Not Including All Transcripts in an Application

[llbme77]

I am currently considering applying to several grad programs.  However, I am a bind regarding transcripts.  I attended a previous post bachelors program. 

In the first place, during that program, I, while I did not receive failing grads, my GPA was not high enough to meet my conditional admission at the end of the first term.

Beyond that, I owe that university money, and I could not hope to obtain transcripts even if I wanted to.

Having said that, if I were not simply not mention my attendance in that program on future applications, is it likely that the admissions people at other institutions would know about it?  I understand the implicit ethical issues; what I'm interested in is even anyone has any sort of knowledge about this or similar situations, especially any sort of first hand experience. 

 

[MMLIS MPA]

Results may vary....It may depend on the schools you are applying to....and also whether you utilized financial aid for the post-bachelor's program.

Some schools allow you to attach additional documents/letter, so you can just outright admit it and add it as an addendum to your application.  Honestly explaining the situation shows integrity.

Some schools will verify through various channels all schools attended, and may not let your application move forward without having that transcript in hand.   

In my case, I attended University of Phoenix for 1 class...and had totally forgotten about it, as it didn't apply to bachelor's degree.  However, when I applied to Northwestern recently, they ran some kind of program and noted I didn't specify this school on my application--and they specifically asked for the transcript.   Other schools I applied to USC (and I am already in one of their masters programs), Syracuse, and UNC-Chapel Hill did not ask for it.

 

Edited January 20, 2018 by MMLIS MPA

[TakeruK]

Ethical issues with lying on your application aside, did you know about the National Student Clearinghouse? (http://www.studentclearinghouse.org/) It is a database that most US schools participates in. This is probably how the above user's school was able to find out their past attendance. In Canada, we have a provincial education number which tracks our educational history. I am sure other countries have similar systems.

[fuzzylogician]

On 1/18/2018 at 6:37 PM, llbme77 said:

Having said that, if I were not simply not mention my attendance in that program on future applications, is it likely that the admissions people at other institutions would know about it?  I understand the implicit ethical issues; what I'm interested in is even anyone has any sort of knowledge about this or similar situations, especially any sort of first hand experience. 

It seems to me that the ethical issues aren't so much implicit as explicit. You are considering lying on your application and withholding damaging information (low grades, failure in a program, debt to school) so you can get into a new program. You didn't specify if this would be a Masters or PhD, nor whether you'd be paying out of pocket or if you'd expect to get a stipend. Either way, (for different reasons), I'm sure that schools would consider your past behavior highly relevant as a predictor of possible future behavior. Some schools may run background checks, and many jobs will, as well. Lying can get your in a lot more trouble than the original sin itself. That all said, it seems to me that if you want to lie, there's a reasonable chance you might get away with it, but you'll just have to try. Keep in mind, though, that you'll always live with the lie and the possibility of being found out, which at least for some can be hard to live with. 

[kayaker85]

I'm not sure that the school would catch on to it since it's a post-bacc, but if they do, you probably will be automatically eliminated due to the intentional omission. I have six undergraduate schools and one I did poorly at. My undergrad advisor suggested leaving out the worst school, thinking that schools wouldn't notice it since I had so many schools. Every school I applied to saw the omission - sometimes it was the admissions office and sometimes the department - and I got rejected. One school even called me a "highly competitive" applicant, but that they couldn't admit me because I hadn't submitted all required documents. 

I would suggest proceeding with extreme caution. Make sure you've clearly thought out the pros/cons/potential consequences of not listing it.

[llbme77]

On 1/20/2018 at 3:48 PM, fuzzylogician said:

 You are considering lying on your application and withholding damaging information (low grades, failure in a program, debt to school)

Technically speaking, I didn't fail out of the program and the grades weren't exactly low; the issue was that GPA wasn't quite high enough. 

Now, I do feel completely able to do grad level work, but my first experience with the a program didn't turn out well because I was facing a lot of personal problems.  (For about 3 weeks halfway through the term, I "lived" in the library, a student center, and one of the gyms, among other issues.  A sympathetic professor eventually let me sleep in her office.)

But even if I can explain that way, I owe fees that I can't hope to pay in order to receive transcripts. 

 

5 hours ago, kayaker85 said:

I'm not sure that the school would catch on to it since it's a post-bacc, but if they do, you probably will be automatically eliminated due to the intentional omission. I have six undergraduate schools and one I did poorly at. My undergrad advisor suggested leaving out the worst school, thinking that schools wouldn't notice it since I had so many schools. Every school I applied to saw the omission - sometimes it was the admissions office and sometimes the department - and I got rejected. One school even called me a "highly competitive" applicant, but that they couldn't admit me because I hadn't submitted all required documents. 

I would suggest proceeding with extreme caution. Make sure you've clearly thought out the pros/cons/potential consequences of not listing it.

Is it possible that the transcripts you did include mentioned the other school?