By Alison O'Leary Murray, Globe Correspondent | April 10, 2005
When Natick resident Sean True looks at the college admissions process, he sees a problem -- too many envelopes being mailed to too many colleges. Too much paper.
"For 35 years, we've heard this huge promise of a paperless future, but I just see us creating more," said True, who helped his son, Sam, a Natick High School senior, with his applications last fall.
True, chief technical officer at an Internet company, is trying to cut the clutter. He has offered his expertise to the Transcript Project, the brainchild of Natick High guidance counselor Ron Miller, which seeks to transmit electronically students' grades and class standings to colleges.
Sounds simple? It turns out it's not so easy.
Transcripts, which document a student's academic career and can make or break an application, require special handling. Only certain members of the high school staff have access to them, and the documents must arrive at college admissions offices with assurance that they have not been tampered with or handled by any unauthorized individual.