I am an international student.
I understand that I should report my cumulative GPA on the CommonApp. Since my country uses different grading systems, I checked online for a GPA converter/calculator. However, I don’t get two things: do I use the grades I received in each subject at the end of the year that I should sum?; do the number of credits refer to the number of lessons I have attended in the given subject? Also, the way I see it, I should calculate the overall GPA I’ve scored since grade 9. How do I calculate the sum of each year’s GPA’s in case I’ve received different grades in the same subject over the years? Thank you!
You don’t. Unless the college specifically asks you to calculate your GPA (the only ones I know of would be California public colleges/universities), you simply report the GPA on your transcript. If your country runs on a 20 point scale (or a 6 point scale , a 10 point scale, etc), report that. Colleges are well-versed on international grading scales.
My counsellor hasn’t calculated that on my transcript. In that case, would it work fine if I simply put my average grade in the cumulative GPA section or should I leave it blank?
If the school does not calculate GPA,leave it blank. Admissions looks at the grades from the transcript anyway, not from the self reported # on the application.