM

I got crappy grades in college about ten years ago, then dropped out completely and just worked. (Not a very exciting job, but it paid the bills and things could've been worse.) So then a couple years ago I decided, "Hey, I want a four year degree!"

I went back to the same community college where I'd earned crappy grades. (I had a 1.something GPA.) This time I did fine. It sucked at first, because my OLD grades were still on my transcript, dragging down my overall GPA even when I got good grades in current classes. Fuuuck.

But gradually my GPA climbed up, I graduated with an AA degree, and just got accepted to the University of Washington as a transfer student.

If you want to get a degree, go back to school and just do it. If you want to go to a four year school, DO NOT hide the crappy grades you got way back when. If they find out later, there will be hell to pay. Most schools specifically request "all your previous college transcipts." Instead, explain that you were unfocused back then, but you've turned your life around through the army, etc.

kaliyama

The reach-back requirements generally are to make sure that you weren't kicked out of an earlier institution for dishonesty. Especially if you don't want to transfer but just enroll for a full-time degree from scratch I wouldn't sweat it, and would certainly not feel the need to report grades to your employers.

Shadowfire

I think all of the info in this thread depends on the school. I was in a CC for about a year after I graduated high school, and ended up with Cs and a couple withdrawals (this was fourteen years ago now). When I went back two years ago, the credits I had stayed, but the grades were "forgiven." Essentially, I started with the credits, but the GPA began again from scratch. I graduated this past spring with a 3.95.

What I'm saying is ask the school. Call and pose as someone who wants to transfer, and see what their policy is on those old credits. To be honest, the fact that you're going to a different school may mean they won't transfer any of those credits anyway. In that case, I'd say you're safe forgetting they ever existed, particularly since you're getting a new degree.

Ziac45

I would just send both transcripts I don't think it will hurt you too badly especially if you are doing well now. This may very from school to school but when I transferred (Both Public Universitys of Maryland) my credits transferred but my grades did not. When I started my current school I had no GPA at all, good or bad because the credits transfer as a Pass or no credit thing.

ZeroCow

Best advice really is to call the admissions office of schools that you are looking to transfer to because policies can vary widely across the board.

Red Raevyn

I've never heard of a 4-year school using previous school's grades to calculate overall GPA, especially from a 2-year. It's (believed to be) easier to get high grades at a comm. coll. so they don't want transfer students getting a free boost.

ceres

Red Raevyn wrote: »

I've never heard of a 4-year school using previous school's grades to calculate overall GPA, especially from a 2-year. It's (believed to be) easier to get high grades at a comm. coll. so they don't want transfer students getting a free boost.

Again this is different from school to school, but I know that my school (a state university) won't transfer in anything with less than a C grade, and the grades themselves don't transfer anyway. Lots of people in my major use this to take things like organic chemistry and physics at community colleges (which I hear is sooo much easier, but I feel weird about doing) so their C's don't affect their GPA. The catch is that if you go on to any further education, you will need to give all of your transcripts, and they'll be able to see that you did that. It may or may not matter, depending on how competitive the school is.

Every school I've ever been to has wanted all of my transcripts (three across different states) but I'm not sure what the consequences are of not turning one in. I've never seen an institution say "just give us the good ones".

SammyF

Even if you graduated with a 3.9 GPA ten years ago from a well-regarded school, that's information that's all going to go at the very bottom of your CV anyway beneath everything you've done since then. I wouldn't really sweat it -- particularly since I would imagine that if you're working on an AS in computer science now, you probably won't be applying to a lot of jobs or educational programs that are terribly concerned with how you did in your Art Associate's program.

And it's not like you can't explain the "why" in a cover letter or during a job interview if you feel the need to do that. "I was without direction as I completed high school, so I went into the Army to develop some discipline and start learning a trade. Fast forward three years: I was honorably discharged, I completed a two-year associates in computer science with a very respectable GPA, and I hope that my next step will be productive and fulfilling experience here at Wingnuts, Inc" or something like that.

Kias

I work at a 2-year college and did the transfer stuff myself awhile back, so gonna chime in here with the two best pieces of advice I see coming up:

1) Don't stress it. Seriously, its done, and as has been mentioned, several 4-year schools start you with a fresh GPA (mine did as well).

2) Don't attempt to mislead anyone when attempting to enroll. Its really pointless and worse case you may start out in academic probation, but if you are dedicated to getting an education, that doesn't mean much. Since each college is different, figure out where you want to go and pursue your goal from there.

I work every day with folks in your situation (and worse), the most important thing to keep in mind is it is never too late to go back and, if you are determined to make it work, you usually can.

Rikushix

Red Raevyn wrote: »

I've never heard of a 4-year school using previous school's grades to calculate overall GPA, especially from a 2-year. It's (believed to be) easier to get high grades at a comm. coll. so they don't want transfer students getting a free boost.

Here in BC the colleges and the universities work in close contact to manage course and degree equivalencies and whatnot. You go to a college here for up to two years, and you can transfer to a major university like UBC or SFU or UVIC with all of your credits. The courses at college are largely designed to be equivalent to the kind you would take at university.

ceres

Kias wrote: »

2) Don't attempt to mislead anyone when attempting to enroll. Its really pointless and worse case you may start out in academic probation, but if you are dedicated to getting an education, that doesn't mean much. Since each college is different, figure out where you want to go and pursue your goal from there.

It is just about always best not to lie or omit information in these situations. It might not come back to bite you, but if it does it will bite hard.

DoctorArch

Do not lie.

I was practically in the same situation as you. I attended college for two years right out of high school and failed most of my classes in my second year. 7 years later I went back and pushed my collective GPA from a 1.5 to a 3.02, with a 3-year recent GPA of 3.75 and am at grad school.

Here's what you have to do: Bust your ass to make sure you get good grades now. Every high grade will collectively help you bring that total GPA up.

This is important, because when/if you apply for graduate school, they will request you to submit all of your transcripts, and if they ever find out that you neglected to send some, regardless of how long ago they might be, they can and will use it as a reason to nix your application based on dishonesty.

But when you do apply, you can point to your recent GPA as proof of your marked improvement, and be sure to talk about it in any application essay they require. Also, cultivate those good references now, and study for whatever grad school entrance exam they require, because a good score on that will help negate the early GPA.

tsmvengy

What the fuck are all these people saying: don't lie, you'll never get XYZ job, etc etc? Is anyone actually asking you questions about previous institutions attended?

Yeah, if you want to transfer credits to a new school then yeah people are going to see those terrible grades. But unless I'm reading wrong you didn't actually get a degree from either of those places right? If that's the case and you're not transferring credits nobody's going to ever have to know about those shitty grades you got, because they didn't count for jack shit. When someone requests a transcript of your grades they want the grades you got while completing your degree, not the F's you got 10 years ago when you were a dumb kid.

ceres

tsmvengy wrote: »

What the fuck are all these people saying: don't lie, you'll never get XYZ job, etc etc? Is anyone actually asking you questions about previous institutions attended?

Yeah, if you want to transfer credits to a new school then yeah people are going to see those terrible grades. But unless I'm reading wrong you didn't actually get a degree from either of those places right? If that's the case and you're not transferring credits nobody's going to ever have to know about those shitty grades you got, because they didn't count for jack shit. When someone requests a transcript of your grades they want the grades you got while completing your degree, not the F's you got 10 years ago when you were a dumb kid.

First of all, you don't need to complete a degree to transfer credits.

Second, MOST institutions want to see all of your transcripts, and if you have reason to believe this might not be the case for yours, you can always call and clarify.

Third, if you ARE required by the application process to have all transcripts sent, then dishonesty is a really poor way to begin a new academic career. If you can show improvement and renewed dedication, it's not necessarily even a drawback.

dasZombie42

I did the same thing when I first went to community college. I went for two years, got tired of it and took two years off. I've grown up a little in those two years and am now going back.

I have D's, F's, and W's on my transcript too but that just makes me want to work harder to not screw up this time. Don't let your past grades get you down. You're doing good now and that's all that matters.