<p>My son was expelled from a college for a drug related issue. He has accepted responsibility for this action and is doing what he needs to do to get healthy. Although he knows community college is an initial option, he would like to attend a 4 year college as soon as able. He did very well academically at college and his transcript says nothing about being expelled and infact will look like he never showed for the semester. How shall he handle transfer applications especially when they ask if he was expelled previously or if he left the college in good standing?</p>
<p>It seems like a pretty obvious answer. He can’t lie. It will definitely come back to haunt him if he does. If the question isn’t asked, it doesn’t need to be answered. It if is, it does. </p>
<p>He should be upfront when asked, have drug testing regularly, and offer to release that, ask for a personal interview to address the issue if it comes up… I know several who did hard time even, are convicted felons, who went back to college and got their degrees from selective schools. If the school doesn’t ask, then it can be left alone. </p>
<p>The Common Ap for transfer students does ask about discipline. Some of the transfer aps I’ve seen from colleges (many of which don’t use/don’t require the Common Ap for transfer students) don’t ask, some do.</p>
<p>He could apply to a mix of schools – some that ask, some don’t, and truthfully respond if asked. He won’t be the first (or second, or third, or fourth,…) who’s had this issue. Frankly, I consider it to be less of a problem that academic dishonesty from a college perspective, though that wouldn’t be the case if he was cooking meth or dealing.</p>
<p>I specialize in working with students with this sort of problem on their records. He should err on the side of disclosure. In my judgment, the question “Why do you want to transfer?” cannot be answered honestly without disclosing that he was asked to leave the previous college. Less selective schools may not care about the circumstances of his departure, but you don’t want him to enroll at another school only to have them decide down the road that he wasn’t sufficiently candid as an applicant. He could not only get expelled again; he could have all the credits he earned at the second school withdrawn.</p>
<p>I urge you not to give too much weight to his desire to get back to a 4-year college as soon as he is able. If, in your judgment, he’s ready to go away again, fine. But do not let his preferences cloud your decisions about what actions you support at a given time.</p>
<p>Hanna may know more about this than I do. Some time ago, on behalf of another poster, I asked a colleague s similar question (the very guy who would fill out any forms that wanted to know if the student had left in good standing.) He said he would tell the facts, at the level requested, per the U’s documentation. What I don’t know is how often the target school requires some sort of sign off from the former college.</p>
<p>Thank you for the responses. Understandably schools want to be careful when taking transfers but some websites clearly say they will not admit if the student was expelled from another institution. This makes the whole process of moving forward very difficult.</p>
<p>Without question, there are differences of opinion on this topic. This is what I consider to be the best practice.</p>
<p>Colleges have privacy obligations. Like former employers, they often won’t say anything beyond confirming enrollment on certain dates and the awarding (or not) of a degree. That said, lots and lots of people (staff, dormmates, classmates, etc.) know that your student was enrolled at School Y during Semester Z and then suddenly vanished. They may know a lot more than that. The world becomes very small if you’re trying to keep widely known information private. It’s just amazing how often a hallmate from School Y has a mom who works at School Q.</p>
<p>If the school you’re hoping to transfer to is large, you can also call to talk about the situation with them without given the student’s name. Many schools will be willing to advise you about their own policies, and they are always the #1 authority on that subject.</p>
<p>I am a little confused. Was there anything ever noted anywhere that your son was “expelled”? Or did they just allow him to withdraw so there would be no expulsion on his record? If a student is formally expelled from a school, I would think the records would have to indicate that. If the school gets inquiries down the road, staff need to be able to refer to some record that states what actually transpired.</p>
<p>His transcript will indicate that he attended Fall semester but not the current semester. That being said, I don’t advocate lying when asked if he was expelled. More challenging will be answering the question of why he is transferring. Calling schools to inquire about their actual policy might be the best way to go before applying.</p>
<p>I suggest in the “Why are you transferring?” he emphasize a new, clean start. </p>
<p>“If the school gets inquiries down the road, staff need to be able to refer to some record that states what actually transpired.”</p>
<p>No, they don’t need to. They can just say “Joe Shmo attended from 2011-2013 and there is no record that he received a degree.” They don’t have to answer any questions. For liability reasons, they usually refuse to say anything else, even if there’s a huge black mark on the record like expulsion.</p>
<p>Of course, they will keep their own records for internal purposes, but they usually will not share them except at the student’s request.</p>
<p>If you call up a university and say “Joe Shmo applied for a job with my company and said he had a 3.7 GPA, can you confirm that?” you will not get any answer unless the university has incompetent legal counsel.</p>
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<p>Am curious. Then how would grad schools and employers verify such information if it’s important in their grad school/employment application process? Or conduct background checks if this information is part of what they’d consider important?</p>
<p>Grad schools often require that transcripts be sent directly from the university, so there’s no question about the validity of a GPA. In a serious background check situation, employers may require candidates to sign waivers authorizing various kinds of investigation, agreeing not to sue anyone over it, etc. But the fact that an employer wants the information doesn’t always mean that another institution (especially a previous employer) has to share it.</p>