Academic Amnesty-vs-Transferring: how does each affect graduate school admission?

Graduate School
1

I entered college back in 1994 and was academically dismissed in 1999, and needless to say my transcript is atrocious. I only require a few semesters to graduate and I am planning to go back to get my bachelors and then masters. I was accepted for reenrollment by my old college and was offered an Academic Amnesty program where I can get a fresh start on my GPA. The transcript will still show all the classes previously taken, but the ones with D’s and F’s will not count towards graduation requirements, and my GPA will only be calculated using the newly taken classes after reenrollment. So technically I have a chance of achieving a 4.0 GPA. Down side is that there is no online class option, so I will have to do evening classes or leave work early two days a week for a few semesters.

Please correct me if I am misinformed, but I believe that transferring to another college will in essence do the same thing. Transferrable credits move over, new GPA calculation, etc. But the transcript with the terrible GPA will still exist at my old school. One major plus for this option is that I can transfer to a college offering online programs so I can pursue my degree with minimal affect to my job.

I would like to know how much emphasis graduate schools put on each scenario.
• If I transfer to an online college and graduate with high GPA, would graduate schools also look at the transcript from my old school and average it?
• Or would the GPA from the institution that I get the degree matter most?
• If I have a solid GPA after the Academic Amnesty option, would grad school not care?

Appreciate all your input!

2

It’s impossible to make a blanket statement because each school/program is likely to treat this differently. However, the important note here is that not all programs calculate or recalculate your GPA - some of them just look at what you give them and verify it with a glance at your transcripts. And even if they do, it’s not like they are just going to glance at the number. They are also going to examine your transcripts to see what classes you got high and low grades in.

Given that, I think these two options are about equivalent. Your grades from 1994-1999 are, at this point, 16-21 years old. I doubt any program will put a whole lot of stock into how you did academically 20 years ago. If you get a good GPA from this attempt at college, I think that will far outweigh how you did in college in 1999. I don’t think anyone will want to average in the new grades with the old ones.

3

OP, I was in a very similar position. I started college in 93, was academically dropped in 98, and applied for and received readmission with academic renewal/amnesty in 04, graduating 2 years later. I initially wound up applying at 4 grad programs, and they handled my situation in several completely different ways:

1, my alma mater, accepted my new GPA as gospel and admitted me.

1 didn’t take any outward position on my GPA until they initiated a discussion with me about it. They called me in for an interview, asked me point blank about the circumstances, and then offered me admission.

1 initially refused me but agreed to meet with me to discuss my situation if I travelled across the country on my own dime. After talking to several of the professors working on admissions, I was offered admission.

1 recalculated my GPA to include all those old courses, didn’t care about the explanation or situation, and refused admission. Not coincidentally, this was the most exclusive program to which I applied - they could afford to be picky.

In your case, I would expect a similar result, but skewed more towards accepting your GPA - after so many years, only the most finicky of schools would still care about your old GPA.

I would expect a similar range of results as graduating from your current school, but there are other factors you need to consider, like how many of your credits will transfer and how good the two schools are at getting you into a job or grad school!

The GPA from your last school always matters most. The question is whether or not they look at your old GPA at all.

4

juillet> Thank you for your feedback!

cosmicfish> I’m so glad to hear from someone who went through a similar situation! Your feedback about the responses from various grad programs are tremendous help!

Would getting bachelors from an online program put me at a huge disadvantage compared to applicants who went to brick and mortar? I’m sure the chances at top programs probably are zero with an online degree but any thoughts on how a mid range programs would weigh it?

Thanks!

5

I am honestly not sure, but online degrees are generally regarded lower than the brick-and-mortar degrees offered by the same departments - how much depends a lot on the reputation of the department itself. Online degrees from top programs will still command a lot of respect, but online degrees from poor or mediocre departments may be problematic in admissions and employment.