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[anthaspirant]

I don't know about all of you, but I find the combined costs of application fees, mailing costs for LoRs, and official transcripts a bit daunting.  One big piece of the puzzle may be unique to my undergrad university, but I suspect it is not: My school charges $15.00 (plus $1.75 "handling fee" for internet orders) per transcript!  That means I'll almost certainly spend well over $100 on transcripts alone.  That is pretty outrageous in and of itself, but why do grad departments require official transcripts from applicants anyway?

In my entire grad school hunt, I've found that ONE school does it right.  Check this out from UPenn:

* We strongly encourage you to scan an unofficial copy of your transcript after each school entry on the Academic Backround section. This will help us process your application right away since all materials will be in one place and can be viewed together. Once you are offered admission, you will be asked to send an official copy so that we can verify your information. The offer will not be released until the official copy of your transcript has been received and verified.

Why doesn't every school do this?  (Don't get me started on my school's policy of having no unofficial transcripts or access to course records for alumni).  I could pay for ONE transcript, and use it for every school, and everybody would win.  Then I only have to shell out for one more, assuming I get in somewhere.  Honestly, who is going to fake a transcript that they will eventually be called on to produce anyway?

[polly_mer]

Um, maybe you are applying to weird programs?

A billion years ago when I was applying to graduate schools, I sent photocopies of my transcripts and only had to produce an official one for the programs to which I was accepted.

[verysneaky]

Polly_mer, maybe the sciences just do a better job with this than the humanities. I applied to PhD programs in a humanities field last year and only one of the schools to which I applied took the UPenn approach; the other nine, all of which were top-20 programs, required paper transcripts. In my case, I had to send four transcripts to nine schools, which was bank-breaking.

[namazu]

I don't know if it's a science vs. humanities thing as much as it is a program-by-program thing.  When I applied to grad school, the programs all requested official transcripts (and since I'd gone to community college and university, and then took some classes at another institution after graduating, it really added up).  It didn't occur to me at the time to ask if unofficial transcripts would be acceptable, since most schools had specified that they required sealed transcripts to be sent directly from the institution (or compiled in their sealed envelopes and sent with the application).

Later, when I applied for a fellowship, and was more savvy, I did specifically ask whether unofficial transcripts would be acceptable, but was told that they was not.  Oh, well.  (Fortunately, I got the fellowship, so it was worth it.)

I agree that permitting unofficial transcripts would be a more convenient and less financially-draining way of doing things from an applicant's perspective, and if I had my druthers, that's how I'd do it.  But I think the answer to your question,

Honestly, who is going to fake a transcript that they will eventually be called on to produce anyway?

is "You'd be surprised.  People do all kinds of stupid things." 

[scampster]

I don't know if it's a science vs. humanities thing as much as it is a program-by-program thing.  When I applied to grad school, the programs all requested official transcripts (and since I'd gone to community college and university, and then took some classes at another institution after graduating, it really added up).  It didn't occur to me at the time to ask if unofficial transcripts would be acceptable, since most schools had specified that they required sealed transcripts to be sent directly from the institution (or compiled in their sealed envelopes and sent with the application).

This was my experience - they all wanted transcripts sent directly from my undergrad institution. As Polly and I are both in engineering but had opposite experiences, I think it is hard to define a pattern between disciplines.

But it really is annoying that they require official ones from the get go and none of the places I applied to followed the UPenn model. I guess I'm glad I just went to one school for my undergrad!

[glowdart]

Really, a "better way" would be free transcripts.

(It is done, but I gather this is rare.)

[galactic_hedgehog]

It's been so long that I have no idea what I had to do for grad schools, though for jobs I would send scans or photocopies.  

Some schools now allow you to pay a lifetime fee (I believe in some cases the students are assessed this fee as part of their bills) for unlimited transcripts.

[buy_low]

My undergraduate institution amazingly does not charge for transcripts.  But they will charge for rush orders.  And they are a public institution. You just have to give them at least a month's lead time.

[ticklemepink]

NYU does UPenn's approach as well.  It's something that they picked up somewhere in the last two years since I applied there.

I know.  Transcripts are a big headache.  Since I'm a MA student and was an undergraduate transfer who took language courses at three different institutions over summer, each program will get a total of 6 transcripts.  Multiply that by 5.  36 transcripts to order.  I do believe that if I had two more programs to apply, I would have memorized all addresses.

Fortunately, my MA and undergrad institutions don't charge (phew....).  But the summer institutions do so... it definitely got expensive that my mother said, "You better get in somewhere for PhD for all of this!!"

I didn't do what NYU suggested since I didn't have a paper copy for all transcripts and figured it'd be easier for them to get all paper copy instead of both of us trying to figure out if transcript A or B is... I can't even get started on this.

[word_nerd]

What was even worse for me (I applied to eight schools, and had to have transcripts from two institutions sent to each), was that at least one of the schools (it may have been two, my memory of it is fading) required MORE THAN ONE set of transcripts -- one set for the department, and one set to the "graduate school" of the university!  To boot, there were a couple of transcripts that either never got sent or got lost in the mail, and so I had to pay to reorder with rush fee.  It cost me *so* much money to apply to grad school. 

I didn't know about UPenn's policy, but it would definitely be an improvement; that, or having a transcript clearinghouse that schools can log into like there's a enrollment clearinghouse for the loan companies to check for deferment.  Sealed snail-mail?  The dark ages!

[advil]

Honestly, who is going to fake a transcript that they will eventually be called on to produce anyway?

I may be cynical, but I think it is actually quite likely that many people would try to change small details.  It is easier for the admissions committee to just not have to think about this issue.  The other reason is that by and large, official transcripts are designed to be read by anyone, but unofficial transcripts may not be.  This is a bigger deal than you might think as there are many institutional idiosyncrasies.  Plus there are certain things that may be reported on unofficial transcripts but not on official ones (e.g. retaking courses at some universities), that you actually wouldn't want visible.

I don't really think the problem is graduate schools requiring official transcripts, but rather, institutions charging so much (or any) money for them.  I guess I should add the caveat that my perspective is as a faculty member who has participated in admissions.

[galactic_hedgehog]

Honestly, who is going to fake a transcript that they will eventually be called on to produce anyway?

I guess some people think they won't be caught.  (OK, it doesn't seem to involve a transcript, but the idea's the same.)

[anthaspirant]

I don't really think the problem is graduate schools requiring official transcripts, but rather, institutions charging so much (or any) money for them. 

You're absolutely right.  I'm looking for the Grad Admissions to correct a problem with the Registrar...  It's a total racket.  When I ordered a personal Official Transcript, I paid the money, the clerk clicked a few things on her computer, and I went and picked up the sealed envelope at another window 2 minutes later.  Was that 20 dollars worth of labor or materials?  Am I subsidizing their records system?

This:

having a transcript clearinghouse that schools can log into like there's a enrollment clearinghouse for the loan companies to check for deferment.

might be the ultimate answer.

[histgradstudent]

I didn't know about UPenn's policy, but it would definitely be an improvement; that, or having a transcript clearinghouse that schools can log into like there's a enrollment clearinghouse for the loan companies to check for deferment.  Sealed snail-mail?  The dark ages!

I was just thinking about  this last week as I was applying to fellowships. Would there be privacy issues or something? It seems like if you just had very strict requirements for authorization to view being dependent on the individual releasing the records that could be dealt with. It does seem silly and time consuming for everyone

[new_bus_prof]

A Better Way...

Students with degrees in XYZ from AACSB accredited schools will be waived from the prerequisites. All others will be required to complete the following additional courses: BAC, BBC, BCC, BDC...

The accreditation process takes care of ensuring students have had a specific level of exposure.

Official transcripts are only requested to verify diplomas after we make an offer.