Colleges care about the grades you got in high school, quite a bit in fact. This isn’t any surprise for students. What is a surprise, and often an inconvenience, is telling colleges about your grades. After all, your high school submits a transcript when you apply, surely that should be the end of it. What more is there for you to do?
Quite a bit, as it happens. In this article, we’re going to look at how, and why, colleges ask to see your grades even after getting your transcript. This can be a tedious process, and we know well just how much stress students are under when applications go in. This article will help you ensure you have all the pieces in place for when you submit your applications.
Why Submit Your Grades a Second Time?
This is a question we get quite often from students, and it’s a completely reasonable one. After all, your high school counselor is already sending in a transcript, colleges can read that. It is in fact because of those transcripts that requests for grades are and remain part of the admissions process at some colleges.
Not all high schools grade students the same. There are different grading scales, different letter grades, different weights, and that’s before what some private schools do, or schools which don’t assign grades at all. A college will get hundreds of varieties of transcripts, all laid out and formatted uniquely.
When admissions officers are reviewing thousands of applications each cycle, then requiring them to spend extra time sorting out what exactly a transcript says is often seen by colleges as a waste of time. It’s much easier to create a standardized form, make all students fill it out, and then let admissions officers read that. This does create some additional work for students, but the amount of time it saves on the back end is seen as worth it.
Now, not every high school does strange things with their transcripts, but that doesn’t mean they’re standardized. Colleges also have no way of knowing which schools do what. Thus, no matter what your transcript looks like, if one of the colleges you are applying for wants you to submit your grading information a second time, you’re going to have to do so.
We should also note that not every college asks for this information. In fact it is a minority of colleges which do. If any college on your list does request it, however, then you will find yourself filling it out. You can adjust a college list to avoid this eventuality, but we rarely find that to be worthwhile.
Common App: Courses and Grades
Some colleges who want further insight request it through the Common App itself, using the Courses and Grades section. This is the bottom section on the lefthand column:
This is optional unless one of the colleges you are applying to requires it. As you add colleges, Common App checks with each, and if one of the schools you are applying to asks for it, then displays which colleges, if any, require you to complete the section. A full list of colleges which require this can be found here.
Filling the section out is straightforward. You proceed through your high school, year by year, entering your courses and grades exactly as they appear on your transcript. This is tedious, we know, but that’s inevitable. You should do this with your transcript in front of you, to make sure you enter everything exactly as it appears on it.
If you got high school credit for courses you took in Middle school, you can report that under “Other Courses.” If you attended more than one high school, add courses in chronological order. When you reach the end of one, click “Add Courses From Another Transcript.” You will need to do this for each additional school you attended. Dual enrollment courses which grant you college credit should be listed in the “Colleges & Universities” section.
The Self-reported Transcript and Academic Record System
Some schools want an additional look at your grades, but instead of using the Common App, go through a third party service. STARS (also known as SRAR and SSAR in the past as they cycle through acronyms) works similarly to the section on the Common App; a place to list the grades you have received in all of your courses, exactly as they appear on your transcript.
Unlike the Common App, however, you must complete STARS after you have submitted your application. Colleges who want you to do this will send you a notification of it when they prompt you to make a student account once they have received your application. Generally, you have a week or two after your application is submitted to complete STARS.
If multiple schools require you to complete STARS, you will be able to use the same input data multiple times. If only one school requires it, then you still have to input all of the information. Much like when entering this information into the Common App, we recommend you do this with your transcript in front of you, so you can be sure that all of the information you enter is exactly accurate.
Which Colleges Require Additional Grade Reporting?
We aren’t going to list every college which requires these; instead, we’re going to point out some top rated colleges which request that you submit additional courses and grades information.
Top Colleges Requiring Common App Courses & Grades
- Carnegie Mellon University
- Loyola Marymount University
- Morehouse College
- Purdue University
- Stanford University
- University of Wisconsin-Madison
Top Colleges Requiring the STARS
- New College of Florida
- New York University
- Rutgers University
- Texas A&M University
- US Air Force Academy
- University of Florida
- University of Massachusetts Amherst
- University of Washington
These are not complete lists, but are among the most popular colleges our students apply to. We don’t recommend leaving a school off your list just because they request this, but it is something to be aware of, especially for STARS, since that must be completed separate from and after the rest of your application.
Final Thoughts
Almost every college asks for your transcripts, but some require you to go the extra mile and enter all of the exact information again. This is tedious, but that’s true of a lot of paperwork; it doesn’t make it any less necessary to complete. We hope that this article has explained why colleges ask you to complete these, and how to go about filling them out when they do.
If you are looking for help navigating the byzantine admissions process, or have questions on specific aspects of your own applications, then Ivy Scholars can help. Our mentors are skilled at every step of applying to colleges, and we love helping students find the right path for them to take. Schedule a free consultation today to learn more, we’re always happy to hear from you.
