CV and Course Listings

[Cesare]

For my MA, my transcripts list one course number for my methods course (MC156), but that course is composed of 3 different courses (FX451, FX453, FX562). On my CV I listed the 3 different course titles rather than just the one, so they know that I actually have more training than what appears on my CV. In my MA, the grades from the three courses were added together to get one grade. My question is: Should I list the main course number and underneath it list the sub-courses? Or would this be too much?

Another issue: the dissertation was given a grade, but on the transcripts it is listed as "AB499 Long Essay." What should I do? I am not sure adcoms will understand that the long essay = dissertation

Also, the transcripts do not list how many units/credit hours each course was for. Essentially, my transcripts say very little...

Edited October 29, 2013 by Cesare

[Maleficent999]

I'm not sure I'm listing grades on my CV, just the course name and number. I figure they can look at my transcripts for my grades since they're pretty straightforward. Am I supposed to list grades?

[Cesare]

I am not listing grades because they are on the transcripts, but thanks for mentioning that you are listing courses. I thought it would be odd on a CV, but without it I think my transcripts are confusing aside. 

[TakeruK]

This might be a field-dependent thing. I did not list any courses in my CV at all. I don't think I have ever seen a graduate student CV with courses listed (but I've mostly only seen CVs from my field). My grad application CV just shows the year, school name, degree, major, thesis title and advisor. I left all of the course info for my transcript. 

 

I did have a weird course numbering case (like what Cesare said) where I took one of my courses at another nearby school under an exchange program, so my home school's transcript just lists the # of credit transferred -- no grade, school name, course name or anything. I included the transcript from the extra school in my package and in the application itself, there is usually a box on the last page to enter any special circumstances. I chose to explain that transferred course in this space. In Cesare's position, I would use this space to explain that MC156 = FX451, 453, 562 and my grades in each of these courses. 

 

Also, this might be the field dependent part -- in a lot of my applications, the school wanted me to manually enter a list of courses (and sometimes grades) anyways in addition to the transcript. A few schools also wanted me to attach a page describing the four most recent/senior courses relevant to my field, listing the course name, my grade, the instructor's name, the textbook used and the official description in my school's course calendar (catalog)!

 

I think it's standard practice for course numbers ending in *99 to be thesis or independent research like courses. But if you are not certain it will be clear, you can explain it in the extra box. But I think if you talk about doing a dissertation in your SOP, that should be good enough?

 

If most of your courses have the same or roughly the same units/credit hours then it's probably okay to not need to specify it. I guess if it's important, you can still mention it? Or, if the application allows it, then you can just attach an entire extra PDF that basically repeats the info in your transcript with all the extra information, if you really really want to specify this information. But I think if the application doesn't ask for credit hours specifically, you might not have to worry about it (or just email/call the school to check).

[Cesare]

Thanks a lot TakeruK. That was really helpful!