<p>I am an American student who has spent their entire secondary school education in a French school in France (local, not at all international), and I'm filling out applications. I have a meeting with the person who will serve as my counselor on Friday, and I have to have everything roughly translated. However, I have run into a few issues: </p>
<p>GPA: does the counselor fill this in with my French grade average (on a 20 scale)? There is no way to directly convert my French grade into a US school GPA: the grading system is far too different. </p>
<p>Transcript legend: what does this mean? </p>
<p>Secondary school CEEB/ACT code: would I even have one of these? What would I fill the space with otherwise?</p>
<p>Courses: I obviously don't have AP, Honors, etc. like in US schools. French schools will separate you into three categories (S, ES ,and L), and then you have a number of optional classes. Would I fill this in with S (Scientific), and then add my separate Art, specialty Biology, and advanced Spanish classes as optional courses? </p>
<p>Also, Secondary School in France runs from the equivalent of tenth grade to twelfth grade. Do I still send in my ninth grade report? </p>
<p>Sometimes I feel like I'm swimming in a very dark pool of applications, and the school and I just have to feel through it I'm sure I'll have more technical questions like these, but right now that's all I've got. Any help would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Courses: List all the classes you have taken, with some indication which level they were on. (Feel free to add a short explanation for clarification.)</p>
<p>Do I still send in my ninth grade report?
Preferably, yes.</p>
<p>StripedCandycane–Many college admission officials are quite accustomed to working with international students and with the differences in curriculum, transcripts, etc. So don’t stress about this. Of course, the degree of familiarity will depend on where you’re applying since some college officials have only minimal experience with overseas candidates.</p>
<p>However, since you don’t attend an American school, feel free to urge your counselor to provide not only your transcript and grades but also any sort of more subjective or anecdotal information that might be helpful.</p>
<p>Example: “This high school offers one of the most rigorous science programs in the nation, and ‘StripedCandycane’ has been one of our top science students since enrolling here.” </p>
<p>This is the sort of info that good college counselors in the US routinely include in their letters of recommendation, but overseas counselors aren’t always familiar with this protocol.</p>
<p>Also be prepared to provide a certified translation of all materials that will be in French.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for the replies! I do have a couple more questions, however. </p>
<p>First of all, I already have to push to get my school counselor to fill out forms, so submitting the counselor’s part of the Common App online isn’t going to happen (same for teacher recommendations). However, does that mean that I can’t fill out the Common App online at all? Do I have to send paper copies to all the schools, or can I do half-online and half-offline? How would that work? </p>
<p>Also, I have received “Felicitations” during practically my entire high school life. In France, all teachers meet at the end of a trimester to discuss each student’s performance case by case. For those who they feel have done an exceptional job, they reward this “Felicitations”, which serves no purpose (as far as I can tell) other than to look really good on your report card. Should I list this under “Honors Received”? It would be nice to get some feedback from other people who know what this means in France: I’m a little afraid of qualifying it as an “honor” and being seen as exaggerating.</p>
<p>Yes, it’s fine to list this under “Honors.” Most admission officials who deal with international students–especially those at the more selective colleges–will know exactly what you mean. But, if you wish, you can write something like this:</p>
<p>“Felicitations” (Honored by faculty for exceptional work)</p>
<p>If you know the approximate percentage of students who receive Felicitations each term – and if this number works in your favor --you can also add something like this:</p>
<p>One last quick question: do I have to send in an international supplement even if the school does not specifically require it for internationals on their web site? Or when under the “International Undergraduate Admissions” category they state only “Common Application”, does this imply they need the international supplement as well? </p>
<p>Hopefully this will be my last question. I have everything pretty much wrapped up.</p>
<p>Thank you for helping me avoid expensive telephone calls to universities!</p>