<p>I'm planning on applying for a program in International Relations (Fletcher, UCSD, SIPA, SAIS, America) this coming January. I've got to get transcripts from France and Taiwan to send with my application. </p>
<p>The prospect of asking my university in France to send me five transcripts is maddening because I've been through this before. Long story short, because nothing is "informatis</p>
<p>I had the exact same problem. I spent three months e-mailing a million different people in order to get ten official copies of my Sciences Po transcripts. I e-mailed the American Center there, a university contact I knew who worked there, the study abroad office at my home school, as well as friends still in France who could physically go down to Sciences Po and inquire. Nothing worked. I finally was assured by the registrar (or equivalent) there that if I paid 30 euros, they would mail me ten official copies to the US. They said it would take a few weeks...and I still haven't received them eight months later. As you know, the bureaucracy at French schools is a ridiculous mess, Sciences Po in particular.</p>
<p>So, I frantically e-mailed all the programs and asked if unofficial copies were ok. They said, yes, unofficial copies of foreign study abroad transcripts were ok, as long as they were accompanied by an official, notarized translation. I know this isn't what they say in their official policies, but that was what I was told via e-mail by several of the programs (SIPA, SAIS, Fletcher, GW, etc.).</p>
<p>So my advice is to not waste your time trying to get official transcripts from France. That is, if you already have an official copy or two. In which case you can just get them officially translated (see my post on your other thread), and stick them in a packet with your US transcripts. I applied to eight schools and not a single one questioned it, so I think you'll be fine. If you don't have a single copy whatsoever, then that might be a bit more trouble. It's good that you're starting on this now, though...you'll have more time to pressure them :-).</p>
<p>Best of luck with the application process! Let us know how it turns out.</p>
<p>Oh, I just realized you said you don't have a corrected copy of your transcript. In which case I'm not sure if my advice applies...</p>
<p>Is there any way you can have someone still in France go and pick up official copies of your transcript and then mail them to you? Perhaps someone who is affiliated with the school or on staff? That's what finally allowed me to get them to agree to send the transcripts (someone who worked for my university in affiliation with Sciences Po badgered them three different times in person and by phone), though, as I mentioned, I still never got them...</p>
<p>Well, decidedfactor, your answer is quite good and bad. It's a relief that the "sealed" foreign transcripts part of the application isn't an absolute necessity. On the other hand, I've got to get my hands on a bona fide transcript before I can advance. The fact that I'm in Taiwan right now just adds one more complication. </p>
<p>I do know people who, I think, are still at the school, but I don't know anyone who works in the office. To make it worse, I didn't do this program as a direct exchange through my American university, so there's no American counterpart to help me badger. </p>
<p>I appreciate your help on both threads. Like I said, some of the news does come as a relief.</p>
<p>Decidedfactor said:</p>
<p>"So my advice is to not waste your time trying to get official transcripts from France. That is, if you already have an official copy or two. In which case you can just get them officially translated (see my post on your other thread), and stick them in a packet with your US transcripts. I applied to eight schools and not a single one questioned it, so I think you'll be fine."</p>
<p>Just to get this straight, does that mean you didn't even send a French version of your transcript to some of the schools?</p>
<p>No, I sent an unofficial, French copy of my transcript to all schools, in addition to a notarized English version.</p>
<p>rmaguir, I am so sorry for you. After months of emailing/calling the schools I attended in France, one school (Sorbonne-Rene Descartes) sent me ONE official transcript. For the other school (Universite de Provence), I had to actually fly there to obtain official transcripts. And even then, it was quite a struggle. The first day I showed up, the secretaries simply refused to talk to me, they said they were too busy and that I should come back the following day. The second day I arrived one hour before the opening of the office and waited in front of the door. This time, 2 angry employees yelled at me and told me there was no such thing as an "official transcript". I asked to talk to their supervisor, who reluctantly agreed to put an official stamp on 10 copies of my transcripts, and to place them into a sealed envelope from the university. She maintained that it was a "very unusual favor" she was doing for me and that there was no such thing as an official transcript in the French system...</p>
<p>This is just a side note (out of frustration), but the most important lessons I learned while in France had very little to do with the philosophy I was studying. As someone interested in globalization and international affairs, I was awestruck at just how behind France seemed to be and how so many people seemed to cling to the past, as though believing that nothing had changed would make it so. </p>
<p>I started to notice it when my classmates turned in hand-written dissertations (which wouldn't have been accepted in the US). Then, as I got more and more caught up in the administrative bureaucracy of the French education system, the blockades of the campus during the anti-CPE protests, etc., I started to understand why there are only two French universities among the world's top 100. I had come to France thinking it was still a center of learning, only to have my professors constantly praise the education systems of "les Anglo-Saxons," and especially les am</p>
<p>Wow, good thing I chose some random eastern european university over Pantheon Sorbonne Paris 1 for study abroad; otherwise I might not have gotten my paperwork done in time for grad school applications.</p>
<p>Just an update:</p>
<p>I wrote to the university, included a scanned copy of my diploma and student ID. They wrote me back for some clarifications, then responded by asking me where to send them. That was the last I heard. They've given me the impression that everything's in order and they're going to send them to me! </p>
<p>I hope I haven't spoken too soon....</p>
<p>I went through this with Sciences Po last year as well and it was a catastrophe: it took almost 8 months to get anything from them and when it arrived… all my transcripts were unofficial photocopies that could not be submitted with my applications! When I went back to them, they told me the only way was to get the copies certified at my local embassy - I forget the exact details, but at something like $20/page for 6 page transcript for 15 schools/scholarships, the full cost was about $2000 + the amount I had already paid directly to Science Po for the photocopies they sent in the first place + bank fees for international transfers since they don’t accept common, convenient forms of online payment, personal cheques, etc. Obviously I did not pay this, but haggled with them and finally worked the price down to $30 for a re-send…! Naturally they didn’t send them right away, but it worked out in my favor because by the time they actually got around to sending them their policy had changed and it was free.
Unfortunately, in the interim of this 12 month period, they had also changed the name of the degree I received back in 2004 – now it no longer included the word “Masters” – and few of my schools/scholarships believed I actually obtained a graduate degree!</p>
<p>I have been re-contacting them for the past 4 months in order to apply for this year’s scholarship rounds and have yet to be acknowledged.</p>