Liberate Transcripts from Vacuum Tubes

I've looked at approximately 1.3 bazillion college transcripts this year as a member of my law school's Admissions Committee. Along the way, I've developed some strong opinions about how they should be formatted. Here are my thoughts:

In general:

Use modern computers to generate your transcripts. Most transcripts look like they've been spit out of a midcentury computer packed with vacuum tubes, back when computer memory was so expensive it was conserved on a byte-by-byte basis. Well, that's no longer the case. Let clarity and legibility flourish.

Write transcripts with an external audience in mind. A lot of transcripts look like internal record keeping, a sort of cryptic log book. Format them so that they are readily accessible and meaningful to an outsider.

Some specifics:

Spell out the full names of courses. And use lowercase letters appropriately. Don't put "SEM INT INT POL TH LIT WR REQ." Instead, write "Seminar: Introducing International Politics Through Literature (taken to fulfill writing requirement)."

Skip the weird abbreviations in place of grades. If someone withdrew from a course, just put "withdrew," not "Q," "W," WD," or whatever. If the course is in progress, put "in progress," not "IP," "Z," or some other symbol. If someone earned a pass in a non-graded course, say "Pass" or at least use a "P". If you stick a "CR" on someone's transcript, you're just putting a "C" in the grade spot. It makes me look twice, and then it causes me to wonder why this person had to take Beginning Archery to get a bachelors degree.

Put the degree earned, and honors, if any, in a prominent box on the upper right of the the first page of the transcript. Some schools do this, and it is very helpful. There's no reason anyone should have to hunt for this information.

Format the transcript with portrait orientation, not landscape. In other words, the 8.5-inch sides of the paper should be along the top and bottom. That's how everything else in an admissions file is formatted. That's how résumés and recommendation letters are formatted. Follow suit.

Put all relevant information on the front of the transcript. Putting explanatory information on the back creates a headache when things are copied. And then, just reproduce the relevant information. There is no reason for explanatory information to include the crazy grading system the university used during the 1973-1974 academic year if the student didn't go to school then. If you use a post vacuum-tube computer, you can personalize that information and put it on the front of the last page of the transcript, making it easy to use and digest.