Ximena Solorzano, Staff Photographer

Cassie Boulis ’28 had been preparing applications for summer opportunities, many of which required an official transcript and GPA. However, by the Jan. 3 grading deadline for the past semester, she still had not received three of her final grades, which prevented her from applying to several programs.

At the end of each semester, professors must post grades by a designated deadline. However, some students received their final grades only after the deadline and received their complete transcript and GPA with a delay.

The News spoke with four students about how delays in receiving their grades affected them.  First-year students felt they were particularly affected, as they did not have previous college grades to submit to the programs that asked for transcripts.

“The worst or the hardest part about it was just the fact that around January, a lot of people are applying for things and trying to figure out summer plans,” Boulis said. “I was trying to apply for a few positions, and all of them needed my official transcripts.” 

Boulis told the News that delayed grades had prevented her from applying to certain summer programs whose deadlines passed before she could access her complete transcript and submit her application. She said that if she had received her grades before Jan. 3, she would have been able to apply in time. 

Lishore Kumar ’28 and Penelope Day ’28 shared similar experiences. Both students hoped to complete applications for summer opportunities and fellowships but had to postpone doing so until they had received their final transcripts.

“In a way, it’s almost worse for first years, because especially for the summer programs, we need something to show them,” said Kumar, adding, “We need at least a semester’s worth of a transcript to show … but we never have that.”

Kumar spoke with the director of a fellowship that he was applying for and was told that if he had been a sophomore, he could have just submitted his first-year grades. 

Boulis echoed these remarks, noting that the opportunities for first years felt already limited — with programs generally preferring upperclassmen with more experience — with the sense of inaccessibility being exacerbated by delayed grades.

Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis said that the administration sends “frequent” reminders to professors before Jan. 3, emphasizing the upcoming deadline. He added that professors who release course grades late receive additional follow-up emails.

Boulis noted that Yale-affiliated programs were generally more “lenient” regarding incomplete transcripts due to their understanding of the grading process. 

“For me, it wasn’t that big a deal. I didn’t necessarily need my grades then and there,” Morgan  Holien ’26 said. “But other people I know need their grades to turn in for the scholarship they have, so they need it on time.” 

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