Sending Transcript to Graduate Schools

Graduate School
1

I am applying for Master’s and Ph.D. programs in Biostatistics. An admissions officer advised me to send my most recent transcript to the institutions I am applying to because the course I took for the Fall 2016 semester has grades for some pre-requisite courses (Several Variable Calculus and Probability). I received a B- in my probability course and was wondering if I should include a brief description of why I received a sub-par grade in this class? It would go along the lines of:

“I know this is a crucial class in preparing for graduate studies in biostatistics and realize even though I may not be the best performer in class, I showed consistent effort. I regularly attended office hours, worked hard on my problem sets and presentations to ensure I received full credit, and attended almost every TA session to ask for additional help. This was a very challenging course in which I put a lot of time and effort in doing the best that I could. However, I learned a lot from this course and am confident in my ability to master the material and perform better in theoretical statistics courses going forward.”

Does this sound like I’m making excuses as to why I did not receive the best grade / is this explanation necessary?

In addition, I took a senior conference biology course in order to earn the biology degree and it was a designated credit/no credit course. Should I also explain in my email what this course was and why it is a credit/no credit course? It would go along the lines of:

“I took a senior conference course for all biology majors and it is a designated credit/no credit course. In this course, we were split into groups of 4, where we read papers on select topics from numerous scientists who were invited by our biology department. We would meet twice a week, one where our group would create discussion questions which we would use in our next meeting, in which the invited scientist would give an hour long talk on his/her paper and research. Afterwards, we would break into smaller groups where we students would lead further discussion on the topic in a seminar-like fashion.”

Is this necessary?

P.S. Would the admissions officer did not specify whether I should send an official or unofficial transcript. Should I just send an official transcript, just to be safe?

Thanks in advance for your guys’ help

2

Just a thought on your first explanation - you state that you’re confident in your ability to master the material, yet you discuss how you did just about everything you could and still received a “sub-par grade.” That doesn’t make it sound like you will perform better next time - it makes it sound like your grade is an accurate reflection of your ability. That may or may not be true, and I don’t know if a B- really is “sub-par” for your field, but I wouldn’t send that explanation. It will just draw greater attention to that course and your grade. Explanations are best if you had circumstances that affected your performance, such as health, family issues, etc.

I’m not sure why the second course would require an explanation, unless it is an obscure title but highly relevant to admissions decisions.

The application should specify whether to send official or unofficial transcripts. Unless the admissions officer states otherwise, I would send what the application portal requested. Or if you’re really unsure and crunched for deadlines, I would send the official to be safe.

3

Ok, all of this makes perfect sense. I did not have any health, family issues etc. so I won’t send that and it seems there’s no need to explain why the senior conference was a mandatory credit/no credit as you mentioned. Applications were due 12/1 (which is before my semester ended, so I didn’t have grades for any of these courses when I sent in the transcripts), so he said I should send my grades to schools once they come out. I’ll send an official transcript to be safe. Thanks for your help!