Self-reported Transcript and Academic Record System (STARS) Record FAQs

If you discover an error in your Self-reported Transcript and Academic Record System (STARS) record please contact us at admissions@psu.edu so we can work with you to make a correction. 

Penn State will evaluate your application based on the data you enter in your STARS Record, so be sure the information you submit is complete and accurate. If Penn State determines you intentionally misrepresent any information in your STARS Record, your offer of admission will be rescinded, and your academic schedule will be canceled.

If you need to make any updates to your Self-reported Transcript and Academic Record System (STARS) Record , please contact us at admissions@psu.edu.

No, you should report your GPA and all grades exactly as they appear on your high school transcript.

First, be sure you are logged into the MyPennState portal using your own Penn State Account.  

Your Penn State Account must use a personal email address that is not linked to your high school and is not shared by anyone else. For example, if you and your sibling used your parent’s email address to submit your application, you may see your sibling’s STARS Record information.  

To fix this problem, please: 

• Update your Penn State Account with your email address that is not linked to your high school and is not shared by anyone else, and 

• Send an email to admissions@psu.edu including: 

  • Your Penn State user ID and personal email address 

  • The name and email address of the person you see in the Self-reported Transcript and Academic Record System (STARS)

If you are having difficulty submitting your Self-reported Transcript and Academic Record System (STARS) Record, please review your STARS Record responses to ensure the following fields are complete and correct:  

• Grades and coursework for years 9-12 that are completed, in-progress, or scheduled 

• GPA and class rank/size, and if they aren’t provided by your high school, select GPA or class rank/size not provided 

• Start and end date for each high school you attended, even if you only attended one 

If you need further assistance, please contact us at admissions@psu.edu.

Enter your final grades for completed courses exactly as they appear on your high school transcript or your score report in the Self-reported Transcript and Academic Record System (STARS) Record. Mid-term grades, first marking period grades, or progress report grades should not to be included on the STARS Record.

If your high school provides a GPA for each academic year, you should report them as they appear on your transcript. If you receive both a weighted and unweighted GPA, please report your weighted GPA. If your high school does not calculate a GPA, there is no need for you to report one.

Please select your school’s grading system on the Self-reported Transcript and Academic Record System (STARS) Record. Do not recalculate or adjust your grades, report them exactly as they appear on your high school transcript in the STARS Record.

Yes, if your class rank is reported on your high school transcript, include it on your Self-reported Transcript and Academic Record System (STARS) . If your high school doesn’t report a class rank, do not report one on your STARS Record.

For courses taken during the summer, list the courses and associated grades in the preceding school year on the Self-reported Transcript and Academic Record System (STARS) Record. For example, if you took a summer course between 9th and 10th grade, you will list the course and grade in the final semester of your 9th grade year on the STARS Record.

If your Dual Enrollment course is also an AP or Honors course, please select AP or Honors for the course level.

If a course doesn’t align with a provided subject area, please select “Other Subject Area.”

Please select the course title that most closely represents the subject matter of the course and type the course title in exactly as it appears on your transcript.

If you are graduating at the end of year 11, please enter your year 11 grades and coursework as year 12. Your academic year selections should be 9, 10, and 12.

There are four grade scale options on the Self-reported Transcript and Academic Record System (STARS) Record.

Please select: 

• Letter grades if your transcript has all letter grades 

• Number grades if your transcript has all number grades 

• Letter & number grades if your transcript has a combination of both letter and number grades 

• Decimal grades if your transcript uses decimal grades 

If your school uses non-traditional grades, please contact us at admissions@psu.edu for further instructions.

You can report Dual enrollment courses in the Self-reported Transcript and Academic Record System (STARS) Record. If dual enrollment courses are on your high school transcript, select the course level as “Dual Enrollment.”

You should enter all courses on your Self-reported Transcript and Academic Record System (STARS) Record exactly as they appear on your transcript, even if you didn’t receive credit for them. Please select “No Credit” as the grade for courses where you didn’t receive credit.

No matter how your district defines middle, junior, or senior high school, please include coursework and grades from your 9-12th years.

You can report block scheduling in the Self-reported Transcript and Academic Record System (STARS) Record. If you’re on a block schedule, you must select the Course Length that best aligns with the duration of your course and edit the Credits/Units to match your transcript. For example, you would report a course lasting half of a year as “semester,” and a course lasting an entire year as “full year” in the STARS Record.

If your school gives final grades at the end of each year, then enter that grade.  If your school gives grades only by term or semester, then list each course with its grade by term or semester. You may list the same course multiple times if repeated in a different term. Give the final grade for each term if that is how it appears on your year-end final transcript.

You should report every course on your Self-reported Transcript and Academic Record System (STARS) Record exactly as it is listed on your transcript, including courses you have taken multiple times.

Yes, you must report the classes you’ve failed on the Self-reported Transcript and Academic Record System (STARS) Record. If you retake a class and both classes appear on your transcript, both need to be represented in the STARS Record.

If you’ve taken any high school-level math or world language courses prior to 9th grade, please indicate those courses on your Self-reported Transcript and Academic Record System (STARS) Record in the middle school section with a pass or fail grade. For example, some students take Algebra 1 or Spanish 1 in middle school. You do not need to designate the name of your middle or junior high school on the STARS Record.

Penn State must receive all required application materials by the November 1 deadline to be considered for Early Action. The Self-reported Transcript and Academic Record System (STARS) Record is only one piece of your required application materials, and we are unable to evaluate your application until we receive your STARS Record. 

Please log in to the MyPennState portal using your Penn State Account, locate Application Tools under the left-hand menu, and access “STARS Record.” Although we encourage students to submit their STARS Record as soon as possible, applicants may need to wait up to 24 hours after application submission to receive either their Penn State Account information or access their STARS Record.

When searching for your school in the Self-reported Transcript and Academic Record System (STARS), try to use variants of the official school name. For example, if you attended Theodore Roosevelt High School, enter "Roosevelt" in the search box.  

If, after you have searched, your high school is not listed, please select "My high school is not on the list below" to record the name and address of the school on your STARS Record.

Yes, you will need to review, update, and resubmit your Self-reported Transcript and Academic Record System (STARS) Record.

If all your letter/numeric grades and courses are listed on your current high school transcript, you do not need to obtain a transcript from your previous high school(s) to fill out the Self-reported Transcript and Academic Record System (STARS) Record. If your current high school transcript does not reflect your grades and courses from your previous high school(s), you will need to obtain a transcript from your previous high school(s) to fill out the STARS Record.

Yes, students who apply through the Common App need to submit a Self-reported Transcript and Academic Record System (STARS) Record. Even if you report your grades on the Common App or send us your transcript, Penn State requires applicants to submit a STARS Record.

Please monitor your email for instructions to activate your Penn State Account, log in to the MyPennState portal, and submit your STARS Record.

The Self-reported Transcript and Academic Record System (STARS) Record takes about an hour to complete.

No, Penn State will not accept your high school transcript instead of your Self-reported Transcript and Academic Record System (STARS) Record. We will only evaluate your application based on the data you enter on your STARS Record, so be sure the information you submit is complete and accurate.