Sending your High School Transcript

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Hi there! My name is Jason Jacobs and I’m an Admissions Counselor at The College of New Jersey, where I also help coordinate the Merit Scholarship Program. Today I want to relieve some of your stress about an important part of your application, your High School Transcript. This is probably the part of the application that causes you the most stress; but, remember that we take a holistic approach to our application process and all parts of the application are reviewed and weighted in the admissions decision. That being said, there are a few basics that you need to know when it comes to your high school transcript.

First and foremost, we need an official copy of your high school transcript, meaning it needs to come directly from your high school. Most high schools have a procedure in place in order to release your transcript to colleges and universities. Make sure you talk to your Guidance Counselor to find out what you need to do in order to assure that your transcript makes it to us by your respective deadline!

I know what your next burning question is: “What is the GPA of the average accepted student to The College of New Jersey?” The truth is, we don’t know. There are so many different ways of calculating grade point averages out there and, to be honest, GPA isn’t the most important part of your high school transcript. Here at TCNJ, we are more concerned with the kind of courses that you took throughout your high school career. Most of our applicants are on an honors ,AP, or IB track, meaning they have taken at least some of their courses at an advanced level. A “B” in one of those courses is going to look better to an admissions counselor, than an “A” in a typical college-prep course. If you took all college-prep courses and got straight A’s as a freshman in high school, we will be looking for a more rigorous course load in the coming years. All we can ask of our applicants is that they take the most challenging course load that they can be successful at.

You will notice on our website that we tend to focus on class rank more than we focus on the GPA’s of applicants. This gives us a better understanding of where you stand compared to your peers who have attended the same school. I know, I know, not all schools rank their students. This is not a big deal, and, if we absolutely need your class rank, we can work with your high school to get that information. Most of the time, if your rank wasn’t provided, we’ll only need it when it comes to merit scholarship decisions.

Hopefully I was able to alleviate some of the stress that comes with applying to all colleges and universities, including The College of New Jersey. Stay tuned for the following sessions of our “Application Webinar” on the other part of your application. For any questions, comments or concerns regarding your High School Transcript, feel free to contact me via email at jjacobs@tcnj.edu or call 609-771-3408. I look forward to learning more about all of you when your application arrives!


Jason Jacobs

Jason Jacobs graduated from St. Lawrence in 2008 with a major in Economics. While at SLU, he worked for 4 years in the Undergraduate Admissions Office as a Tour Guide and Admissions Management Assistant. He began working at The College of New Jersey in January 2009 and has helped coordinate the In-State Merit Scholarship program. Jason is currently enrolled in a Masters program through Drexel University for Higher Education Administration.