Brandeis University’s “Second Transcript” aims to verify real-world skills beyond grades
Brandeis University is introducing a “Second Transcript” this fall—an official record of students’ internships, research, micro-credentials, and other out-of-classroom experiences. The goal is to give graduates a verified edge in the job market as AI reshapes work and families demand clearer returns on the cost of college.
Unlike a résumé or LinkedIn profile, students cannot edit the document themselves. Entries must meet school standards (for example, minimum hours and duration for internships) and receive supervisor approval. “Nothing gets onto the second transcript unless it’s Brandeis-blessed,” says Lewis Brooks, director of the university’s Center for Careers and Applied Liberal Arts. The transcript will be available both digitally and in print.
The initiative is part of the broader Brandeis Plan to Reinvent the Liberal Arts, which pairs a redesigned core curriculum with early career advising, required experiential learning, and closer integration of liberal arts and professional skills. Incoming students in the Class of 2030 will be the first cohort to have the program for all four years. Applications rose 40% this year, though officials say it’s too early to credit the new plan.
Not a new idea
Elon University launched a similar Experiences Transcript in 1994 and later made experiential learning a graduation requirement. A 2016 Elon study found that 74% of surveyed organizations viewed applicants more favorably because of the transcript, and 77% said it made experiences easier to verify—yet only about 40% regularly used the information in hiring decisions.
Other schools have taken related approaches: Loyola Marymount University’s business school tracks career activities through a point-based system required for graduation, and Florida A&M University uses digital badges under a state workforce-readiness law.
Will employers care?
Skepticism remains. Matt Berndt, Indeed’s head career strategist, questions whether hiring managers want yet another document to review. What matters more, he argues, is whether candidates can clearly demonstrate the skills they gained and the impact they had. The real value of these programs, he says, often lies in helping students connect classroom learning with real experiences and learn how to articulate them.
Brandeis has received positive early feedback from one employer focus group, but there is little hard evidence so far that a secondary transcript improves job outcomes. For students, the bigger benefit may simply be learning how to turn their activities into a compelling case for hiring.
How to get the most from an experiential transcript
If your school offers one:
1. **Track purposefully** — Use it as a running record of research, internships, jobs, service, and leadership while identifying gaps.
2. **Translate into skills** — For each experience, ask: What did I do? What skill did I build? What problem did I solve? What was the result? Put those answers on your résumé and LinkedIn.
3. **Prepare stories** — Employers may never request the transcript, but they will ask what you can do. Practice the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) so you can give concrete examples of impact.
The Second Transcript is Brandeis’s bet that verified real-world experience can strengthen a traditional degree. Whether it becomes a meaningful hiring signal will depend less on the document itself and more on how well students—and the university—help them tell the story behind it.