Your academic record is one of the ways that we assess the Smart criterion, along with your standardized test scores, professional experience, and qualitative testaments to your aptitude and curiosity found elsewhere in your application. Below we’ll take a deeper dive into both how to share your academic experience within the application and how we approach this information given there are a great number of academic majors, institutions, and grading scales represented amongst applicants.
Within the application itself, you will be asked to provide a snapshot of your academic history. In the Undergraduate Degree section of the application, you will share the primary undergraduate school from which you received a degree. In the Other Schools section of the application, you will create an entry for each additional undergraduate or graduate school you have attended, including transfer schools. You should not create entries specifically for study abroad programs or postgraduate non-degree coursework.
In these sections you will transcribe information such as your academic major, institution name and location, overall GPA, grading scale, degree start and end dates, and class rank. When you enter your school name, the field will search for a matching result. If your school is not listed, please search and select “My School is Not Listed” and, when prompted for your undergraduate school, enter your school in the “School name” field. When you review the dropdown options for major/minor, please select the option that matches most closely to your field of study. Similarly, when indicating your degree conferred/degree, select the closest match or use the “other degree” options at the bottom of the dropdown list. As a general rule: report all other items exactly as listed on your transcript. Please only report your GPA if it is numeric. If your GPA is non-numeric, or you didn’t receive one, you may leave this blank. Likewise, if you did not receive a class rank, leave this blank.
You will also be able to indicate in the Other Education Information section completion or enrollment in postgraduate non-degree courses and professional certifications. Here, you will be asked to provide additional details on the courses (institution, term/year, course title, and grade) or certifications (expected completion date). In this section you will also be asked to share additional transfer school information, if applicable.
As a companion to what’s above, you will upload a copy of your academic transcripts for every undergraduate or graduate school you attended, including any transfer schools. If your transcripts are not in English, you will need to have them translated and submit both the original copy and the certified translation. You may submit unofficial transcripts as part of your application but will be required to follow up with official copies if you enroll at Tuck. It is not necessary to provide transcripts from study abroad institutions if your study abroad course(s) are listed on your undergraduate or graduate school transcripts.
Tuck does not convert GPAs to a standardized scale. We are interested in your achievement within your specific academic context. Likewise, you should not convert your GPA to a 4.0 scale if this is not how your school reports grades. Please report your GPA using the exact scale employed by your degree granting institution. The admissions committee is well versed in different grading schemes from around the world and we calibrate and assess your grades within the context of your school’s grading scale and rigor, and we are mindful of trends within degree programs and across your academic history. It is important to note that there is no minimum GPA required to apply to Tuck and your undergraduate major may be in any field. Also, equal consideration for admission will be given to those that have completed three-year bachelor’s degrees. Tuck seeks qualified applicants from all backgrounds and the Tuck fabric is enriched by the diversity of academic experiences and perspectives represented amongst each class.
While all of this education information tells a compelling story about your academic history, there may be additional context that you wish to provide to the admissions committee particularly if your academic performance was not strong. You may do so in the Optional Information section of the application. As we have shared elsewhere on this blog, this space is truly optional and need not take the form of an additional essay. A few explanatory sentences or bullet points can serve you well here. If there were extenuating circumstances that impacted your academic performance or clarity you would like to provide around the transcripts you have submitted, use this space accordingly.
You may also use your resume and the Activities and Awards sections of the application (more about this in our Accomplished blog post) to share additional context beyond the classroom such as honor societies, academic awards, leadership roles, and extracurricular involvement.
As always, please feel confident in reaching out to us if you have questions not covered here. We look forward to continuing to get to know you through your application!
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