<p>it's almost time for my son to apply for colleges. My son did some APs in different colleges (UCLA/UCSD/Pomona), each school will charge $15-$20 per transcript/per school. Let's say if he applies for 20 schools in total, alone the fee for transcripts will be $55/each college, I'm kind of cheap. I'm wondering if it's ok to just send his high school transcript plus SAT transcript to each school and later on, only send college transcripts to those schools he got offers or he wants to accept the offer? or I should not save that money???</p>
<p>UC’s only require a transcript after he has accepted his provisonal admission and the final transcript will be due after HS graduation. Some schools will ask for transcripts now or Mid-year so you need to check the website for each school.</p>
<p>Whenever transcripts are required, generally all of the relevant ones are required.</p>
<p>However, some schools (e.g. UCs and CSUs) do not require transcripts at application time; the final transcripts are to be sent during the summer after matriculation to verify previously self-reported courses and grades.</p>
<p>For all UCs, only ONE transcript is needed, so it’s not an issue. All other schools he is going to apply are all private schools, and my son confirmed that the classes he took in all three colleges are not showing in his HS transcript. So it sounds like I have no choice, we HAVE to pay for the transcripts fee for each private school he applies, $55 *15 -20, oh man :)</p>
Sounds like an excessive number. There is some randomness in admission, but not that much randomness. Most kids can come up with a set of matches and 3-4 seems to suffice for most. As for the most selective colleges, I think the 5% rates are misleading. Kids that get 1 acceptance often get multiple ones if they apply to 4-5, meaning that the schools saw the same thing with some variation in results. If you can’t get an acceptance out of 4 reaches, then further apps are likely to be futile IMHO.</p>