"Our records indicate..."
It seems pretty amazing at first. You just sent your application in last week, and the day after you hit “submit”, you told the College Counseling office where you applied.
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It’s just been a week, but now the college has sent you an e-mail—already! Did they say yes? Did they say no?
Chances are, it’s neither.
“Thank you for your application. Our records indicate we have not received your high school transcript. Please contact your high school counselor and have them submit a transcript just as soon as possible.”
You’re confused at first—you did that already.
Then you’re confused—you did that already.
Then you’re angry—you did that already! What’s going on here?
What’s going on is you’re part of a large number of students who are getting these letters and e-mails needlessly. There are three reasons why:
- When you submit your application electronically, the admissions computer checks to see if your transcript has been “checked in”—in other words, if the transcript has been sent, opened, and entered in the computer. When does this check happen? About the same time you told College Counseling you applied-- so of course it’s not there. The computer then generates the e-mail, which causes a lot of confusion.
- If you sent your application by snail mail, it’s part of a mountain of letters in the admissions office (remember, everyone tends to apply at the same time) that can take the college up to a month to open. Your transcript is in that mound of mail, too—it’s just that they happened to open your application first, and it may take another 3 weeks before they happen to connect your transcript with the application.
- With 200 other seniors applying to between 6-8 colleges per person, you may be number 30 or 35 in line for transcript requests. Since most colleges want counselors to answer some questions as well as send the transcript, this can take time, along with the other duties counselors have-- like hosting the college reps that visit Cranbrook, we can tell them in person how great you are. Transcript requests will generally be sent out in 15 school days after they are received. It might be that yours goes out the next day—but at this time of year, it’s more likely to go out on day 14 or 15.
So what do you do? Don’t go crazy. 95% of the time, the transcript is there in the electronic waiting room, waiting to be opened. The rest of the time, College Counseling will track the status of your sent transcript online, and contact the college to see if a second copy is needed. You may only be applying to 6 or 8 colleges, but the College Counseling Office has to send out transcripts to support those 6 or 8 applications for 200 students. Colleges know this, they understand this, and they do not penalize you for this—so it’s OK if your transcript takes a little more time.
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PO Box 801
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48303
(248) 645-3000
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48303
(248) 645-3000
