The Johnston contract

Your final college transcript consists of the following:

  • An official University transcript, listing all your courses by semester, including grades for those courses taken for grade.

  • The precis written by your advisor which summarizes your academic performance.

  • Your graduation contract; both the narrative and the two final course listings. (Remember that you may revise your narrative before you graduate.)

  • All your narrative evaluations.

The Registrar's Office handles all requests for transcripts. And if you, or your family, are still worried that other schools may not accept narrative evaluations, stop worrying! After more than thirty years experience with Johnston transcripts, we can tell you that the overwhelming majority of graduate and professional schools accept them. In fact, you may well find that your transcript with its evaluations will make your application stand out from hundreds of others that such schools receive. But there are still a few schools that require a GP A for admission. When this occurs - and only if requested by a graduate or professional school for admission, or by prospective employers – the registrar will see that a translation of your evaluations into grades is made by the faculty member who wrote them, or, if that is no longer possible, by the Director in consultation with faculty in that discipline. In other words, you can't be hurt by the system.

A note on Johnston and awarding of honors: Johnston students are eligible to apply for Departmental Honors (each UR academic department determines its criteria and procedure). A student must complete an honors project or capstone experience in accordance with established departmental standards. Johnston students may also apply for interdisciplinary program honors (The Proudian Honors Program, Asian Studies, etc.) and may also be considered for election to Phi Beta Kappa. Because the Latin Honors (Cum Laude, etc.) are exclusively dependent on cumulative G.P.A.s, Johnston students are not eligible to apply for a program/procedure leading toward the Latin Honors.

"Johnston: taking responsibility for your own education. I milked the University for every interesting drop it had to offer me. I honestly never took a class I didn't choose, and I loved learning about the things I incorporated into my degree. I designed, defended, and owned my degree, and that experience played a strong role in shaping the person, I now am, nine years later. I am a mother. My daughter was born in Hong Kong in late 1997, where my husband and I lived and worked for three years before the hand over to China. We went to Hong Kong without jobs but with an inner confidence that we could make it happen anywhere because we were people of many skills. While living in that crazy city, I was mostly a teacher. I taught classes in Spanish and Italian at Hong Kong University. I taught English to children, I even taught classes in anatomy and physiology, and world geography. In addition to teaching, I ran a small private practice in massage therapy, (something I studied in Johnston), and I also taught classes in Infant Massage. It was always easy for me to find work that I loved because I had a broad base of experience and I could be flexible, even internationally. My son Carlos Drake, was born in Singapore August 1999. I have been a full time mother for the last two years and I love my job.

My Johnston education is an integral part of who I am. I use it, I live it. It has helped me find employment, make friends, bargain for good prices, understand cultures and religions of the world, communicate with my husband, listen to my children, and seek the most out of my experiences." -Pallas Quist, JC class

"During Frank Blume's tenure as Director of the Johnston Center, he left his blue VW bug on campus one Friday night because it would not start. Later that night, some residents of Bekins moved the VW into the lobby, where it sat all weekend. When Frank arrived back at work in Bekins Hall on Monday morning, he entered the building in an uproar, claiming the car had been stolen. He went to see the Johnston Center secretary, Margie Austin to complain, and she told him he had passed right by it in the lobby. When Frank surveyed the scene, he noted that Public Safety had given him a $15 ticket for parking in an unauthorized area. " -John Grant, JC class of 1982