Can this "trick" work for Cal/UCLA?

_allie
Wed, 27 Oct 2004 22:24:55 +0000

It’s never, ever a good idea to lie (or in this case, omit required information) to schools that you’d like to attend. It’s extremely likely that they will find out, and even if they don’t, it’s awfully manipulative. If I were you, the risk just isn’t worth it, unless you’re really content with the idea of staying at your current school for the next four years.

You say that “you don’t plan” on getting good grades at your primary school. Why? Why not just try as hard as everyone else here is and submit the grades to the UCs? Even if you don’t get spectacular grades this semester, your GPA will even out when you include the 4.0 from the online classes. You’ve still got about 2 months to work on it, and as was mentioned, you can always try to talk your way out of poor grades in your essays. It’s a much safer and respectable way to go.

Lying isn’t okay just because you’re transferring and the fact that you’re enrolled in this school definitely matters. It may even help you (if I were reviewing your application, I’d be much more impressed with your attending a presumably difficult private college than with online classes). This year is still a part of your academic record and will be looked at by graduate schools, etc. Additionally, why would you want to lose the 9(?) units that you’ve earned at this private school? Every unit counts towards the 60 you need to transfer (and ~220 you need to graduate), it isn’t wise to waste them.

I don’t mean to play moral police or anything, and you’re welcome to try anything you like. However, as someone who’s worked really, really hard to transfer to one of these schools, I’d have a hard time respecting anyone who thinks its okay to cheat the system, especially over a measly 3 classes. To me, it simply isn’t worth it.