Mailing in a paper copy of your teen’s high school transcript? Unlikely. Today, almost all of you will have to send, upload, attach, or email the transcript digitally. Whether you do this through an application portal or to the college directly, the size and type of font you use are important.
Transcript Formatting of Text
Font Size: 10 to 12
You may already know that “best practices” for writing a high school transcript dictates keeping everything on 1 page. In an effort to comply, is your font getting smaller, and smaller, and smaller?
Once you have to go below size 10, you’re better off reconfiguring the layout. Perhaps using a different template or using the Homeschooling for College Credit template will help you reconfigure your layout, but when possible, aim for size 12. Font size is easiest to read in the 10-12 pt range.
Free Homeschooling for College Credit Template Building Class (30 minutes)
Best Practices: Fonts
Why does it matter? It matters because when your computer sends a file to a receiving computer, if the receiving computer can’t “read” the font properly, the resulting version of your perfect transcript may be a jumbled mess or blank square boxes- you don’t want that!
- Choose 1 type of font and use it for the whole transcript.
- Use bold or italics to create emphasis rather than different fonts.
- Reduce your use of ALL CAPS
- Reduce your use of abbreviations
- Reduce your use of symbols (#!]+&@
According to Indeed, the following list of ideal font types are most readable by most computer software and should be a solid choice for your teen’s transcript.
- Arial
- Cambria
- Calibri
- Garamond
- Times New Roman
- Helvetica
In preparation for this post, I stumbled upon a great post written by Dr. Mark Womack in which he explains why “sans” fonts are our best bet. I especially liked this and am sharing it with you below:
“Serifs are the tiny strokes at the end of a letter’s main strokes. Serif fonts have these extra strokes; sans serif fonts do not. (Sans is French for “without.”) Serif fonts also vary the thickness of the letter strokes more than sans serifs, which have more uniform lines.”
“Books, newspapers, and magazines typically set their main text in a serif font because they make paragraphs and long stretches of text easier to read. Sans serifs (Arial, Calibri, Helvetica, Gill Sans, Verdana, and so on) work well for single lines of text, like headings or titles (and high school transcripts), but they rarely make a good choice for body text.”
HS4CC Transcript Resource Page
Next Livestream HS4CC Transcript Workshop 10/06/2021