University Degree Conferred (Transcript Verified)

Proof required

Submit a photo or PDF of an official or institutional transcript confirming completion of at least one full academic year with passing grades, alongside a 200-word description of one concept from your first year's coursework and a specific, named example of how you applied it outside the classroom.

What gets checked

• Transcript names your institution and your name, shows at least one full year of modules or credit units with passing grades — partial transcripts showing only one or two modules do not qualify
• External application is concrete: names a specific project, employer, volunteer context, or personal initiative — not a general statement about how the subject is 'useful in life'
• 200-word description demonstrates genuine understanding of the concept, not just a definition — explains how applying it changed your approach or produced a visible result

Common mistakes

• Treating this milestone as a transcript submission only — the applied example is what converts a piece of paper into a Powstik proof; without it the transcript shows attendance, not capability
• Waiting until the year ends to think about external application — the concrete example is easiest to document when it happens; keep a running note of moments where coursework concepts appear outside class

Resources

What a verifier looks for

• Check the transcript is from a named institution and shows completed modules or credit units with grades — blurred or partial screenshots do not satisfy this milestone
• Ask the submitter to elaborate on the applied example: can they explain *how* the coursework concept changed their approach or produced a specific result?
• You do not need to verify the institution's ranking or accreditation status — the institutional name, degree, and student name on the transcript are sufficient for peer verification

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Proof required

Submit the actual deliverable from your programme's major project or dissertation component (PDF, public GitHub repository, or equivalent artifact), alongside your supervisor's or placement employer's name and institutional or professional role. If the deliverable is confidential, submit a 500-word abstract and documented submission evidence (email confirmation, grade release, or equivalent).

What gets checked

• Deliverable is the actual produced work, not a summary — a dissertation PDF, a project repository, a placement report, or equivalent; not a one-page description of what was done
• Supervisor or employer is named with a verifiable institutional or professional role — anonymous supervision does not meet this bar
• For confidential deliverables: the 500-word abstract demonstrates genuine intellectual engagement — names the research question, methodology, and key finding or design decision, not just a list of topics covered

Common mistakes

• Treating a group project as sole evidence without describing your specific contribution — even in collaborative work, your personal role, the sections you led, and the decisions you owned must be described explicitly
• Waiting for a grade before submitting this milestone — the submission of the work IS the proof; a grade is a secondary signal and is not required for this milestone to pass

Resources

What a verifier looks for

• The deliverable should be legible and demonstrate the student's own thinking — a dissertation that reads as a literature summary without an original argument or a project without design decisions is a weak submission
• Ask the submitter what the core argument, contribution, or design decision was — someone who produced the work can answer this in two minutes without preparation
• You are not grading the academic quality of the work — you are verifying that it exists, is the submitter's own, and that a qualified supervisor or employer was involved in overseeing it

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Proof required

Submit a photo of your official degree certificate or award transcript, alongside one applied artifact from your degree (a live URL, PDF, public repository, published work, or employment documentation), with a 300-word note explaining which specific modules, skills, or experiences from your degree enabled or produced the artifact.

What gets checked

• Certificate or award transcript names the degree title, institution, and award date — photocopies and unofficial printouts are acceptable; certified copies are not required for peer verification
• Applied artifact is publicly accessible or documented (live URL, PDF, employment letter with role and start date, published piece with DOI or public link) — 'I have a project but it's private' does not satisfy this milestone
• 300-word note names specific modules, professors, skills, or disciplinary experiences from the degree — not 'my degree taught me to think critically' but 'the econometrics module I completed in Year 2 gave me the regression skills I used in this published analysis'

Common mistakes

• Submitting only the certificate — Powstik recognises that a degree signals learning, but the applied artifact is what separates 'I studied' from 'I can do something real with what I studied'
• Choosing a weak artifact that is peripheral to the degree discipline — if your degree is in Computer Science, a Word document is not the artifact; a deployed project, a contribution to an open-source codebase, or a technical writeup that demonstrates programming competency is

Resources

What a verifier looks for

• Check the certificate or transcript names a recognisable institution and a specific degree title — partial screenshots or institution-less documents do not pass
• The applied artifact should clearly relate to the degree discipline — if the connection is not obvious, ask the submitter to explain it directly
• You do not need to verify institutional ranking or accreditation — the named degree, institution, and award date are sufficient for peer verification; the applied artifact is what carries the Powstik proof standard

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