international transcript woes

[klondike]

Just complaining about how unexpectedly obnoxious it was to arrange sending my transcripts to Canadian schools from Europe. Did anyone have similar experiences?

 

At my current university in Norway, there is a very different culture to graduate school compared to North America (at least in the humanities). Trying to convince my department of the necessity of the transcripts arriving in good time was like asking a cow why it wouldn't shovel the snow. They also insisted that they could only be sent via online forms, and that I could not confirm with any live person if/when they were processed. When the copy I ordered to myself finally arrived, in English so I could see how it looks, it is TOTALLY not official-looking: in black and white, Times New Roman font, with no description of the higher education system here/how grades are composed D: Hopefully the copies the universities receive are different, but I don't have too high hopes for that...

 

For my second set of transcripts from a uni in the UK, I also could not get confirmation that they were sendt (but saw when they charged my credit card...). It's almost two months since they charged me and none of the schools I applied to have received the transcripts.

 

Same frustration when schools require hard-copy letters of recommendation, and letter writers are late and/or insist on sending the letter through the super-slow university mailroom instead of just accepting the pre-paid, two-day envelope I am offering them!

 

Thankfully all of the schools I applied to accepted scanned, unofficial transcripts until the originals arrived. But still- madness right now!

[TakeruK]

North American Transcripts are not very official looking either. But you shouldn't expect them to! My transcripts in Canada and the US look like something one would type up in a word processor. My US transcript does not contain information about what the grades mean either, but my Canadian ones did at least have a second page that included this information. So don't worry too much -- the school will ask for more details if they don't understand something!

[klondike]

Ah that's good to know! I was just worried, because my UK transcript has many fancy graphics complex formatting, plus 4 pages of explanation of the education and grading systems. 

Also one school wanted the recs to be faxed and then for the originals to be posted, no online submission at all - fax machines? Have we gone ten years back in time?!

[TakeruK]

Ah that's good to know! I was just worried, because my UK transcript has many fancy graphics complex formatting, plus 4 pages of explanation of the education and grading systems. 

Also one school wanted the recs to be faxed and then for the originals to be posted, no online submission at all - fax machines? Have we gone ten years back in time?!

 

I understand your frustration! I attended one school as a visiting student and had to request transcripts for grad school applications. However, this school only accepts transcript requests via snail mail (or fax) and the form you had to fill out was formatted for legal size paper, so when I printed it out, the boxes were small and hard to write in! 

[marsmat]

Hopefully the copies the universities receive are different, but I don't have too high hopes for that...

 

Nope! I ordered transcripts from the University of Oslo and they send one copy to your home address and one to the address of the graduate school. These two are identical, I checked.

 

It doesnt really matter how official your transcripts look. I used to work in admissions and we didnt care, as long as they were legit. Its not hard to find descriptions of education systems in various countries and many universities (like the two I have worked for) are familiar with the differences but also have access to catalogues and companies that assist them in comparing. So dont worry!

 

However, degree papers from most countries (not transcrips, the actual proof of degree) often include what is called a diploma supplement. These tend to have pretty comprehensive and informative descriptions of the degree you were awarded and how you have been evaluated as a student. I emailed scanned copies of these papers to the programmes I applied to in case they needed to reference them. Maybe do the same if you have something like this?

[dania201]

Just complaining about how unexpectedly obnoxious it was to arrange sending my transcripts to Canadian schools from Europe. Did anyone have similar experiences?

 

At my current university in Norway, there is a very different culture to graduate school compared to North America (at least in the humanities). Trying to convince my department of the necessity of the transcripts arriving in good time was like asking a cow why it wouldn't shovel the snow. They also insisted that they could only be sent via online forms, and that I could not confirm with any live person if/when they were processed. When the copy I ordered to myself finally arrived, in English so I could see how it looks, it is TOTALLY not official-looking: in black and white, Times New Roman font, with no description of the higher education system here/how grades are composed D: Hopefully the copies the universities receive are different, but I don't have too high hopes for that...

 

For my second set of transcripts from a uni in the UK, I also could not get confirmation that they were sendt (but saw when they charged my credit card...). It's almost two months since they charged me and none of the schools I applied to have received the transcripts.

 

Same frustration when schools require hard-copy letters of recommendation, and letter writers are late and/or insist on sending the letter through the super-slow university mailroom instead of just accepting the pre-paid, two-day envelope I am offering them!

 

Thankfully all of the schools I applied to accepted scanned, unofficial transcripts until the originals arrived. But still- madness right now!

 

Awww! I'm sorry that its been so emotionally disconcerting! On the positive side, most any university in the US that's worth its spit has seen a broad myriad of transcripts from abroad--even from Norway and the UK. You might be surprised to see it, but the people who look at transcripts everyday likely are not. 

[Marina CM]

hahaha at least they translated your transcripts to English, klondike! I had to hire a translator...........................