Academic History; unaccredited schools

Transfer Students UC Transfers
1

<p>I’ve got a bit of a poser in regards to the academic history section of the UC app.</p>

<p>7 years ago, when I was young, naive, and immature, I decided that I really wanted to go to art school. My family comes from an arts background, I’m pretty talented, etc, etc, it <em>seemed</em> like the smart thing to do. Bottom line is that I spent a year there and fell flat on my face. I don’t think I actually failed any classes, but I did withdraw from a few before I decided that getting out was probably the smart thing to do.</p>

<p>About two years ago I decided to go back to school with a new focus, and new-found maturity (amazing what a few years in the legal industry will do for a person’s sense of responsibility), and since returning I’ve maintained a 4.0 GPA at my local CC. </p>

<p>Now, here’s my question. As of now my app features all the gory detail of my art school experiment. I’m not really ashamed of it; in the long run I think it was probably beneficial, and my experience there is the focus of one of my personal statements. However, the school was unaccredited at the time of my attendance. As such, do I need to include it on my app (as I’ve done), or should I go ahead and pull it off? The only reason I ask is that I can’t find any of my records from my time there, and I’m getting the run-around from the registrar about getting my grades. I know what classes I took, just not what I grade I received. I don’t see an “unknown grade” selection in the course history part of the app, so I’m in a bit of a bind.</p>

<p>If anyone here has some advice, I’d be very grateful if you shared it. </p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Honestly, I’m not sure of the answer to this one. I don’t think that UCs care about grades earned at unaccredited institutions… but I’m not sure about this. I would make a call to the Admissions Office of one of your choices… and then make another one… and another. If the Admissions person can’t direct you to a place (official website) where you can see for yourself that it isn’t necessary to send in these unaccredited grades you’ll have to include them and explain it in your personal essay. Even if you find that you have to include them these grades shouldn’t be too detrimental as they are almost 5 years old and you have shown academic maturity with a high GPA in your current coursework. Good luck!</p>

3

<p>Gotcha.</p>

<p>I popped into the admissions office of my local campus (Berkeley) this afternoon and spoke very briefly with an admissions officer. Due to the fact that it was busy as hell he didn’t have time to sit down with me, but I did get his card and a promise to answer any questions via email. We’ll see how that goes; if I get any concrete info I’ll share it, of course.</p>

<p>My thought is that my strong GPA in my accredited coursework should outweigh my previous trouble at art school, but I can be kind of cynical when it comes to situations like these.</p>

<p>Any other input from the experts here?</p>

4

<p>Yes, leave it in. I have a very similar situation, except mine was music school, haha. Leave everything in. Write a little bit about your situation in your 2nd personal statement. You must include everything.</p>