Missing (and more missing) transcripts

[ossipago]

I am delurking in order to vent about the transcript collation process for graduate applications.

I just learned that another school never received my UG transcript. This means that of 8 schools I applied to, at least 4 have "no record" of receiving my transcripts, despite them being sent out at least 15 days, and often more than 30 days, before deadlines (that means I ordered 20-45 days beforehand). This means a total of at least 6 transcripts/10 lost in the ether.

Schools have been nice about letting me know and letting apps go along to committees for consideration with unofficial (scanned and emailed) copies (in one case I had to ask for the status and then send it in), but surely there is a better way? I have no idea how or if this will hinder my chances for admission to extremely competitive programs. I imagine it's also very expensive for some people; for my UG institution, order fees were relatively cheap (but I had no option for sending transcripts in a trackable fashion.)

It's just very frustrating. I had no such problems with GRE scores.

[George]

I feel for you. I had 2/12 lost and that was bad enough for me. To answer your other question, GRE scores are sent electronically, even though ETS sends you a piece of paper in the mail. Now that you know that, you should be even more upset it costs $20 to send scores to one school.

[Smaudge]

I feel your pain. I ordered my last set of transcripts three weeks before deadline, and the only reason that I called to check on them was that one was supposed to be sent to my address and I never got it. The registrar's office then claimed that they never received my request (even though I had faxed it in AND gotten a confirmation), and refused to expedite my renewed request because of the holidays.

I tried to remain polite on the phone, but I'm sure my frustration came through when I asked--for the third time--, "Are you sure there isn't anything you could do?"

[qazwerty]

You don't need to worry so much.  Your application will be evaluated with the unofficial transcripts on time with everyone else's application.  

I used to work in an extremely competitive graduate admissions department at a top 5 university and unofficial transcripts were not a problem.  I know that at some schools, technically "official" transcripts were considered "unofficial" if it did not come directly from the registrar--that is, the student sent it him/herself.  In the admissions department I was in, if we had unofficial transcripts, we would only ask for official transcripts IF that student was admitted.  The likelihood that anyone was admitted was so low and the number of applicants were so high that it really wasn't necessary to ask everyone to send official transcripts until they were admitted.

Edited February 10, 2010 by qazwerty

[ossipago]

LOL. I didn't say anything "negative" in my previous post and yet people find it honest enough to vote it down. Too much common sense for ya?

Delivery confirmation is a real controversial subject around here I guess.

I'm the OP. I would have loved to use some sort of tracking or delivery confirmation. My school's registrar didn't offer any options other than "ship now via basic postal mail" or "pick up."

I guess I could have had everything mailed to me and then remailed it with delivery confirmation. But that's wasteful, shouldn't be necessary, and significantly increases cost. I'm not aware of any delivery confirmation service for 60 cents that works with flats.

Edited February 12, 2010 by ossipago

[anxiousapplicant]

Ugh, I wish my transcripts never arrived. Because my school doesn't allow students to see the official ones, I never got to see one until I saw it scanned into one of my submitted applications. It looked so shitty--instead of listing my second major, they put "undecided" which looks pretty moronic on my part and no professors listed. I don't know what the conventions are at other schools though.

[VUbrat08]

I know how you feel. My #1 school didn't get my transcript from my Grad. certificate school, and though the guy said that my undergrad transcript was the most important one, I was still mad that the school dropped the ball on getting that ONE transcript there (it got to my other school). I swear, I feel like I probably made the graduate admissions guy shake his head with laughter.

[Tiglath-Pileser III]

Ugh, I wish my transcripts never arrived. Because my school doesn't allow students to see the official ones, I never got to see one until I saw it scanned into one of my submitted applications. It looked so shitty--instead of listing my second major, they put "undecided" which looks pretty moronic on my part and no professors listed. I don't know what the conventions are at other schools though.

This is why you occasionally pay to have one official transcript mailed to yourself. It's kind of like a credit report in that you have to make sure everything is accurate. This all a part of career management.