<p>Hello. I'm currently a senior in a Belgian high school. I've been working on college applications for a few weeks now and I have a question about sending my highschool transcript to any schools.</p>
<p>First of all, how should it be presented? Should I just submit a translated version of my report cards for 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th grades? They're organised in the following fashion: There are two types of grades : "formative" which are points obtained during the school year on various tests, and what they call in french "certificative" which are mainly exams.</p>
<p>The former grades count for 20% of the total annual grade and the exams count for 80% (this is pretty specific to our school). The 'report card' is organised in columns and clearly seperates formative and certificative grades. The formative are also seperated by trimester.</p>
<p>Secondly, how do I have to send the transcript? Electronically or by mail?</p>
<p>Thirdly, do they have to be received before application deadline, in which case, do I send grades for the first half of my senior year?</p>
<p>Sorry for the detailed explanation of the grading system but I want to make sure I get an accurate response.</p>
<p>Since your report cards are the only official record of your grades, like in Australia, you should send those, photocopied, as I did. However, you will need to have them translated by an official translator - that could be a school dean or teacher. If you think the officers in the university will have understanding the report card, you should provide a short explanation, as you did here, of the difference between formative and certificative. </p>
<p>I sent the transcript via mail, but the school included with it other documents like teacher evaluations, so in the end it was one single envelope with everything inside.</p>
<p>If your complete grades are not available at the time of submission, don't worry. Send in what you have so far (a half-year report) and you will be allowed to later send in the full grades when they are available. That's if your college will announce its decisions after they are available. To be sure, contact the Dean of Admissions' office.</p>
<p>You are doing well and I know how hard it is for us internationals. But once you get the first application sorted, the others will be easy for you.</p>
<p>Oh, and welcome to CC. I hope you find it useful to you!</p>
<p>Make sure translation is done correctly, i.e. if the grade on your report card says 5, it should be translated as 5, and not converted to A. You're only doing the translation, not interpreting your grades, and 5 or point grades are the same in any language.</p>
<p>Thanks for the support. Ok so, I'm going to get my report card translated by a language teacher here at the school. After that I can get the translation certified by the people that work at an advising center here in Belgium. They help Belgian students go to school in the States.</p>
<p>I'll mail my report as soon as I get my mid-term exam results. The problem is that I'll probably receive them around the 20th of December and some application deadlines are in early January. Is it ok if the university gets the main application before the deadline and the transcript a little after? I'm not sure if the post will deliver that fast.</p>
<p>One more thing. My maternal language is English and I lived in the States till I was ten before moving to Belgium. The problem is I obviously won't have a high school diploma from an English speaking school. Do I have to take the TOEFL or will a high score in Critical Reading and Writing be enough.</p>
<p>I see your dilemma. Your native tongue is English but the language of instruction at your school isn't. I'm not sure what the procedure here is; I know that if English is your foreign language and you don't use it natively at school, you have to take the TOEFL. You should contact the admissions dean about whether you should take it or not.</p>
<p>Ok, I'll get in touch with the deans of the different schools i want to apply to. I know for a fact that some are happy with sufficiently high sat CR and Writing scores, but I'm not sure for others.</p>
<p>What about sending I my transcript, will it arrive on time? See above.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Thirdly, do they have to be received before application deadline, in which case, do I send grades for the first half of my senior year?
[/quote]
Send your initial application without first-term senior grades if that would interfere with the deadlines. Most colleges will want to be updated about your grades once you get them; if you are using the Common Application, you would use the Midyear School Report form.</p>