Virginia eTranscript Initiative Achieves Milestone 100,000 Digital Document Transmissions in Two Years

“It’s like I won the transcript processing lottery,” commented Heather Corpora, a counselor at William Monroe High School, when she learned that she had processed the 100,000^th eTranscript order for Virginia’s statewide initiative. We asked Corpora what it meant to “hit the jackpot” with Parchment.

In May of 2014, the Commonwealth of Virginia selected Parchment eTranscript platform for its 132 secondary school divisions, comprised of 331 high schools and more than 88,000 high school seniors. Today, 79 school divisions are in production across the state and a dozen more are in the works.

Located in Standardsville, VA, William Monroe High School boasts of 985 students and 242 seniors. This is Corpora’s 11^th year as a school counselor and her second year at this school. Previously, she spent a lot of time mailing paper transcripts to colleges, but Parchment has completely changed the college-application process for her and her students.

“Gathering transcripts, school profile, test scores and recommendation letters and keeping track of the paper trail was incredibly time consuming and stressful,” she explained. “I constantly worried that the colleges or universities weren’t getting the information.” With Parchment, she saw a streamlined process that made all the counselors’ lives easier, which meant spending less time mailing paper and more time actually working directly with students.

To promote the use of Parchment, counselors distribute registration codes to all of the seniors each year, and then meet with students individually to discuss their post-secondary plans and confirm that they created their Parchment account. Today, 95 percent of transcript requests at the high school are fulfilled electronically. “Parchment has tremendously helped the college application process,” says Corpora. “It keeps everything neatly organized and in one easy digital location.”

For other high schools out there, Corpora highly recommends going to a digital transcript. “Counselors will be amazed at how easy the process can be and how user friendly the program is for students,” she says. “I love that the student is responsible for requesting their transcript and can be held accountable for making sure their materials are ordered.”

We also interviewed Abigail, a senior at William Monroe High School. Abigail is the student who ordered that milestone 100,000^th eTranscript. “It makes applying to colleges easier because I don’t have to keep track of multiple paper copies,” she says. “The service is very user friendly and super simple. It took only a few clicks to request all of my transcripts.”

With the electronic exchange of their learning credentials, students like Abigail are poised for greater success in their post-secondary endeavors. Right now she’s tossing around the idea of studying neuroscience and psychology or attending a technical college for a degree in automotive technology. “Having the option to use eTranscripts makes it easier to keep things organized,” says Abigail. “It’s easier because you can track them online. Only one school that I’m applying to uses paper transcripts.”

There’s always more to learn.