Transcript legends - anxiety

[mobydickpic]

I have submitted all my applications, and I am having some random anxieties about logistical things. First and foremost, my transcript documents that I submitted. All the programs that I applied to (PhD English mostly) asked that applicants fax a copy of their transcripts and upload them. I faxed the pages of my transcript which have my actual grades, but I did not include the generic legend that my college encloses within all official transcripts (which explains the meanings of random notations like CR-credit or S-satisfactory, as well as the 4.0 GRE scale and the value of each grade). I go to a university in the US that uses a 4.0 scale (and am only applying to US-based programs), so I figured this wouldn't be necessary. 

However, now I'm anxious that my transcript will be seen as incomplete, because in most of my applications, I didn't include a digital facsimile of this legend page — I only scanned the pages which have my own grades, GPA, etc. Also, I'm worried that random scores I have on my transcript will cause alarm even though they're actually normal/positive (like CR which means credit, or S which means Satisfactory, and which I have for courses that are always exclusively graded on that scale rather than A through F, such as creative writing and PE classes at my school). I developed this anxiety before submitting my final 3/12 apps, so this concern only applies to nine of my applications...

So, I wanted to see if you all could either calm my nerves or validate my fears! Does your school include a legend like this on the transcript, and if so, did you scan this page and include it in your applications? Or did you have the same impulse as me that schools don't want/need it from peer institutions with the same 4.0 grading scale? Thanks!

 

[politics 'n prose]

I think you’re fine here, especially because it sounds like the notations on your transcript are pretty universal, or at least easy enough to be guessed at by people who are used to looking at/assessing transcripts. It also sounds like all these schools only asked for unofficial transcripts anyway, since you scanned/uploaded them yourself, which suggests a general leniency to me.

In short, I don’t think these transcripts as-uploaded will render your entire application incomplete or disqualify you from consideration. Worst case scenario, you get an email from the school requesting you upload the transcript legend, but even that seems unlikely to me. You didn’t alter your transcript itself, your entire undergraduate record is accounted for—I think that gives the adcoms more than enough to go on at this stage (and all offers of admission are contingent on you sending the school your official transcript, legend and all, anyway). You can always email the schools in question just to put your mind at ease, but I really do think you’re A-OK here.