<p>Hello everybody,
I have few questions regarding the common app for international student, please note that I am also a transfer student.
I have to mention that it is quire urgent for me since i have to submit my application on 1/15, as i am running for few scholarship which had the fall semester regular deadline.
Thanks for the helpers, I appreciate it. My english in not fluent enough, I am sorry for each one who will find it difficult for reading. I welcome grammer and vocabulary corrections.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I don't have to do the TOEFL (I am also an international student) since i scored the max score in our english national exams. The university i am applying to aprroved it. where can i write it in the common app, just to make sure that the admission officer who checks my application noticed to this fact? </p></li>
<li><p>I am from Israel, and after high school we have a mandatory army service, I was asked to upload a document that explains why I didn't start to study at the college right after high-school. I tool advantage of the oppurtunity and upload an essay which elaborate my positions in the army as a soldier and an officer, and how the army service affected me.
Do you think that this is ok ? I wanted to take advantage of the free space to elaborate more about myself.</p></li>
<li><p>at the same subject, at the beggining of the education interruption document, I attached a timeline which shows the figures very clearly. I know this kind of stuff isnt common in this essays, but what do you think? it is just out of order.</p></li>
<li><p>Is it acceptable to add a photo from the army to one of the essays? i know that the admission officer who interviewed me was impressed with my excellence certificates from the army and I think that it may help them to get better impression of me.</p></li>
<li><p>As i said I am running for a full scholarship which distributed generally to first year student. the university wants me to submit the scholarship application although tham I am a transfer student. Therefore i have no college official's report, no intstructor evaluation and no mid-term report (the semester started only 2 monthes ago) to submit.
Is it ok? the admission office will understand the circumstances?</p></li>
<li><p>what is acceptable in the states regarding recommendation letters? I have about 10 letters which I want to send. I translated all of them with a translation company. Since there is no place in the common app, you guys are sending the letters to the universities by mail ? If i translated the letters, should I attach the original ones ? there is no place except of the additional information which limited to 500kb for this kind of stuff?</p></li>
<li><p>I was asked to sign a lawyer on my translated high school transcripts, since the original ones are in hebrew. how the university except to get these files ? on mail ?</p></li>
<li><p>there is any matter of importance to attaching to the application a recommendation letter from the english preperatory course of the university i myself attending ?
I remind you guys that i have no documents and recommendation from my university since i am there only for 2 monthes.</p></li>
<li><p>how are you guys dealing with the limited space for additional documents in the common app ? this 500kb are def not enough for me.</p></li>
<li><p>regarding the financial aid files, which documents i need to translate and to send on mail to the university? anyone can pleas shed some light on this ?</p></li>
<li><p>my school principal wants to sign personally on my school report since she knows me very well, is it acceptable?</p></li>
<li><p>in case that i want to submit my application to other university, do i need to sign a lawyer on each copy of my highschool transcripts that i want to send ?</p></li>
<li><p>is there a place in the common app to add my national exams scores?</p></li>
<li><p>I debating myself about writing the details of my university advisor, who knows me and all the other students barely. what are you saying?</p></li>
<li><p>In israel we are calculating the secondary school grades much diff than in the states, to leave this part of the common app blank? or to try to make the adjustments to the U.S method ?</p></li>
<li><p>is the IB/AP rank is unike to the states? how can i know if my high school used this kind of ranks too?</p></li>
<li><p>can i ask someone out side of the college to evaluate me for the instructor evaluation? i have no other choice since i am at school only for 2 monthes.</p></li>
<li><p>I got accepted to the accelerated track for outstanding students at my college and refused to it, can i write it under academics honors section??</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Thank you much guys, who ever did it to this part of my thread is an hero.
:)</p>
<p>I don’t understand some of your questions, and some of your questions should be directed directly to the college(s) you are applying to. Here are the answers to a few questions that I feel comfortable answering in generality.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Anything written in the main application will be submitted to all college(s) you are applying to. Unless this university has a supplement with an “additional info” box, I would confirm your arrangement separately by phone or email. </p></li>
<li><p>Americans don’t usually add photos to applications. Also consider the possibility that the person reading your application might have negative connotations with the military. (Maybe one of their family members died in military service or maybe they immigrated to the US from a warzone or maybe they are pacifists with a grudge against anything military.) Adding a picture in military uniform could have a positive impact or a negative impact. Be mindful of the risk you are taking.</p></li>
<li><p>Don’t submit 10 letters - it will reflect negatively on you. Select the 2 or 3 strongest letters from your dosier (however many letters the university is requesting) and only submit those. </p></li>
<li><p>If you need more than 500KB, you are probably submitting too many additional documents. If you really need more space, ask the college if you can snail mail or email additional documents.</p></li>
<li><p>Results from national exams should go into the Secondary School Report if they are part of your secondary school record.</p></li>
<li><p>Report your grades on the scale that they were originally given. Don’t convert anything. You can leave the GPA field blank or report a GPA on your own scale. </p></li>
<li><p>That should go into your College Report.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Hi, Thank you very much for your time.
I would ask you to tell me which sections you didnt understand so I will try to clarify myself.</p>
<p>I will refer to each section seperatly:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I got it, thanks. There is no place for this in the common app sections ?</p></li>
<li><p>OK.</p></li>
<li><p>take into consideration that I am 23. I had few stations in my life except of HS, including army, start-up company and etc. you recommend not to exaggerate with the amount of letters?</p></li>
<li><p>OK</p></li>
<li><p>and if they are not part of the school record?</p></li>
<li><p>on the transfer students app there is no choice to other gpa than of the states. the gpa in israel is between 1 to 115. what do you recommend?</p></li>
<li><p>I have no college report since I’m studying there only for 2 months. any other place to mention it ?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Regarding some of your questions: (I’m an Israeli applicant as well, by the way)</p>
<ol>
<li> If the specific essay you uploaded doesn’t repeat information written in other essays (and you feel that it’s important for you to include it), do so. However, notice that submission of a lot of written material may raise some eyebrows.</li>
</ol>
<p>For instance, you should NEVER send two recommendations. I sent in three, none of which were from the army-- but that’s up to you. Most of the places to which I applied required TWO teacher recommendations. Since we don’t have a “counselor” like they require, I submitted asked for a recommendation from someone who knows me very well. So should you. Whichever you pick is completely up to you.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I didn’t understand. I completed three years of army service as well, but since my education wasn’t INTERRUPTED, I completely ignored that section.</p></li>
<li><p>I would suggest you send an email to the admission and explain those circumstances. </p></li>
<li><p>In the common application there is a specific place (in the School Report, I believe) to upload the TRANSLATED and NOTARIZED transcripts. The person who you assigned as “counselor” should upload them straight to the common application. In addition, you need to send the transcripts AND the Bagrut certificate (which should be translated and notarized as well) via regular mail to the admission office. You need to make as many hard copies as the number of schools to which you are applying.</p></li>
<li><p>I honestly have no idea. Contact the admission, perhaps?</p></li>
<li><p>You should translate the “Tofes 106” and send it to the admission (email or fax, I think, check with them). You can do the translation yourself. You might need a bank statement, so just write “We certify that X has (amount) of shekels in the bank…”, but check with the admission whether they need that statement or not.</p></li>
<li><p>Sure, you can write him down as the “counselor”. If the person you assigned as “counselor” is someone else, then I am not sure whether it’s possible.</p></li>
<li><p>Yes.</p></li>
<li><p>Then write them down in the “Additional information” section. Again, the information you upload in that section should not be anywhere close to 500kb (a Word document).</p></li>
<li><p>Rule: ask for a recommendation from someone who knows you WELL. </p></li>
<li><p>This is tricky. I have heard that you are supposed to divide by 100 and then multiply by 4, but I’m not sure whether it’s like that for all grades. By the way, you should write your UNWEIGHED GPA (Bagrut average with NO bonuses), at least that’s the case in the first-year application. (maybe it’s a different story for transfers)</p></li>
<li><p>Leave it blank. The admission officers should have some kind of idea of what the Israeli school system is like. </p></li>
<li><p>I believe that once you explain, they understand. But again, try and ask the admission.</p></li>
<li><p>Well, it’s not really under “Honors”. If you really want to include it, put it in the Additional Information section.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Guys i am also an international student and I need help urgently. PLEASE HELP
1.We do not have counselors in the school what to fill in counselor sections
2.Holidays are going on here and my deadline is very near.Teachers rarely check the mail.what should i do?
HELP HELP HELP HELP HELP
should i make an email for my teachers OR I have lors in hard copy.</p>
<p>^1.the counselor can be your teacher or school principal
2.Try to talk with your teachers,and tell them about your situation,if they agree invite them via commonapp.</p>