transcripts

[cambrai2009]

Hi there

I am a French graduate student in History hoping to apply for American History Phd programs (fall 2009).

Unfortunately the French system doesn't make the all thing easy as the universities I went to refuse to give me extra official copies of my degrees. In France you only get one and only one transcript (usually not very detailed).. at least in the school I've been to.

I don't really know what to do : call again the French universities and kindly explain to them that they're totally backwards... or send the copies to the US universities and call the secretary to explain my situation?

So, have any of you had a similar problem? Will the universities accept the copies if I explain the problem and assure them that I will show the official transcript once I visit?

Also my academic path is extremely different from the "normal" American one... Like I've been to a prep school for two years (common in France for good students) and then a famous State school where you need to pass a competitive exam... How can I be sure that people get what I have done so far and how HARD it has been?

Thank you for reading this and hope to have some advice on that matter!

[demondeac]

In my experience, most PhD programs will at least tentatively accept of a copy of an official transcript, so I would recommend to send them a copy while you try to work something out. Obviously the best case scenario would be if the registrar would release additional transcripts, so I would definitely try to work that out if possible. If not, you may just need to talk to the Graduate Director at each program, and it might be sufficient to allow them to inspect the official transcript (since they just want to see that you're not pasting new grades over old ones and copying )

If you have an irregular (at least to US audiences) academic upbringing, the best place to do a little education for the committee is your personal statement. Most of them want a limited "academic biography", so you can give a line or two of explanation to contextualize your academic history. Be careful not to make the statement all about how different and difficult the system is, since it is primarily about your research and preparation, but it is definitely the place to educate them a little on what your background looks like. I don't know if you've taken the GRE already, but it is always helpful for US programs since it is a way that they can compare disparate intellectual backgrounds. I would assume most PhD history programs probably require it anyway.