SOPHAS pisses me off.

[suckygpasucky]

What is SOPHAS exactly doing when it's "verifying" and why does it take 4-6 weeks? Seriously.

Edited October 28, 2013 by suckygpasucky

[katethekitcat]

At this time of year, it doesn't. I submitted my application September 14 and actually had it UNsubmitted back to me twice (my college was on a trimester system and it made converting the units AWFUL), and it was verified and mailed by October 7. The 4-6 weeks is during January/February when all the deadlines are and everyone is submitting last minute. Basically, a live person sits down and compares your official transcript to the coursework you entered, so it takes a while.

[123hardasABC]

If that's the case, I don't understand why SOPHAS can't forward the official transcripts to the schools. Submitting an official transcript and entering coursework seems so redundant. 

[katethekitcat]

I think it's because they do a bunch of GPA calculations for the school. Once they verified my GPA, it showed up in a bunch of new ways - GPA per year, per major, per upper-level courses, etc. By standardizing it, they save each individual school a LOT of time going through your transcript themselves. It may take 4 weeks on their end, but it means every individual place you apply doesn't have to go through 2,000 transcripts - which might take them eight, nine, ten weeks. SOPHAS has a system and the staff to deal with an influx of transcripts, but individual schools do not. It speeds up the process in the long run. Every person who applies is on a different credit system, different quarter/semester/trimester system, but SOPHAS standardizes that to make it easier to compare applicants.

 

That being said, SOPHAS often made me want to pull my hair out.