Application - What does transcript tell?

[lalala]

Hi all, I have submitted few applications and this question just pops up in my mind. So it seems that most universities just ask for official transcript, which in my case, is a list of subject a, grade a, subject b, grade b...

I really wonder if admission committee can understand much from the list. In my case, my math subjects are like math I, math II, math III, math IV...

Do you guys attach course descriptions? But seems that schools I apply to don't allow that, they just provide a link to upload scanned transcripts, CV, and SOP, nothing else. mmmmmm

Or, like Andy said, I should just assume that they are experts lol?

Any comments?

Thanks a lot.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Many savvy applicants include in their application a neat sheet of courses they took, the topics covered, the books used, the grades received.
That helped the reviewers a lot in understanding what different courses are. You can't expect people to know what Mathematics I is for every university in existent.

A little thought would go a long way.

 

[lalala]

the problem is that the universities don't even require mailing. they ask for scanned transcripts, i don't even have a place to upload that thing. if going by a package, i would definitely include as much as i can.

 

[coolharvard]

The problem is that most universities don't want you to send in extra stuff that aren't part of the requirement... and I doubt they would spend their time going over the list of textbooks/topics.. etc.

 

[lalala]

yea... you can actually tell from online systems nowadays, you don't even have a chance to upload "other" documents...

 

[ANielsen]

Was thinking the same thing when I got my bachelor diploma/papers from my school.. There’s nothing that indicates relative placement in the class, only a qualitative description of each grade in the 7 step grading system used in Denmark. Which is obviously worth next to nothing.
It’s pretty much impossible for an outsider to determine from the transcript what kind of student they are looking at… Which really sucks when finishing within top 10% of the class

 

[Andy Nguyen]

It's always applicant's responsibility to provide as much relevant information as possible. Just because the online application does not allow you to upload extra stuff, it does not give you an excuse.

Here is how you can bypass this technical limit: email the program's staff the additional document, post mail the extra stuff if it's lot of extra stuff. Follow up with them to make sure they receive and put it in your folder.

Take a guess how much time each reviewer will spend on your application at some "busy program"?

Don't be surprised if they come across your application, look at the transcripts that say this kid from some weird sounding school in Denmark/Slovakia/Utopia got some weird grading in some course named General Mathematiks II.

Bet they would go "Ah hah" or toss it aside if they have no clue?

If you don't go the extra length to make their job easier, I can guarantee you that your file will end up in the pile that you don't want.

 

[lalala]

yea andy, i went by the email way. but i am not sure if they would bother to look at that even. seems they want official documents only, i have given them the links to official ones (school website) too. thats all i can do... and waiting starts.

thanks all for the help!