Transcript for Transfer (Started Over)

ALEXAN.S

Hi all,

After high school, I spent two years at one college before transferring to a different institution, where I started more or less started over as a freshman (I was able to transfer credits from one course). My GPA before the transfer was pretty abysmal (2.7). I graduated with a 3.5 and went on to get a grad degree from an Ivy, finishing that with a 3.6. This was almost 10 years ago.

My question is, should I even list the first school on my application? The downside risk to sharing is that the low GPA will spook admissions, but there could be some upside in the narrative of personal and academic growth. However, I imagine there is also the risk of outright rejection for withholding that information.

Has anyone faced a similar situation, or have any advice? Thank you in advance!

Selene Steelman

You will be asked to disclose all institutions attended since graduating from high school. You will be required to submit transcripts from all schools where you have earned credits towards your undergraduate degree. If you transferred credits from your first school towards your undergraduate degree, your Ivy transcript will likely show this. Your GPA from all your course work will appear on the front page of your CAS Report and copies of your original transcripts showing your GPA will appear in your CAS Report. If you don't provide all this information, your file will not be deemed complete and your file will not be reviewed. If you don't disclose now and it comes out at some point in the future that you did not disclose, then it could affect your negatively. If the low grades happened 10 years ago and you went on to academic success, then your cumulative GPA will reflect this. You can submit an academic addendum explaining your lower GPA and reasons for transferring. This is very common.