1.8 GPA from years ago, want to get into GA Tech OMSCS eventually

Went to a large state school, did horribly for years then was academically dismissed due to poor grades. Last time I took a class there was over 5 years ago.

I enrolled in Excelsior with the intention of not transferring in any grades from my previous stint, but then I realized that upon applying to the OMSCS, I'd have to disclose that I went to the first school anyway.

1a. Can/should I transfer credits to Excelsior (I probably have ~80 transferable credits)
1b. Should I just abandon those credits and start from scratch?
2. Will the GPA transfer?
3. I wanted to do Excelsior's Business BA with Information Systems and take supplemental CS courses at my local university to gain acceptance to GA Tech's OMSCS.

 

Check if your previous school has a grade forgiveness policy, see if that applies to you before you go re-doing everything.

 

You can't clear your own record unless your state has an academic fresh start program. I think Excelsior and COSC have academic forgiveness programs, but that only applies to them. Sending all your transcripts to the graduate school will still be required. Some people lie by omission by not listing all the schools they attended on the application, but you do risk being expelled or having your degree revoked.

Excelsior and COSC include transfer grades into their GPA; TESU does not. However, you're still going to have to send all your transcripts to Georgia Tech, and they'll calculate a cumulative GPA.

By the way, TESU'S BSBA in CIS is easier and cheaper to complete than Excelsior's BS in Business with a concentration in MIS.

 

Assuming that your more recent grades are substantially better than those old grades, just submit the total transcripts and let they story unfold: "I was unmotivated when I was younger but now I really want to make this work." If you get to submit some sort of personal statement as a part of your admissions packet then you might want to emphasize this idea. In general try to keep in mind that they want you to enroll. In many schools enrollments are down and they want your business.

 

Your thread title is still indicating that you're going after a name, but the BEST degree is the one you finish. There are a lot of reasons people don't finish their degrees, and like most people, later on they decide to kick it into high gear and move forward. But, let's get real.

Everyone has already mentioned the possible fresh start programs, so let me tell you what it looks like without fresh start/academic forgiveness.

https://www.omscs.gatech.edu/program-info/admission-criteria The Master's degree you want requires a 3.0 GPA for admission. Since you have 80 credits at 1.8, you will *literally* need to accumulate a full 120ish new GRADED credits at an "A" to bring your GPA up to a 3.0
In other words, you need a 4.0 from a university over 4 years to apply to Georgia Tech with a 3.0

That is an exceptionally difficult goal. In fact, I'll be the first to offer that it isn't happening. And, it won't happen at Excelsior. To get a grade, you need to take the courses in house, so no transfer (price shopping) and no CLEP (accelerating). I believe setting such an unrealistic goal is going to prevent you from earning a bachelor's degree.

Though you can't ditch your past, you can still get a bachelor's degree - using distance learning, testing out, and other things talked about here can make it happen. I spent 18 months earning both my AA and BA - my all in cost was under $10k. Like you, I had my grad school picked out before my undergrad began - but unlike you, the grad school I picked actually closed after I had been accepted but before classes began. The takeaway- it's good to plan, but there is a lot of territory to cover between today and Day 1 of grad school.


1a. Can/should I transfer credits to Excelsior (I probably have ~80 transferable credits) - yes, you have to. Are you sure EC didn't already ask you on your application? This is exactly why all colleges want all grades- to see the whole truth.


1b. Should I just abandon those credits and start from scratch? - Not a thing.

2. Will the GPA transfer? -No. Credit transfers, not grades, so your new transcript will only have grades if you take a class in house and earn a grade.

3. I wanted to do Excelsior's Business BA with Information Systems and take supplemental CS courses at my local university to gain acceptance to GA Tech's OMSCS. - see above math.

 

I was in a similar situation to you. I had around 90 hours and a 1.8 GPA. I had been academically dismissed from a top 25 public university. It wasn't because of lack of ability but it definitely was all my fault. For many years, I'd take a class here or there at the local community college and finally said I was going to finish what I had started. I got readmitted to my original school after providing a written explanation of what happened and providing proof of good grades at the local community college. I finished with a 2.3 GPA but with straight As for the last 21 semester hours of my degree.

By writing a compelling personal statement, I was able to gain provisional admittance into a master's program at a major state university that required a minimum 3.0 GPA. I finished my master's degree and I'm now working on my Ph.D.

Your situation is not the end of the world. Graduate programs will look at what you accomplish after you mature a little bit. I can't guarantee you'll get into Georgia Tech but you can move on from this.

 

You're not getting into any graduate programs unless you finish a degree. I'd send it all to Excelsior and see if anything takes. You may have to redo some work. With such a low GPA, I'm going to imagine that you'll only have a handful of courses that might actually transfer. Take whatever you can get and hit the books for the rest of your degree.

The bachelors degree online is a very fatiguing degree, IMHO.

 

Just to piggy-back on this, to redo a class won't overwrite a grade UNLESS it's done at the same school. So, if you earned a D in College Algebra the first time around, taking it via Excelsior keeps the D on your cumulative (global) GPA. Taking the College Algebra CLEP gets you the credit, but again, your D is still part of the calculation. If you retake it AT THE COLLEGE of ORIGIN then it replaces it entirely- removes and repairs the grade.
You didn't say your prior school, so I can't look up and see if they allow such things (not all do) but it's something to consider, because as soon as you start replacing credit, it's a WHOLE NEW MATH PROBLEM. No doubt the most expensive and longest path possible, but doing so may still get you into the grad school you're aiming for.