<p>Hi!
I'm an international gap year student applying to Williams ED this year. As the subject would tell you- I'm from the British high school system and I'm facing a dilemma right now about which transcripts I should have my counselor (whose basically a school official and not so familiar with the US college admissions process) submit.</p>
<p>In the A-level system, we have to give term or mock exams throughout the year and then the final board exams in Oct or June. My problem is- should I submit the term results from school? Would they help or hurt my app or even matter at all?</p>
<p>The reason I'm so caught up in this decision is because my term results SUCKED. And rightly so- they're veeeery tough (more so than the actual finals) and are also marked very strictly. It is generally believed doing so will keep us on our toes and there's no value attached to these marks. Local institutions don't require them, neither do most in other countries.</p>
<p>But the US is a different story. And I don't want to jeopardize my chances since they're already pretty thin so...your input would be deeply appreciated =D</p>
<p>I’m going to cut to the chase, and recommend that you speak with an admission counselor at Williams College. They can better help answer your question.</p>
<p>I studied in England, so I somewhat understand what you’re saying. After looking at Williams College’s International requirement (ref: [Admissions</a> – Williams College| International Guidelines and Deadlines](<a href=“http://admission.williams.edu/apply/international/deadlines]Admissions”>http://admission.williams.edu/apply/international/deadlines)) I think the bottom line is that you’re going to have to submit some sort of final examination result to be considered for admission. As stated on their international applicant requirement, “Superior performance on national and/or international tests or final examinations.”</p>
<p>I wouldn’t be discouraged, speak to the admission counselor (you can contact them by their Contact Us page), and see if there is an opportunity or any other examination result you can submit instead of your term results. Asking will not hurt you!</p>
<p>First of all, thanks a LOT for your reply, Supersenior!</p>
<p>But I forgot to mention that I will be submitting my IGCSE and A-level results, but was confused about submitting my term-results too.</p>
<p>And I am in touch with a Williams Counselor. I told her that the original certificates of these board exams are considered the primary transcript at my school and asked her if its ok if my counselor sent those with the school report. She replied saying its fine. But I still couldn’t help wondering if that would somehow affect my application.</p>
<p>Do you think I’m overthinking this and my IGCSE and A-level grades will be enough? I’ll have my counselor accompany this with my Year 10 report card…but not the mocks.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry about it if you spoke to a Williams College counselor, and working with your current school counselor, I think you’ll be okay.</p>
<p>Is your IGCSE grade excellent? Are your A-level grades high (are they above 70%)? If yes to both, I wouldn’t worry about the mocks because if they think it would give you a better advantage, they would have asked you about it. Also, it wouldn’t hurt to mention it to the counselor to see if its relevant or not. </p>
<p>I rather submit excellent scores from IGCSE and A-levels (which is equivalent to APs), rather than submit a low score mock. It would be different if they were outstanding mocks because I would have said go for it, it might be an extra boost. But I wouldn’t submit it if it’s not great. As Americans would say, you might end up shooting yourself in the foot.</p>
<p>Also, are you able to maybe take the SAT/ACT exam over in England? Since that’s a standard examination for US students, it might look good on your application if you can score just as well as American students nationally. Find a SAT exam location overseas from the official website: <a href=“The SAT – SAT Suite | College Board”>The SAT – SAT Suite | College Board;
<p>Admission Tests: "Perhaps your GCSEs or A-levels are better suited to the contents of one test. Since the ACT has a Science Reasoning section and its Math section measures at a higher level (trigonometry) than the SAT Reasoning Test (geometry), students strong in these fields may benefit by taking the ACT. "</p>
<p>Thanks again Supersenior for your Super punctual and Super helpful replies! ;)</p>
<p>As for my IG/ A level grades- gratefully they’re pretty good. I’ve got 7 A*s in the IGs and 3 in the A levels with 2 As in extra AS levels. I’ve also already given the SATs with a score of 2260 in the Reasoning Test and 790/720/700 in the Math II/ Chem/ Phy Subject Tests respectively.</p>
<p>This isn’t a chance me thread, so I didn’t mention my academic stats above to encourage you to gauge my chances of acceptance, but the entire basis of this ‘drama’ is the fear of ‘shooting myself in the foot’, as you very aptly put it!</p>
<p>And the reason I’m avoiding bringing up the mock results with the adcom is because I’m afraid I already know the answer! That’s a lame and immature attitude, I totally agree, but as far as I’ve heard adcoms demand every evidence of a student’s academic history as possible.</p>
<p>So, thanks to your input and a lot of consideration, I’ve finally reached the conclusion to not accompany my exam certificates with the mock results. If, by some heavenly miracle, the admissions committee seriously considers my app and finds it necessary to see them, they would send a request to the counselor, right?</p>
<p>BTW, if you don’t mind me going off topic, are you studying in the US atm? Would love to hear about the US college experience from someone with a similar academic background as mine :)</p>