Official Transcripts Vs. Self Upload Anomaly

[Maya584]

I have a question that somewhat relates to this thread. I was wondering what happens if we are still in school and the universities require our transcripts which include courses that have not been completed yet. This has happened to all of my applications, they require unofficial copies right now but want official ones later on. I still have one semester left of my undergraduate and so one semester of my courses are still in progress, but I was wondering are we allowed to change our courses still without it having a big effect on our application? This is because I know a lot of students change courses before the semester as spaces open up last minute and having sent all my unofficial transcripts already I am wondering if our unofficial transcripts show different courses from our official ones even if it is one or two courses that are different, will it make a difference in the application? 

Just curious if anyone has changed their courses after submitting their transcripts and if they could share some insight on this. 

Thanks!

[khigh]

3 hours ago, GreenEyedTrombonist said:

I didn't have too many issues with transcripts (one of my schools will send 2 for free and the rest at a super cheap rate and the other school sends them for cheap), but I did have to hunt down my GREs at two schools (electronically sent). It actually became a huge back and forth with ETS and the school where the school was saying I needed to get ETS to send them again and ETS saying they wouldn't send anything until the school contacted them. Eventually, it resolved without me having to pay more, but that was probably the most stressful out-of-my-control thing that happened this cycle.

I too have been surprised at the cost of transcripts for others.  My undergrad sends them out for $5, including postage. ETS and I also had a fight about my scores, but like you, I didn't have to pay more.  They seem to be the hardest part of dealing with the whole application process.

[Sandmaster]

On 12/31/2017 at 6:33 PM, Maya584 said:

I have a question that somewhat relates to this thread. I was wondering what happens if we are still in school and the universities require our transcripts which include courses that have not been completed yet. This has happened to all of my applications, they require unofficial copies right now but want official ones later on. I still have one semester left of my undergraduate and so one semester of my courses are still in progress, but I was wondering are we allowed to change our courses still without it having a big effect on our application? This is because I know a lot of students change courses before the semester as spaces open up last minute and having sent all my unofficial transcripts already I am wondering if our unofficial transcripts show different courses from our official ones even if it is one or two courses that are different, will it make a difference in the application? 

Just curious if anyone has changed their courses after submitting their transcripts and if they could share some insight on this. 

Thanks!

I do not have any experience with this exactly, but they are going to base your admissions decision on the information they have at that point in time (on your unofficial transcript) and I believe it would only be a big issue if you were to change a course that was absolutely required (like a required course for the program) and did not complete their requirements for entry. This is obviously not too common, but as long as you suffice the requirements of the program and actually earn the bachelor's degree, they will hold true to any admissions offer they make you. Typically, graduate programs will offer a conditional admissions offer contingent on you earning your undergraduate degree and show them an official, degree-bearing, transcript. I have heard of graduate schools revoking admissions decisions if someone were to completely bomb their last term and had an abysmal GPA, but never for changing courses like I said.

[TakeruK]

On 12/31/2017 at 4:33 PM, Maya584 said:

I have a question that somewhat relates to this thread. I was wondering what happens if we are still in school and the universities require our transcripts which include courses that have not been completed yet. This has happened to all of my applications, they require unofficial copies right now but want official ones later on. I still have one semester left of my undergraduate and so one semester of my courses are still in progress, but I was wondering are we allowed to change our courses still without it having a big effect on our application? This is because I know a lot of students change courses before the semester as spaces open up last minute and having sent all my unofficial transcripts already I am wondering if our unofficial transcripts show different courses from our official ones even if it is one or two courses that are different, will it make a difference in the application? 

Just curious if anyone has changed their courses after submitting their transcripts and if they could share some insight on this. 

Thanks!

You are describing something that affects most applicants, so you're not the only one!

In general, after the decisions are made, they don't really care about the specifics of your coursework. Instead, what really matters is whether or not you actually obtain the degree you said you were going to obtain in your application. So, in general, as long as you are not changing majors or specialization with these course changes, it should not matter. If you are worried about your specific case, you can talk to the school you want to attend.

[Maya584]

Thanks Sandmaster and TakeruK ! That puts me at ease a little.