Official Transcripts & Credentials

University of Minnesota undergraduates (from any campus) should contact Graduate Admissions after the undergraduate degree has posted to the transcript. Upon notification, Graduate Admissions will obtain the official transcript.

For institutions in the United States and Canada, Graduate Admissions is able to accept electronic transcripts sent directly by your institution. If you wish to provide electronic transcripts, have your institution's Registrar send transcripts/credentials directly to gsquest@umn.edu through a secure, approved, document-transfer service. Not all institutions offer secure document transfer. 

Electronic documents sent as PDF attachments may not be accepted as official.

Parchment SECURE-TRANSFER Electronic Credentials

Some institutions will send credentials through Parchment. 

• In Parchment, select "University of Minnesota - Graduate Admissions."
• Do not select "University of Minnesota- Duluth, Rochester, or Twin Cities." This will route your credentials to the Undergraduate Admissions Office and we will not receive them.

Institutions from countries that participate in the Bologna Process should provide the Diploma Supplement to all graduates. 

The Diploma Supplement (which includes coursework, grades, and degree verification) must be sent from your institution directly to:

Graduate School
University of Minnesota
Attn: Transcripts
309 Johnston Hall
101 Pleasant St. S.E.
Minneapolis, MN 55455-0421

Bologna-compliant countries include:

* France

•  Many institutions in France do not provide a Diploma Supplement or English language translation of their credntials.  In those cases, please have the official credentials in French sent to our office, and provide translations from any certified translator.

The Chinese Ministry of Education has designated CSSD as the sole national verification system for all official academic credentials coming out of China. 

• Paper documents will not be accepted as official.  
• CSSD Reports must be sent to gsquest@umn.edu.
• Do not select "University of Minnesota"  sent via Parchment, as this will route your credentials to the Undergraduate Admissions Office instead of Graduate Admissions, and we will not receive them.
• Contact info@chsi.com.cn with questios on sending documents.

Report of China Higher Education Academic Transcript

• Required in English and in Chinese
• Transcript used for report must be issued after graduation (if a degree was/will be obtained)

Verification Report of Higher Education Degree Certificate (if a degree was/will be received)

• Required in English and in Chinese

CSSD Center for Student Services & Development
Baiyan Building, NO.238 Beisihuan Zhong Road
Haidian District
Beijing, P.R.China 100191

• Email: info@chsi.com.cn
• Website: http://www.chsi.com.cn/en/help/howtoapply_e_p.jsp
• English website: http://www.chsi.com.cn/en/

Questions

Should I select WES, ECE or ApplyWeb when asking for a transcript translation?

• You don't need to choose any of them.  They are only needed for schools that require them (we don't). Go to https://www.chsi.com.cn/wssq/ to apply for the HE Transcript Verification Report, then enter the email address gsquest@umn.edu.  

Degrees Issued by Joint Chinese-Overseas Institutions

The following institutions issue joint Chinese-Overseas Credentials:

Beijing Normal University – Hong Kong Baptist University United International College
Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen
Duke Kunshan University
Fuzhou Melbourne Polytechnic
Guangdong Technion Israel Institute of Technology
Shenzhen MSU-BIT University
Wenzhou Kean University
Zhengzhou Eurasia Professional Transport Institute

Documents issued by authorities outside China do not need to go through the national verification system. 

Issuing institutions may send credentials directly to:
Graduate School
University of Minnesota
Attn: Transcripts
309 Johnston Hall
101 Pleasant St. S.E.
Minneapolis, MN 55455-0421

Hong Kong Institutions Located in Mainland China

Degrees issued by Hong Kong institutions located in mainland China should follow the instructions for providing credentials from Hong Kong.

For credentials issued by a Hong Kong institution, paper transcripts issued in English and showing the award of the degree at the top should be sent directly from the institution to:

Graduate School
University of Minnesota
Attn: Transcripts
309 Johnston Hall
101 Pleasant St. S.E.
Minneapolis, MN 55455

Alternately, many schools in Hong Kong are able to send electronic credentials directly from their Registrar Office to us at gsquest@umn.edu.

Degrees issued by Hong Kong institutions located in mainland China should follow the instructions for providing credentials from Hong Kong.

Submit certified marksheets and certified Degree Certificates (or Provisional Certificate/Degree Statement, see note below)

Paper copies from institution:

Certified copies of transcripts/marksheets and diploma/provisional certificate must be sent from your institution directly to:

Graduate School
University of Minnesota
Attn: Transcripts
309 Johnston Hall
101 Pleasant St. S.E.
Minneapolis, MN 55455-0421

Truecopy SECURE-TRANSFER Electronic Credentials

Some institutions will send credentials through Truecopy/Parchment. 

• Send to gsquest@umn.edu. 
• Do not select the default "University of Minnesota- Twin Cities (or Duluth)" as this will route your credentials to the Undergraduate Admissions Office instead of Graduate Admissions, and we will not receive them.

Emailed Electronic Credentials

If your institution does not use the Truecopy Secure-Transfer system, we may still be able to accept emailed copies of the credentials from the Registrar Office.  However:

• For email attachments to be considered official, they must be sent through a verifiable University Registrar email address.
  • We must be able to verify the sender as an authorized sender for the Registrar team,
  • and we must be able to locate the sending email address on the Registrar's web pages.

Electronic credentials should be sent by the Registrar to gsquest@umn.edu.

If you cannot arrange to have marksheets sent in advance, you may bring original marksheets & final/provisional degree certificate (these documents must have original stamps/signatures and/or embossed seals) to our office for review when you arrive on campus.

Criteria for Acceptable Provisional Certificates / Degree Statements

For recently awarded degrees, a Provisional Certificate or Degree Statement is acceptable if it meets ALL of the following criteria:

• the certificate was issued no more than two years ago
• the name of the degree to be awarded is specified
• the date of degree completion is shown
• final division/placement/GPA is shown

Paper copies from institution:

Ask your institution to send official copies in English to Graduate Admissions.  

Official copies of transcripts and diploma must be sent from your institution directly to:

Graduate School
University of Minnesota
Attn: Transcripts
309 Johnston Hall
101 Pleasant St. S.E.
Minneapolis, MN 55455-0421

Original translations:

In most cases, official paper documents can be sent to us directly from institutions in Iran.  However, if you cannot arrange to have your credentials sent, you may bring original officially translated transcripts and diplomas (documents will have the red white and green stamp fastening documents together in the upper left corner) to our office for review when you arrive on campus.

Paper copies from institution:

• Institutions should send official copies to Graduate Admissions.

Official copies of transcripts (showing the degree conferral, or including a copy of diploma) must be mailed from your institution directly to:

Graduate School
University of Minnesota
Attn: Transcripts
309 Johnston Hall
101 Pleasant St. S.E.
Minneapolis, MN 55455-0421

Nigerian University Strikes:

• Nigerian ASUU Universities on strike for much of 2022 have now suspended their strikes.  Please request that official credentials be sent directly from your University.  If you need additional time to obtain your transcripts due to the backlog of requests, you can contact our office for a one-time extension.

OpenCert Electronic Credentials

Students who graduated after 2018 may have been issued official electronic credentials through the OpenCert credential system, developed by the Government Technology Agency of Singapore.

• email an attached OpenCert file to gsquest@umn.edu.
• Graduate Admissions will verify the file on the OpenCert verification web page.
• If you are not sure if your institution has access to this technology, please contact your Registrar Office to find out.

Paper copies from institution:

• Institutions should send official copies in English to Graduate Admissions.

Official copies of transcripts and diploma must be sent from your institution directly to:

Graduate School
University of Minnesota
Attn: Transcripts
309 Johnston Hall
101 Pleasant St. S.E.
Minneapolis, MN 55455-0421

Paper copies from institution:

• Institutions should send official copies in Spanish or Portuguese to Graduate Admissions. An English translation must be included if your institution provides translation services.
• If your institution does not provide translation services, please obtain a certified translation from a professional translation service. 
  • Grades should be translated as shown on the original language document, and should not be converted to a U.S. grading scale.

Official copies of transcripts and diploma must be sent from your institution directly to:

Graduate School
University of Minnesota
Attn: Transcripts
309 Johnston Hall
101 Pleasant St. S.E.
Minneapolis, MN 55455-0421

Emailed Credentials

A few institutions in South and Central America are now willing to send official electronic documents. Such documents must come from a verifiable University Registrar email address, and be sent to gsquest@umn.edu

• For email attachments to be considered official, they must be sent through a verifiable University Registrar email address.
  • We must be able to verify the sender as an authorized sender for the Registrar team,
  • and we must be able to locate the sending email address on the Registrar's web pages.

In-Person Credential Review

If you cannot arrange to have your credentials sent, you may bring original transcripts and diplomas (these documents must be issued on University letterhead and have original stamps/signature or original embossed seals) to our office for review when you arrive on campus.  You will also need certified translations if English translations are not provided by your University.

We can accept an apostille-stamped document if it is stamped by the Registrar of your institution, with an original seal of your institution, and preferably contained in sealed and stamped envelopes from your institution.  A notary or apostille outside of your registrar office will not be accepted as official versions for the Spanish documents, but a certified translator's original signature/stamp from someone outside of the Registrar's Office would be acceptable for the English translation.

Unless otherwise stated in the country-specific tabs above, official transcripts must be mailed directly to the University of Minnesota Graduate School from the issuing institution. Do NOT send official transcripts to yourself first.

For credentials issued outside the United States, we require original language and English language versions.

Use the following address:

Graduate School
University of Minnesota
Attn: Transcripts
309 Johnston Hall
101 Pleasant St. S.E.
Minneapolis, MN 55455-0421