JP MORGAN TRANSCRIPTS

How bad is it in terms of your financial situation?

And how big and clunky is your school?

There's two routes on this- getting your school to work with you, or getting JPM to work with you.

You are probably more comfortable working with your school first, which is fine. Your school wants to get paid. You want to pay them. They also want good placements. You interning at JPM is a win-win for everyone- both career services and billing. If the school isn't gigantic and if it's fairly well managed, I'd talk to career services, and I'd talk to the billing office. And I'd talk to career services, and I'd talk to the billing office again (and maybe transcripts/the registrar, too). And keep going back and forth and try to get the two or three of them on the phone.

And if they're well managed enough, they will eventually decide that the win-win is that, yes you'll get your transcript, but your direct deposit goes to them after you pay your landlord (which will probably be NYU if you hurry up and get a dorm-- thus saving yourself a few thousand dollars in rent) and get $200/week for groceries.

The other alternative is JPM. If you know which team you're joining, and the associate who interviewed you is on that team, you give him a call. And you explain your situation. Or if not, you call HR. And I think JPM will be willing to work with you, especially if you can prove what your GPA is. But it could be a bit embarrassing. And if your job requires a brokerage license (EG a Series 7/63), you will have to answer a number of questions like whether you've declared bankruptcy, and (IIRC) whether there's ever been a judgment against you.

Finally, don't forget that when it comes to collections, cash is king. If you can come up with enough cash for a payment plan, or at least enough to make someone in the billing office convinced that you're trying your best to pay this off, and that releasing your transcript is a win-win, that might lubricate this transaction a bit.

This really sucks, I know. Please resist the temptation to borrow money at ridiculous interest rates out of desperation to fix this. A BK, which will go on your brokerage license, hurts your career more than just being honest and humble about this in the first place and getting some help from your school or JPM.

In any case congrats- you have an awesome offer and an awesome opportunity.