Dean's Cert Forum

[samiseaborn]

For those requesting paperwork from underg/grad schools long distance, did you provide postage/envelopes for the registrar's office to send the completed forms back to you or to the specific school? Does it make a difference where you are having them send it?

[solidsnake]

No, I scanned each school's form (HSCN) into a bundled .pdf file and included a detailed cover letter with instructions. I paid tuition there; the least they can do is cover first-class postage (sending each form out directly to each school). I called first and confirmed with my Dean, however.

[A'nold]

Yeah, I didn't have to pay for Berkeley or Georgetown so I assume they are all free.

[samiseaborn]

Wow, I wish my undergrad was advanced enough to handle pdfs.

Thanks, I'll save the postage then. I wasn't really afraid they'd refuse to mail them, so much as they'd be less inclined to do it quickly.

ETA: wait.. georgetown? they only want a law school cert. right? not undergrad. I haven't even contemplated the law school one's because I'm afraid my 2nd semester grades will suck and then the school will be pissed I tried to transfer.

[solidsnake]

Cal and gulc require only ＬＳ letters of good standing, not UG.

[samiseaborn]

Good, thanks for the confirmation, momentary panic attack there. You'd think that I'd be used to the app process by now after all these year, but it never seems to get easier.

[upgrade]

I think having the forms sent back to you is the best option. I had each school send me the paperwork and I waited until I received everything before mailing a package to each school to which I was applying. I had problems getting paperwork signed at some of the schools and wasn't going to take a chance that things were not sent when I was told they were.

[solidsnake]

I think having the forms sent back to you is the best option. I had each school send me the paperwork and I waited until I received everything before mailing a package to each school to which I was applying. I had problems getting paperwork signed at some of the schools and wasn't going to take a chance that things were not sent when I was told they were.

I'm having annoying problems wrt the CLS form. I just got a call informing me that my UG Dean, whom I have only met once, and admitted to not remembering me, "doesn't feel comfortable" filling out the CLS form. CLS also wants the Dean to write up a summary report, which my Dean also doesn't want to do. Dean wants a faculty member to write it and doesn't want to sign his name on anything that he doesn't personally write. Any suggestions?

[upgrade]

I'm having annoying problems wrt the CLS form. I just got a call informing me that my UG Dean, whom I have only met once, and admitted to not remembering me, "doesn't feel comfortable" filling out the CLS form. CLS also wants the Dean to write up a summary report, which my Dean also doesn't want to do. Dean wants a faculty member to write it and doesn't want to sign his name on anything that he doesn't personally write. Any suggestions?

They didn't need a written summary. No actual "Dean" signed my forms either. From what I recall, NYU/CLS just wanted someone in the school's administration building to sign the form saying that I left the school in good standing. One of my schools sent the form between several different offices (taking weeks) for reasons similar to yours. Eventually someone in the office of student affairs signed it and send it back to me.

[solidsnake]

NYU is pretty straightforward -- just something asking whether I left the school in good standing. CLS, otoh, has this checklist grid of "reasoning skills, analytical ability, etc." and #5 on CLS's form asks the UG Dean or comparable administrative official to write a summary report of my UG academic credentials and any extracurricular activities. Does anyone (at CLS) actually read this stuff? Should I just have the Dean sign the form sans summary report and send? Making sure my UG sends it out isn't the problem; the problem is the substance of what CLS wants sent.

[samiseaborn]

it says 'or other administrator', so could you find someone other than the Dean? Because it sounds like that other person can do the entire thing then, and the Dean wouldn't have to worry about signing someone else's work at all. Schools must have some standard way to write these 'reports' when so few people actually have contact with their Dean in undergrad unless they've done something wrong.