Official Transcripts

[monquin]

I have been thinking about going to graduate school, but I've been to several undergraduate schools and would like to avoid the universities that require official transcripts from all schools.

 

Standford only requires transcripts from universities that were attended full-time for a year. Are there any other universities that have requirements such as this?

I've attended several colleges/universities and it would help if I didn't have to submit all of my transcripts considering I only attended to take a course or two.

 

Thank you.

[queenleblanc]

I would think it is a rare case to find a school that doesn't want all of your transcripts.  Even if only 1 credit was earned, everywhere I applied required all transcripts and had you check a box about academic dishonesty (etc) about being sure to send ALL transcripts.  It is expensive to send them all, and I had to pay all those fees for EVERY place I applied (probably $100 per school in transcript fees), but in the end it is worth it. 

[imonedaful]

I would think it is a rare case to find a school that doesn't want all of your transcripts.  

I concur. Most schools want all of your transcripts. I took a few community college classes when I was in high school years ago and the school where I was applying for a PhD still wanted a transcript for those classes. It sucked because the school made me pay for the transcripts. The good thing was that the institution in which I completed my undergraduate degree does not make us pay for transcripts up to a certain number. My advice to you is to pick the schools you are going to apply to wisely (you can only attend 1) and try to find the cheapest way to send transcripts (sometimes you can send them through the Clearinghouse online as an electronic copy for cheaper) to keep your costs down in the application process. 

[TakeruK]

It might depend on field, but in my case, only 3 out of 8 schools wanted official transcripts at time of application. Most of the schools I applied to were okay with an unofficial transcript. I had to provide official transcripts for another fellowship (in Canada) I was applying to, and they scanned the files and provided me with the PDF to check, so I used the same PDF to submit my transcript to other schools. Alternatively, you could also order an extra copy of your official transcript and then scan it and reuse for all your other schools. Some schools even said that a screenshot (made into PDF form) of your grades listing on your school's student login/registrar page would be acceptable as well. And yet another school wanted me to manually enter every single relevant course and grade.

 

In addition, some schools (for example, UC Berkeley) only wanted transcripts from schools where a degree was completed, unless you are an international student. 

 

Overall, I would say that if there is a school that you feel would be a great match, deciding against applying to it just because you need to send all your transcripts isn't a good idea. But it is a good idea to manage your total list of schools to avoid applying to schools that you aren't completely sure about yet still require all official transcripts. 

[free_radical]

Most schools wanted all my transcripts, but they didn't require official ones.  You can upload your unofficial ones and if you get in and decide to go, you mail in your official ones.  Definitely saved on time and money.  

 

Also, if you only took 1-2 courses and they were transferred to another school, you probably don't need to submit it.  For example, I studied abroad and got a transcript from an overseas institution, and those credits showed up on my home institution transcripts.  So I didn't need to submit my study abroad transcript, except for one school that wanted it for some reason.