Graduate Transcripts for Current Graduate Institution

Each applicant is required to provide official graduate transcripts for their current graduate institution. The applicant must upload the graduate transcripts electronically into the online application system by the application deadline. Transcripts sent by email, post mail, or fax will not be considered.

To be eligible, applicants must have obtained Ph.D. candidacy at their graduate institution. If your submitted official transcript for your current graduate institution does not explicitly show your Ph.D. candidacy status, and the date or academic term when your Ph.D. candidacy was achieved, then you are required to submit additional official proof for validating your Ph.D. candidacy in the online application. The acceptable official forms of proof for Ph.D. candidacy are: 1) an official, signed letter from your university/college Registrar’s office; or 2) an official, signed letter from the Chair of your academic department. In either case, this letter must describe the institution’s/department’s/program’s requirements for Ph.D. candidacy (including the URL, if the requirements are available online), how you fulfill the requirements, and the date or academic term when you have achieved your Ph.D. candidacy. There is a separate upload section in the online application for this additional document, should it be required. 

Additional Information on what is an Acceptable Transcript

A transcript issued by the Registrar Office (official transcript) that includes all of the following:

  • Official university markings: Registrar’s signature, university logo or stamp, letterhead or watermark, etc.
  • Name of the academic institution
  • Name of the student
  • Completed coursework (meaning every course has a grade), and if applicable, also on-going or planned coursework (these courses may not have grades associated with them)
  • Front side of all pages, and it is highly recommended to include at least one copy of the backside of a page.

Submitted official transcripts must have all Social Security numbers and/or dates of birth redacted or removed (blanked out, blackened out, made non-visible, etc.) prior to uploading into the application system. These items are considered protected PII (Personally Identifiable Information) and must not be shared. Any applications found to contain PII in the form of Social Security numbers and/or dates of birth will be deemed non-compliant and will not be considered.

Student academic records printed by the applicant or by academic advisors from internal institution systems will not be accepted.

Visual Examples of Transcripts:

General Instructions

  • Transcripts must be in PDF format. The online application system will not accept other electronic formats.
  • Submitted official transcripts must have all Social Security numbers and/or dates of birth redacted or removed (blanked out, blackened out, made non-visible, etc.) prior to uploading into the application system. This information must be redacted from all pages of the transcript. It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that the transcript does not contain any of the above mentioned or other personally identifiable information (PII) that, if lost or compromised, could cause serious harm (including identity theft) to the applicant.
  • It is highly recommended to include at least one copy of the backside of a page. The backside usually provides transcript definitions and an explanation of the academic institution grading system. A submitted official transcript may not be acceptable if its definitions and/or the academic institution grading system are not self-evident and comprehensible.  
  • Ensure that all pages are legible. Illegible transcripts may not be evaluated, and the overall review of your application may be affected.
  • If you do not have an electronic copy of your transcript, you will need to scan your transcript and save it as a PDF. You may use your own scanner or go to a copy center for assistance. We understand that for some university transcripts that watermark and other incorporated technologies make the photocopied and/or scanned transcripts very difficult to read. If you are not comfortable with the quality and legibility of a scanned electronic transcript, we strongly recommend that you acquire assistance at a copy center in producing a good readable PDF for uploading into the online application.
  • The finished PDF file cannot be larger than 10MB.  If it is larger than 10MB, Adobe® Acrobat® Pro software and most copy centers will be able to reduce the file size. 

Resources for Handling Transcripts on uploading, scanning, removing Personally Identifiable Information, and converting documents to PDF.