LETTER: Keep track of your records

To the editor:

Students: please check your transcripts!

I am writing to strongly urge everyone to carefully review their transcripts and keep track of their own grades. If you are anything like I was, you assume that the university keeps accurate records of your courses, grades and achievments. A computer error this past year caused me a small headache that could have potentially been a much larger issue.

A month after graduation, I happened to check my university email to see a message letting me know I hadn’t graduated because I was three credits short. Imagine the shock! I immediately called Scott Robinette (program coordinator for Hass) and with his help we were able to track the problem to a computer glitch that simply hadn’t counted the credits for one course. Superficially the class appeared on my transcript, but those measly three credits that didn’t add down stood between my diploma and me. I was lucky enough to discover this problem before signing up for an additional class.

I am extremely grateful to Scott for taking the time to look into this issue for me (and not just assume the computer HAD to be right!). A computer glitch is no one’s fault, and can often be difficult to uncover. Avoid this kind of problem by keep careful track of your University achievments yourself!

Ashley Hale