College transfer admissions

[Felicia]

My son is graduating from community college tomorrow night (woo hoo) and wants to continue on to a 4 year college to get his bachelor degree. Mid April he applied to University of Tampa. Application, fee and current college transcript were sent and received. UT sets up an account for prospective students to check on the status of their application.

Since April 21, it states he is in the "application complete status" in the "admission" page. But when checking on "status of documents" page it states they are waiting on high school transcript. My son sent the admission counselor an email asking if the high school transcript was necessary since he has 64 credits and obtaining his Associates degree. She emailed back saying "Your application is being evaluated for admission and we will contact you if we need anything else. You can check your application status on your SpartenWeb account". What does this mean? Do they need his high school papers or do they have what they need to make a decision?

SO... It has been over four weeks that he has been in the complete status. Shouldn't he have heard something by now? I told him to email again, but he feels he contacted once and doesn't want to seem pushy. Is it possible they are overlooking his application because they think he needs his high school transcript even though, the counselor responded?

Thank you!

 

[minushka72]

My son is graduating from community college tomorrow night (woo hoo) and wants to continue on to a 4 year college to get his bachelor degree. Mid April he applied to University of Tampa. Application, fee and current college transcript were sent and received. UT sets up an account for prospective students to check on the status of their application.

Since April 21, it states he is in the "application complete status" in the "admission" page. But when checking on "status of documents" page it states they are waiting on high school transcript. My son sent the admission counselor an email asking if the high school transcript was necessary since he has 64 credits and obtaining his Associates degree. She emailed back saying "Your application is being evaluated for admission and we will contact you if we need anything else. You can check your application status on your SpartenWeb account". What does this mean? Do they need his high school papers or do they have what they need to make a decision?

SO... It has been over four weeks that he has been in the complete status. Shouldn't he have heard something by now? I told him to email again, but he feels he contacted once and doesn't want to seem pushy. Is it possible they are overlooking his application because they think he needs his high school transcript even though, the counselor responded?

Thank you!

Unless there is a problem getting the high school transcript, just contact the high school and have them forward it. Then there will be no doubt as to the UoT having received everything they need.

 

[mtemm]

honestly I would go ahead and send the hs transcript. I did one year at a cc before transferring to a 4 year university. not the same as having an associates, so maybe it is different, but I did need both college and hs transcripts. I guess at this point I would think it would be easier to provide more information in case they do need it...especially since high school is still open (I assume), not shut down for summer break.

 

[RitaE]

If you can do it easily, I'd send the High School transcript.

But, I'd really have your son call the Admissions department and speak to a human who can look at the file. I have a feeling some flag has been set incorrectly in the computer database and it is just sitting there in perpetual unprocessed status.

Calling numerous times asking the same questions over and over is pushy. Calling after 4 weeks when there really seems to be a problem is just fine. Nobody will think badly of him for it.

 

[sonnyjane]

As others said, if you can, just send the HS transcript. Mine was required for both my initial application to one college and subsequently when I transferred to a different university even though I already had a bachelor's degree before!

 

[DopeyDame]

If you can do it easily, I'd send the High School transcript.

But, I'd really have your son call the Admissions department and speak to a human who can look at the file. I have a feeling some flag has been set incorrectly in the computer database and it is just sitting there in perpetual unprocessed status.

Calling numerous times asking the same questions over and over is pushy. Calling after 4 weeks when there really seems to be a problem is just fine. Nobody will think badly of him for it.

This sounds exactly right. He (not you!) should call, not email, and make sure a real person is looking at it and sees the situation. It might be fine, it might now. Unless a UT admissions officer is on the dis, we have no way of knowing.
I'd also go ahead and just send in the HS transcript just in case. No reason not too, especially because you don't want them to ask for it over the summer when it's harder to track down.

All that said, 4 weeks is a mere drop in the bucket and I wouldn't necessarily assume anything is wrong. They probably wait for the freshman and re-registration acceptance deadline to pass before processing transfer applications.

 

[bcla]

Doesn't sound all that unusual to me. I thought that was always required for undergraduate admissions, including advanced standing transfers. Apparently they don't require test scores if the applicant has more than 17 units. Semester or quarter isn't stated, but they're on the semester system themselves. It's pretty clear that final high school transcripts will be required for any undergraduate transfer.

http://www.ut.edu/transfer/

Those who have completed 17 or more college credits should submit official transcripts from all colleges and universities attended and final high school transcripts.

 

[Tinkerbell424]

I'm going through the SAME thing with USF. I sent my FL residency form at the end of March and they have yet to update my application. Call them and let them know.

USF told me they had my FL residency form but it takes awhile for them to update the system, as well as make that final decison. :/ Hold tight.

 

[RitaZ.]

If you can do it easily, I'd send the High School transcript.

But, I'd really have your son call the Admissions department and speak to a human who can look at the file. I have a feeling some flag has been set incorrectly in the computer database and it is just sitting there in perpetual unprocessed status.

This. That's exactly what happened to me. For some reason, when I applied two applications were created by the school. I only submitted one application and only paid one fee, but, unbeknownst to me, two sets were created. Some transcripts were being matched to the application that I submitted, but my high school transcripts were archived under my SS# (no name attached to it). Whenever I called the school to inquire about the status, it appeared that the university never received those transcripts. It took months to straigthen it all out; many calls and being told that they were still waiting for them and one smart person willing to help me and that was knowledgeable enough to piece it all together. I never knew about the second application, so it wouldn't have been possible for me to figure it out on my end.

I'd go in person at this point and ask to speak to an admissions advisor. If necessary, tell him to hand-deliver the high school transcripts and also ask for help in getting to the bottom of it. Good luck.

 

[okeydokey]

He needs to be proactive and make some calls regardless of what the website says. That's what admission counselor a are for. He should send the high school transcript ASAP as well.

 

[indygirl99]

DH had to submit his HS transcript when he transferred from his Associates to the Bachelors program.

DH was 58 at the time, not easy to get his HS transcripts. And the funny thing is they were not required for admission into the Associates program.

Send the transcripts.

 

[Asherry25]

As a high school counselor, I'll say...Based on the instructions clearly written on the web site, your son needs to contact his high school to have the transcript sent ASAP. Every college sets their own requirements, and it is the responsibility of the applicant to read and follow the instructions. If he applied elsewhere, he should check their web sites as well.

As a former admission counselor....Depending upon his college transcript, maybe they will go ahead and evaluate without the TS...or he could sit in pending status until they cancel his application because he did not complete his file.

Oh, and make sure he does all of this, not you.

 

[shortbun]

send the transcript.

 

[CF'er]

I too have my Associate's Degree (27yrs ago) and had to send my HS transcripts to all schools I was applying to for my Bachelor's. I graduated HS in 1985.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I would call and talk to a live person and resend the HS transcript.

Did he apply anywhere else? If not, I would also look into doing that as well to be on the safe side.

 

[Andtototoo]

My dd applied to USF last year having gotten her AA and she had to submit her HS transcripts.

I will also tell you that she ended up not going there because they made transferring CC credits from an out of state CC as difficult as possible. And the process involved many phone calls and one visit in-person (luckily she was living in FL briefly at the time). Basically, they had zero interest in giving her credits from an out of state CC and she was a 4.0 student. (They point blank explained they wanted her, but not her out of state credits. She was also no aid or grants or scholarships.)

Also -- the CC transfer credits were not a simple matter of submitting the CC transcripts. Since she was out of state, it involved having not only to present transcripts from the CC, but also all of the classes' syllabi AND her papers to the school for their review so they could determine if she deserved the grades she had been given. So if you think having to provide HS transcript is too much, well.... Perhaps it will be different for your son depending on his department, but I wanted to give you fair warning.

 

[Felicia]

Thank you all for your replies. The reason he questioned the counselor about the need for HS transcript is because of the #2 on the transfer FAQ page:

Do I need an associate degree to transfer to UT?
An associate degree is not required. As long as you have completed some college credit after graduating from high school, you are considered a transfer student. If you do have your A.A., you don’t need to submit your high school transcript when applying.

It said if you have your AA, you didn't need to send HS transcript. She replied that they had what they needed and would contact him If they needed anything else.

He will be calling UT today! Thanks.

 

[bcla]

Thank you all for your replies. The reason he questioned the counselor about the need for HS transcript is because of the #2 on the transfer FAQ page:

Do I need an associate degree to transfer to UT?
An associate degree is not required. As long as you have completed some college credit after graduating from high school, you are considered a transfer student. If you do have your A.A., you don’t need to submit your high school transcript when applying.

It said if you have your AA, you didn't need to send HS transcript. She replied that they had what they needed and would contact him If they needed anything else.

He will be calling UT today! Thanks.

From a purely technical standpoint, he doesn't have his associates degree yet. That could be the holdup. I would have gotten the HS transcripts sent anyways. When you're dealing with a bureaucracy, never assume that they follow everything that their public info states. They have another set of instructions that are different.

They're probably going to want to see the final transcripts showing the degree.