Notary Services
Occasionally, a student may request an official document to be notarized, such as an official transcript, degree verification, or a facsimile diploma.
To obtain a notarized document from Rice University:
- Order the document you need to have notarized:
- Submit a hard copy transcript request online via ESTHER or the National Student Clearinghouse.
- Submit a hard copy request for a degree/enrollment verification via ESTHER.
- Submit a request for a facsimile diploma.
- Email registrar@rice.edu to inform the Office of the Registrar that the document needs to be notarized.
- The Office of the Registrar will mail the notarized document directly to the student, or the student can pick up the document from the Office of the Registrar (Allen Center 116).
The Office of the Registrar will only notarize official Rice University documents.
Apostille Information
An apostille authenticates the origin of a document (e.g., transcript, diploma) and certifies the signature, the capacity in which the person signing the document has acted, and the identity of the seal or stamp which the document bears. This ensures that other countries will recognize the document as authentic. Information regarding apostilles in the state of Texas can be found here.
An apostille may not be needed. If you graduated in December 2013 or later, you should check with the recipient to see if a Certified Electronic Diploma (CeDiploma) would suffice instead of an apostilled document.
Please note that the Office of the Registrar does not mail documents to the Texas Secretary of State but will mail the notarized documents back to the student.