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Will Summer School F Mean Rescinded Transfer Acceptance?

Written by Sally Rubenstone | May 15, 2020

Question: My son attended a local community college and was accepted to transfer to a four-year college as a junior this fall. However, he received a failing grade in a summer session class he just took. Does this mean he cannot transfer?

This is a question that your son will have to ask the admission officials at his transfer college. My best guess is that he will not receive credit for the failed course (no surprise there!), but it will not affect his acceptance, because he was admitted based on his classes and GPA prior to the summer session.

BUT ... it's impossible for me to know if his acceptance was predicated upon successful completion of the summer class or if the transfer school has any sort of other policy in place that could turn his recent "F" into a deal-breaker. Only the admission officials at the transfer college can tell him this. However, if your son has a reasonable explanation for his bad grade (illness, unexpected scheduling conflict with job hours, etc.) he should be sure to mention it when he contacts the admission folks.

Sally Rubenstone

Sally Rubenstone knows the competitive and often convoluted college admission process inside out: From the first time the topic of college comes up at the dinner table until the last duffel bag is unloaded on a dorm room floor. She is the co-author of Panicked Parents' Guide to College Admissions; The Transfer Student's Guide to Changing Colleges and The International Student's Guide to Going to College in America. Sally has appeared on NBC's Today program and has been quoted in countless publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Weekend, USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek, People and Seventeen. Sally has viewed the admissions world from many angles: As a Smith College admission counselor for 15 years, an independent college counselor serving students from a wide range of backgrounds and the author of College Confidential's "Ask the Dean" column. She also taught language arts, social studies, study skills and test preparation in 10 schools, including American international schools in London, Paris, Geneva, Athens and Tel Aviv. As senior advisor to College Confidential since 2002, Sally has helped hundreds of students and parents navigate the college admissions maze. In 2008, she co-founded College Karma, a private college consulting firm, with her College Confidential colleague Dave Berry, and she continues to serve as a College Confidential advisor. Sally and her husband, Chris Petrides, became first-time parents in 1997 at the ripe-old age of 45. So Sally was nearly an official senior citizen when her son Jack began the college selection process, and when she was finally able to practice what she had preached for more than three decades.