9

Asking on behalf of a relative:

I graduated in the early 1990s from a relatively well-known university in the Middle East, and since then have been working at various companies in North America. I have not studied at any institution since then, and have progressed to senior management level in my field. Now, I want to apply to graduate school and obtain a Master's degree. I found out that my undergraduate university, over the decades, has lost a considerable amount of funding and is no longer at all reputable. I have a physical copy of my transcript and my diploma from when I graduated, but despite a month of making attempts to contact representatives from my undergraduate university, I have not heard anything from them as to how I can retrieve an official transcript for post-graduate applications. The website for the university is very run-down and has not been updated in years, with broken links everywhere. There is no student portal to request academic information or anything of the like. Even if I go in person, I am having doubts that they even still have my records on file.

I am not willing to repeat my undergraduate. Is there anything I can do to go to grad school?

Improve this question
4
  • 1
    Is it possible to make a visit to the school(s) you want to attend?
    – Buffy
    Commented Jul 6 at 14:14
  • Have you tried multiple ways of contacting the university, including telephone and postal mail?
    – Nate Eldredge
    Commented Jul 6 at 15:49
  • 1
    In what field are you looking to study for a masters?
    – Nate Eldredge
    Commented Jul 6 at 15:50
  • 3
    What masters? Likely a department will be more interested in the 30 years of experience for a master of business, administration, public policy, etc. - talk to the department.
    – Jon Custer
    Commented Jul 6 at 23:20

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
13

Thirty years out of school is a long time and some places will consider you unready to continue. Not all, and it depends on what you want to study and how your experience is relevant to that. There are "executive masters" program at some places that won't mind the gap.

I suggest that you make a visit if possible to some place(s) you'd like to attend and talk to people in an appropriate department about your readiness.

With regard to the transcripts, I suggest you contact, preferably in person, but somehow, the "registrar's office" at a candidate school and explain the situation, pointing them to the old institution and showing them what you have for records. I suspect you will get mixed reactions from different places, but it is worth a try.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .