Am i transferring illegally?

ksanyee
Mon, 18 Apr 2011 15:49:16 +0000

Hi.

I would really appreciate if I could get some good advice here about my situation which is pretty complicated.
I am right now a first year student at a liberal arts college in the United States but next year I will be attending a university in London. I got in there as a regular undergraduate applicant for a regular undergraduate BSc course and I will start there as a freshman, without transferring any credits (not a problem to me).

My current college offered me that instead of outright leaving this place behind, I could declare a leave of absence and be away for a year (they know about the London school). So this is what I am doing right now.
However, the dean told me that (obviously) I cannot be matriculated at two schools at the same time so I can only declare a leave of absence here if I am not a full time “normal” student in London but a “visiting student”. I am, however, NOT a visiting student there.

But here’s where it gets a bit messy. My current college could and would never find out about my student status in London. They will never communicate with that school and will never need any documents from them. Even when the dean told me about this, she just referred to being a visiting student as a formality that does not actually matter but has to be that way… As of now, I would not be allowed to take a leave of absence here, instead I would have to withdraw completely from this US college. But I would rather not do that, because it gives a security to know that I can come back if I don’t like London (I loved it here, I’m transferring for other reasons).

So. I know this is not a totally honest thing to do and I can’t wait for those comments:P. But is there any actual risk or something I forgot to consider?

THANK YOU SO MUCH!