Hypothetically…just hypothetically speaking, let say that I am a student currently attending CSU Long Beach. I was considering transferring out by doing community college. During my first semester, I received an email about UC Dual Admissions and submitted the application. I tried looking for information about it but there wasn’t much around as it was a relatively new program and I was confused. I’m not sure if it’s different from the TAG program, but the program still uses TAG. I saw that it was invite only, so I was initially in the mindset I could still be in the program while being at a 4-year university since I got the invitation (especially since the term “Dual” was in the name). I was also still a community college student taking community college classes. So although I was in a CSU, I would be transferring from a CC since I’m doing the transfer classes there.
I have tried getting in contact with my counselors/advisors to clear up a lot of my confusion but it honestly didn’t help. I have contacted my CC counselors multiple times, which are also pretty hard to get a hold of. I’ve met with my UCSB counselor a few times, but they keep changing, and don’t seem very informed of the program either. Oftentimes they have just redirected me to the other campus’ counselors. I’ve asked a counselor if it would be an issue taking classes from different colleges, and reaffirm this with another counselor, who both said it was completely fine. But I realize now I should have clarified they were also university classes.
At this point I am close to finishing my transfer requirements. I only have 4 classes left, and I try to take 2 classes per term. On TAP, it is strict that you report all classes you have taken. After learning that being in another university would disqualify me, I have not included my classes taken at CSULB. Since my plan was to transfer from a CC, and I would complete all my transfer required courses at a CC, I believed this would be okay since I had reported all my classes from CCs. But…I’m afraid of getting caught. I’ve learned that they have databases with the National Student Clearinghouse and can verify your records with them. My question is will they only check to see if you did the classes you reported you did, or would classes you have not reported also show up? Would not reporting my CSU classes be an issue for me?
Now let me clear up what a lot of you are probably thinking, that this is unethical. I understand that, I am breaking the rules. But I have done all the work required of me. I am not faking any of the classes I need to do, or even hiding bad grades, just voiding some classes that aren’t even relevant. I am not taking this opportunity from anyone else either. Now the obvious option would be to just transfer from CSU to UC, or to initially have dropped out of CSULB and just transferred from a CC. My problem is my parents do not want me to go to a CC, I know it’s dumb but that’s just the way it is. After I had thought I clarified everything with my counselors and assumed it was possible to do so, I had told my parents I would have conditional guaranteed admission. They assumed it’s from classes at my CSU. I’ve been paying for my CC classes on my own, and have been doing all the work while still maintaining my work at CSULB. Reality is that transferring from CSU to UCs would lessen my chances by a lot. I would really hate for my money, time, efforts, and my word to my parents to go to waste because of this, especially since I have tried to reach out to the people who had more information. So please ignore the ethicality of this and the option of trying to transfer from CSU to UC, I just wanted to know more about TAP and how they verify records and if they would see my university courses. Thank you everyone!
AND OF COURSE, again, this is a hypothetical situation!!
