Transcript problem in Germany

[plantguy]

Hey everybody, 

I am very new to this website and I am currently applying some grad schools around US and you know some schools want the transcripts to be send directly from the universities. However, the university I graduated in Germany refuses to send the transcripts by mail to US universities and they say it is forbidden by law. I am abroad, so I can't go and take personally from them. They won't even send them to me by post. I only have one original copy of my transcripts and that's it. Only one school agreed to accept a scanned copy but still 2-3 schools want them by post and they don't understand. Neither my german coordinator nor the officers in US. Can anybody update me? Are there any german students that can help me?

[Tanner]

I did a masters in Germany and applied to US graduate programs afterwards. The central administration of the Germany university would not issue the transcript and send it in a sealed envelope to the US graduate programs, but I found another solution. I had the degree-granting department of the German university issue my transcript. This means that I downloaded the transcript from the web portal, printed it, and brought it to the appropriate department faculty member to sign. Both the Akademisches Auslandsamt and an administrative assistant of the degree-granting department agreed to send it to the US graduate program in a sealed envelope. I brought it to the administrative assistant and she sent it. I was pushing the deadline for two graduate programs (<2 weeks), and so for those I took the sealed envelopes and sent them myself with DHL expedited shipping.

Basically, it may be up to you to figure out a way to get the transcript issued and sent in a sealed envelope from the German university to the US graduate program.

Another thing to consider: many US universities need to know how much ECTS credit each course you took was worth, so you might make sure this information is discernible on the transcript.

[day_manderly]

12 hours ago, plantguy said:

Hey everybody, 

I am very new to this website and I am currently applying some grad schools around US and you know some schools want the transcripts to be send directly from the universities. However, the university I graduated in Germany refuses to send the transcripts by mail to US universities and they say it is forbidden by law. I am abroad, so I can't go and take personally from them. They won't even send them to me by post. I only have one original copy of my transcripts and that's it. Only one school agreed to accept a scanned copy but still 2-3 schools want them by post and they don't understand. Neither my german coordinator nor the officers in US. Can anybody update me? Are there any german students that can help me?

Ah, I've had this problem. Write to your intended grad school and asked. I ended up with them agreeing to be ok with a scan for the time of application. However, they might ask you to make a photocopy of your trans-s, and then get it notarized or w/e.

[plantguy]

Hi!

Oh great. I thought I was the only one because shallow program coordinator insisted that I was the first student to ever request such a thing! so weird.. 

Some of my schools agreed, like Rutgers. But UMass and ColoState are insisting on a notarized copy, which is not possible because I'm told that every notary can only notarize in their native languages. I have an english transcript already but some people told me to translate my german transcripts to english and thus get them notarized by the translator ? It sounded very unnecessary but.. do you think that would work? 

[plantguy]

On 11/20/2016 at 0:51 AM, Tanner said:

I did a masters in Germany and applied to US graduate programs afterwards. The central administration of the Germany university would not issue the transcript and send it in a sealed envelope to the US graduate programs, but I found another solution. I had the degree-granting department of the German university issue my transcript. This means that I downloaded the transcript from the web portal, printed it, and brought it to the appropriate department faculty member to sign. Both the Akademisches Auslandsamt and an administrative assistant of the degree-granting department agreed to send it to the US graduate program in a sealed envelope. I brought it to the administrative assistant and she sent it. I was pushing the deadline for two graduate programs (<2 weeks), and so for those I took the sealed envelopes and sent them myself with DHL expedited shipping.

Basically, it may be up to you to figure out a way to get the transcript issued and sent in a sealed envelope from the German university to the US graduate program.

Another thing to consider: many US universities need to know how much ECTS credit each course you took was worth, so you might make sure this information is discernible on the transcript.

3

Thanks tanner! Unfortunately, I left Germany and it is hard for me to follow your proposed solution. But you did a good job.  I have an english transcript already but some people told me to translate my german transcripts to english and thus get them notarized by the translator ? It sounded very unnecessary but.. do you think that would work?