Transcripts & Enrollment Verification

The Office of the Registrar maintains the permanent academic records for students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs, excluding the School for Social Work.

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974

In accordance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, Smith College will not release a student's transcript to a third party (including parents) without the prior written consent of the student. For more information, see Privacy of Records/FERPA.

Requesting Transcripts

Unofficial Transcripts

Current students can view their unofficial transcripts on Workday in the Academics dashboard.

Official Transcripts

National Student Clearinghouse Transcript Ordering:
http://tsorder.studentclearinghouse.org/school/ficecode/00220900

Smith College has partnered with the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) to provide secure, FERPA-compliant online ordering and delivery of electronic (PDF) and hard copy (paper) transcripts. Electronic and hard copy transcripts may be ordered online through the National Student Clearinghouse 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This transcript service is available only to current students and to students who attended or who entered Smith in September 1991 or later AND who graduated in 1995 or later.

Pricing:

  • Electronic (PDF) transcripts: $2.90 for partner schools in the NSC exchange network; $3.90 for all other recipients.
  • Hard copy (paper) transcripts: Free when sent via first class mail. Fees apply for express mailing options based on service selected.

Your card will only be charged after your order has been completed. Order updates are available via text message and email, and you can also track your order online.

Transcript tracking:
http://tsorder.studentclearinghouse.org/TrackOrder

Processing:

  • Orders are typically processed within 24-48 hours. Longer processing times may occur during holiday breaks.

National Student Clearinghouse Transcript Ordering:
http://tsorder.studentclearinghouse.org/school/ficecode/00220900

Smith College has partnered with the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) to provide secure, FERPA-compliant online ordering and delivery of electronic (PDF) and hard copy (paper) transcripts. Electronic and hard copy transcripts may be ordered online through the National Student Clearinghouse 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This transcript service is available only to current students and to students who attended or who entered Smith in September 1991 or later AND who graduated in 1995 or later.

Pricing:

  • Electronic (PDF) transcripts: $2.90 for partner schools in the NSC exchange network; $3.90 for all other recipients.
  • Hard copy (paper) transcripts: Free when sent via first class mail. Fees apply for express mailing options based on service selected.

Your card will only be charged after your order has been completed. Order updates are available via text message and email, and you can also track your order online.

Transcript tracking:
http://tsorder.studentclearinghouse.org/TrackOrder

Processing:

  • Orders are typically processed within 24-48 hours. Longer processing times may occur during holiday breaks.

Fill out the PDF transcript request form or download and print the form. Fill out the form completely, sign it and submit it by email to registrar@853961.com. The form must be signed as it will not be processed without a signature (typed names are not accepted as signature).

If you would like rush mailing or shipping, please email a prepaid UPS or FedEx label to registrar@853961.com otherwise transcripts are sent via first-class mail.

Electronic transcripts are not available for students who attended or graduated prior to 1995. Transcript requests are normally processed in 2-4 business days. Longer processing times may occur during busy times of the year (especially the beginning and end of the academic terms) and during holiday breaks.

Smith Transcripts

Transcript requests are processed within two to four business days of receipt. During busy periods (beginning & end of term, registration, and holiday breaks) transcripts may require up to 10 business days to process, in addition to mail transport time. We assume no responsibility for transcripts not requested in time or incomplete requests that cause processing delays.

Per the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, transcripts may not be released without the student's consent and signature. Because federal law requires that we obtain your signature, phone and email transcript requests (without signature) are not accepted. The registrar’s office does not issue partial or incomplete transcripts. Accordingly, transcripts for currently enrolled students will not be processed at the end of a semester until all grades have been received and posted, and GPAs recalculated.

Official copies of transcripts may be withheld if there are active holds on your record.

The registrar's office does not issue unofficial transcripts.

School for Social Work

The School for Social Work maintains all records for M.S.W. and Ph.D. social work students and graduates. For more information, please visit the School for Social Work website.

Enrollment Verification

Current students who have a social security number can obtain their enrollment verification from the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC):

  1. Go to portal.853961.com
  2. Select "My Student Info" tab
  3. Under "Student Records" select Enrollment Verification Request
  4. Follow the instructions on the NSC site to save or print your enrollment verification

For students without a social security number or have a specific form that needs to be completed, please email registrar@853961.com

Outside agencies needing to verify enrollment and degrees should make their requests through the National Student Clearinghouse.

E-mail: degreeverify@studentclearinghouse.org
Phone: 703-742-4200
Fax: 703-742-4239

National Student Clearinghouse
2300 Dulles Station Blvd.
Suite 220
Herndon, VA 20171

VA Enrollment Certification

Smith College is proud to support its students and family who have answered the call to duty and served our nation. Our offices of the Registrar and Student Financial Services work closely together to assist students in receiving VA educational benefits. If you are eligible for VA educational benefits, please complete the form below. If you have additional questions, you may email us at: registrar@853961.com

Veterans Certification Request Form

Replacement Diplomas

The only copy of the diploma that exists is the original document that is distributed to the student at Commencement. Replacement diplomas can be ordered if the original was lost or destroyed.

To order a replacement diploma make a request including the information below. Please note that replacement diplomas are nearly identical to the original diploma except that they are signed by the current president of the college.

Please include the following information in your request:

  1.  Name while in attendance
  1.  Name* as it should appear on the diploma
     *Name changes from those on the original diploma may require additional documentation
  2.  Year of graduation
  3.  Telephone number and/or email address where you can be reached
  4.  The address to which the diploma should be mailed
  5.  Signature

Enclose a check or money order for $50 payable to Smith College. Please allow 6–8 weeks for delivery from the time that we receive the request and check. If you have any questions, email the Registrar’s Office at registrar@853961.com.

The Office for Equity and Inclusion covers the fee for new diplomas for trans or nonbinary alums who have had name changes.

Before requesting a new diploma, please contact Smithie records smithierecords@853961.com to change your name in the Smith database.

To order your new diploma, please make a request including the information below. A PDF or Word document can be attached in email as a physical or electronic signature is required.

Please note that new diplomas are nearly identical to the original diploma except that they are signed by the current president of the college.

Please include the following information in your request:

  1. Name while in attendance
  2. Names as it should appear on the diploma
  3. Year of graduation
  4. Telephone number and/or email address where you can reached
  5. The address to which the diploma should be mailed
  6. Signature (must be your actual signature, not just typed text)

Please allow 6–8 weeks for delivery from the time that we receive the request. If you have any questions, email the Registrar’s Office at registrar@853961.com.

Diploma Translation

Official translation of the diploma from Latin to English can be obtained by contacting registrar@853961.com

Translation of the Diploma from Latin

Study Away Transcripts

If you are submitting a transcript to report credit earned elsewhere for study in the United States, be sure that you have submitted a transfer credit application form.

Office of the Registrar
College Hall 102
Smith College
Northampton MA 01063

registrar@853961.com

We accept transcripts in unopened, sealed envelopes or sent by secure electronic transcript providers. Hand delivered transcripts are not accepted if opened.

Transcripts for credit earned abroad should be sent to the Office for International Study.

Additional Verification

Notarization

The registrar's offfice provides notarization for Smith documents for current students and alums (verification letters, transcripts, and diplomas). Please email registrar@853961.com for more information.

Apostille

Employers and schools abroad may require the Smith diploma to be apostilled. The orignial diploma must be sent to the registrar's office to be copied and notarized before being send to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for apostille. If the diploma is lost a replacement diploma must be ordered, the registrar's office does not keep copies of diplomas. 

To have the diploma apostilled there are several steps.

1) Complete this form and send it to the registrar's office with the other items. 

2) Send the original diploma (just the paper, not the black cover)

3) Send a check made out to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for $18 (that's for the diploma, translation, and attest letter of the degree). If more than one copy of the documents are needed, please let us know as that will change the fee or if the transcript needs to be apostilled. 

4) Send a pre-paid UPS or FedEx envelope for the Commonwealth to send the documents back to you in. We use the western office in Springfield, MA 
http://www.sec.state.ma.us/pre/precom/comidx.htm

Once we have the check and the pre-paid envelope we will notarize the documents and then send them on the Commonwealth. For those living outside of the US, a check or money order can be sent by someone in the US on your behalf. The Commonwealth will send the apostilled documents via the pre-paid envelope. The registrar's office will mail the original diploma back separately.

Because of exceptional international circumstances (COVID-19) that affected the latter half of the spring 2020 semester and necessitated a change to remote instruction, Smith College mandated the conversion of all courses to Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory (S/U) grading. The decision to adopt mandatory satisfactory/unsatisfactory (S/U) grading for the spring 2020 semester was made by the Committee on Academic Priorities and endorsed by the Smith faculty.

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The decision to adopt mandatory satisfactory/unsatisfactory (S/U) grading for the spring 2020 semester, made by the Committee on Academic Priorities and endorsed by the Smith faculty, was grounded in concerns about both equity and pedagogy. We anticipated that most students would be confronted with challenges once they left campus. Mandatory S/U grading was intended to allow students to continue to make progress toward their degrees despite the disruption to the semester, without worry about the impact of remote learning on their grade point averages (GPAs). The change also acknowledged the challenges faced by faculty when assessing student performance in courses that may have been transformed significantly as instruction changed from in-person to remote.

Smith’s decision to set aside traditional letter grades during this unprecedented time is consistent with that of many of our peer schools and a host of other institutions. In response, some graduate programs (e.g., Harvard Medical School) have already indicated that they will accept applicants’ pass/fail (or S/U) grades for the spring 2020 semester as long as the policy was mandatory. We are therefore including notation on the front of the Smith transcript that the institution mandated S/U grading for the spring semester. This policy applies to course work that is defined as institutional and would normally count in the student GPA, including courses taken by students at Smith College, through the Five College interchange, and on Smith Programs Abroad. It does not apply to course work completed through a non-Smith study abroad program, with grades issued by an external institution or provider, as this is accepted as transfer credit (i.e., not institutional credit) and is already excluded from the student GPA.

To support our students in their endeavors beyond Smith, the Committee on Academic Priorities agreed to disclose the letter grades submitted by instructors for purposes of application for graduate or professional programs, licensure or certification, or employment, when required as a condition for application or acceptance. Please see below for additional information and conditions pertaining to the release of letter grades.

Additionally, the Committee on Academic Priorities intentionally and explicitly determined that no alternate GPA would be calculated. Calculating an official term and/or cumulative GPA, whether on the official transcript or a separate letter carrying the college seal, would undermine the principle that the disruption of the spring 2020 semester should not have an adverse effect on students’ GPAs. It would privilege students who were able to focus on their course work and disadvantage students who may not have been able to maintain the quality of their academic work for reasons beyond their control.

As Provost and Dean of the Faculty Michael Thurston stated in his March 12 email announcement of the policy, “I understand that this will be disappointing for some. This unusual moment requires that we take unusual steps.” Thus, no exceptions will be made to the policy, and neither the Committee on Academic Priorities nor the Administrative Board will review petitions related to it.

Additional Information and Conditions

  • Students must submit a signed request for a letter of spring 2020 grades, which is required legally for the release of confidential information.
  • The letter will provide a listing of all courses for which the student received grades in the spring 2020 semester; a student may not request to have only a subset of graded courses disclosed.
  • Official letters will be sent to approved third parties only (educational institutions, licensing/certifying agencies, employers). Students must provide a complete institutional or business mailing address, including the name and title of the intended recipient. Please note that letters will not be emailed.
  • Students may request a letter to accompany an official hardcopy transcript, with the understanding that it may increase transcript processing time. Letters cannot be included with electronic transcripts requested through the National Student Clearinghouse, however.
  • Students will receive an unofficial copy the first time a letter is sent to a third party but will not receive a copy for each instance a is letter sent. Please note that letters will not be emailed.
  • Students should allow at least two weeks for processing, plus additional time for mailing.
  • The Office of the Registrar is not authorized to make exceptions to the above requirements.

Spring 2020 Letter Request for Graduate Schools & Employers