Academic Record
The academic record is the complete, unabridged record of the student indicating previous academic enrollment and all academic work pursued at the institution. The Registrar’s Office maintains all official academic records for enrolled and former students of the T.H. Chan School of Medicine, Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing. The Registrar Office is responsible for registrations, enrollment verification, enrollment statistics, certification of student status for loan deferments, processing of all licensing applications, issuance and sealing official transcripts and documents with the University Seal.
The student’s permanent record contains transcripts from their previous institutions and the admissions application for their respective school. The T.H. Chan School of Medicine admissions application consists of the AMCAS (American Medical College Application Service) application and the UMass Chan Medical School supplemental application. The Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences admissions application consists of the Apply-Yourself (online application service) application and the Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing consists of the Nursing CAS (Nursing’s Centralized Application Service) application.
Each student record contains evaluations received, copy of official transcript, information release forms filed by the student, copies of letters written by UMCMS as official recommendations from the school and disclosures of the release of information concerning the student. Documentation for name changes, change of address, change of status and enrollment verification letters are also placed in the student’s file.
In compliance with the Federal Family Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Massachusetts Fair Information Practices Act, each student has the right to file a request with the Registrar’s Office that some or all of the information contained in their file, not be published or disseminated except as required by Federal or State statute, regulation or for University purpose.
Students may review their own file by making arrangements with the Registrar. Access to a student’s record is limited to the Dean, Associate Dean, Registrar, student’s advisor and respective academic evaluation boards. Other faculty members may have access to the record for the writing of letters of recommendation or other legitimate purposes upon written release by the student and approval by the Registrar or Dean.
The Registrar’s Office has taken steps to preserve the records of former students. In order to protect student academic records from damage due to disaster or deterioration, the Registrar’s Office is currently scanning key documents in former students’ files and uploading the digital images into a web based document management system. These digital records reside on University redundant servers that are backed-up regularly with copies stored off-site with other secured University data.