As the school year begins for the class of 2019, the topic of applying to colleges and sending official transcripts is prevalent in and out of school for many students. While trying to figure out what to do after high school can be a stressful time, the counsellors have implemented a new policy to try to ease the stress of the application process.
This year counselors are introducing a program called Parchment which allows students to send their transcripts digitally. To create a parchment account students simply need to follow the instructions they each have recently received in their student emails, and create their account at parchment.com. Students should use their personal email, not their school, when creating their parchment account.
Once a student creates their account they can request a transcript through parchment. The request will then be sent to Mrs. Kipp, the counseling secretary. Once she receives the notification she will then release it and okay it to be sent to the college of the student’s choosing. Students are able to send their transcripts to any college they’d like.
This program promotes efficiency by allowing students to track all the requests that they have made. Everything is uploaded to the schools electronically so there’s no wait time for postal mail, and it eliminates the possibility of transcripts getting lost in piles of mail that admission offices receive.
Counselor Valerie Tucker is excited to get the program up and running, “We are really excited about how much more efficient this will be for students. A lot of students in the past would have their transcripts mailed and their college wouldn’t receive it. This will eliminate the likelihood of duplicate transcripts being sent. It will be so much faster and easier once students create their parchment account.”
The three universities in Iowa–University of Iowa, Iowa State University, and University of Northern Iowa–will allow you to self report your information using your unofficial transcripts which you can find on you student portal. However, parchment will still be used to send your official final transcript at the end of the year, so every student will need to create an account.
While right now deadlines might seem far away, they are approaching fast. “I think most students should be able to narrow their college choices down to five or less. That would include maybe 2-3 reach schools and then 2-3 realistic schools in terms of the likelihood of being admitted. My guideline is seniors should have applications done ideally prior to Thanksgiving. This gives them time during second semester to focus on scholarships, housing, advising, etc.”, comments Tucker.
Senior Mallory Lafever is already working on her application process. “I have already applied to Loyola University Chicago, and Marquette University in Milwaukee. With parchment, I will be able to receive my responses faster and ensure my transcripts make it to admissions without any complications.”
Each senior has received a link to create their parchment account via their school email. Counselors hope that by creating an account, it will assist in creating an easier and less stressful application process for students. If any student still has further questions, each counselor is ready and willing to help answer any questions and help set up an account.
