Policy on transcript submission for admission

Updated for fall 2024 applications

CMU-Africa considers applicants who have graduated or are in their final year of a 3 or 4-year undergraduate degree. In order to assess your academic qualifications, you are required to submit your applications with transcripts showing that you have completed at least ¾ of your undergraduate degree program:

  • If you are in a 3-year program, you should submit at least 2 years of transcripts and be in your final year of study by the time you start your application.
  • For a 4-year program, you are required to submit transcripts for at least 3 years of undergraduate study and be in the final year of the program by the time you start your application.
  • If you pursued a diploma program before earning your bachelor's degree, you are required to submit all the transcripts from both programs. This also applies to candidates who went to two different universities to earn their bachelor's degrees.
  • If you completed your undergraduate studies and have already graduated, you are required to submit complete final transcripts.
  • Submitted transcripts must show consecutive semesters and all individual courses completed.

Difference between an official and an unofficial transcript

  • An official transcript is a complete academic record of all individual courses and grades achieved at an educational institution. This document is usually issued by the Office of the Registrar, who sends it directly to the CMU-Africa Admissions Office in a signed and sealed envelope.
  • An unofficial transcript can be a student record obtained from a self-serve web system of the institution and include the system's URL and print date.
Unofficial academic transcripts may be submitted for admission review; however, an official final transcript will be requested should you receive an offer of admission.

Content of an academic transcript

During application verification, ensure that the document you are submitting is clear, legible and provides the following information:

  • Full name of the institution and/or letterhead or institution seal.
  • Applicant’s full name.
  • Program of study.
  • Duration of study.
  • Courses completed.
  • Description of course codes (where applicable).
  • Grades & Marks/Points received (completed).
  • Grading scale.
  • If your transcript is not in English, please submit an official, certified English translation along with the original transcript. See the section below for more details.

English translation

If English is not the official language of instruction at your institution, please include both the original language document and a certified English translation of both the transcripts and the grading scale or transcript legend. The translation should be done by a certified translation service or through the registrar’s office, where possible. Transcripts translated by the applicant or anyone other than a certified translator will not be accepted. Translations of academic transcripts and course descriptions must be accurate.

Reporting your Grade Point Average (GPA) accurately

If you have transcripts from a non-US University, please use the Scholaro GPA Calculator (previously Foreign Credits GPA Calculator) to recalculate and convert your GPA to a 4.0 scale. When recording the GPA, do not round it to the nearest integer. The reported GPA must be consistent with the GPA generated by Scholaro.

Accepted format of a digital transcript

For your transcript to be considered, please see below the required formatting guidelines:

  • Each transcript must be scanned and uploaded as a single file in PDF file format. Only one file per institution can be uploaded (if you completed more than one degree or attended different institutions, both transcripts can be uploaded but in separate files). Combine multiple pages from the same transcript into one file. The pages MUST be ordered in order of academic year or semester.
  • The transcript must be scanned in its entirety (front and back pages), including the transcript legend typically printed on the back of the transcript, and be legible. Ensure that no information is cut off during scanning.
  • If the quality of the document is unacceptable (the scan of the transcript file is not legible), you will be asked to resubmit your transcript.
Failure to adhere to the above criteria will make your application incomplete and eventually denied if you do not provide the required documents before the deadline.

Incomplete or falsified transcripts

CMU-Africa will only consider complete unofficial transcripts that are clear, legible and certified by your institution. Providing an incomplete or falsified transcript will result in your application being incomplete and eventually denied if you fail to provide the correct documents by the deadline.

Below are the criteria that will disqualify your transcript:

  • Falsified transcripts.
  • Incomplete transcripts - less than the required ¾ of transcripts for in-progress undergraduate studies.
  • Incomplete or missing final transcripts for completed undergraduate studies.
  • Missing Institution’s names or letterhead.
  • Missing applicants’ full names.
  • Missing grades and/or marks for completed classes.
  • Missing course code description.
  • Missing grading scale.
  • Grade or exam sheets are submitted in lieu of transcripts.
  • Missing or unofficial English translation for transcripts issued in a language other than English. Please refer back to the section about translation for more information.
  • Unclear scanned document that is illegible.