Low Grade in Ugrad Haunting my Graduate Studies

[TroyBarnes]

Could my PI in my PhD program take note of a particularly low grade on my transcript, and reach out to the professor who taught the course to inquire what happened? I wasn't on the best terms with the undergraduate professor, and I was quite unprofessional. I took this course about four years years ago, and I have learned from my ways since then.

I am at a different but equally reputable institution. While is a different field, there can be some interdisciplinary overlap.

Is there any legal precedence protecting my information from being shared in this manner? Would the professor remember me? Would my PI bother reaching out?

[CowpokeMT]

I don't reckon any PI has that much time to be that nit-picky with applications. If a PI wants to use their time figuring out who taught a course in which one applicant (out of many) did not get a satisfactory grade years ago and conduct a full on investigation on this one single score, you should serious reconsider if you would want to work with this person. Even if what you did ended up on your criminal/academic offense records, in the most extreme case, you'll just respond to those legal questions honestly in your application and you'll have the chance to explain what happened and what you learned from it. That would depend on some luck to get into a program in that case. But judging from what you're describing this is probably not the case so you should be fine. Plus, if you're already in the program, what is in the past will be in the past unless you give them reasons to question your credibility.

Edited November 29, 2020 by CowpokeMT