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While searching for PhD programs, I read a requirement that states I should send in my application an official transcript of all "post-secondary academic work completed to date". Surely this cannot mean all work, including published articles or lectures?

My question is: What does "post-secondary academic work" mean? Should I send academic work from both my completed Bachelor and from the Bachelor I did not complete? (BTW, is this expression correct, "completed Bachelor"? What would be a better English expression?)

Thank you!

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  • They are only asking for the transcripts, not the actual class work you completed.
    – Jon Custer
    Commented Jan 11, 2018 at 23:08
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    @JonCuster Ah, I see! You mean as a sort of "abstract"? I thought "transcript" would be a copy of the work translated to English. I read now Merriam-Webster says merriam-webster.com/dictionary/transcript : especially : an official copy of a student's educational record. Should it mean that they want only the record (the grades, etc. - no articles, lectures, papers, etc.)? Sorry for the confusion, English is not my native language.
    – flen
    Commented Jan 11, 2018 at 23:14
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    You can Google for "academic transcript" - it's something you typically request from your university's student service center or equivalent. You certainly cannot prepare one yourself; you need one that's certified by your university. Example of what a transcript looks like: registrar.pitt.edu/assets/img/trans_acrec/xmlacrec.png
    – Allure
    Commented Jan 11, 2018 at 23:36
  • @Allure thank you! I feel pretty dumb now, obviously they only wanted this kind of transcript, not transcript of other works. At least I didn't ask them this directly... thanks a lot for the help! I actually tried deleting this question, but it is not allowed by now
    – flen
    Commented Jan 11, 2018 at 23:50

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In your question, you say they ask for the transcript of all work. They don't want all work, as no one has that kind of time to read it all, they just want to know your performance in each course/module/etc.

The reason they stress the transcripts of all work, is that sometimes someone may have, as in your case, completed one program but not another and they would like to see the performance from that incomplete program (or perhaps you did two programs —in full— but one was in an unrelated field, they still want to see how you did in both).

Transcripts, thankfully, generally aren't very expensive to have translated.

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  • Yes, you are right, I understood "transcript" incorrectly, I thought it meant a translated copy, when it meant a sort of "report card" (an "academic transcript", as Allure mentioned in a comment). I wish I could delete this question since it bears on a mistaken conception of the word "transcript" (and, therefore, is not truly related to the meaning of "post-secondary academic work"). But I thank you for your help! As an aside, do you happen to know if "completed Bachelor" is a correct way to refer to a Bachelor one has completed? It doesn't sound natural to my ears
    – flen
    Commented Jan 12, 2018 at 1:53
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It means all academic work you did after high school. This includes undergraduate, masters, etc. So yes, you should send academic work from both your completed Bachelor's and uncompleted Bachelor's degrees, including published articles or lectures.

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  • Thank you! But don't you think this sounds a little weird? The costs of the translations would be pretty high and the volume of work per admission would be too big to be analysed. I guess I should ask the program directly, but I was afraid of sounding foolish by asking;) I'll ask them. Thank you again for the explanation!
    – flen
    Commented Jan 11, 2018 at 23:04

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