<p>Hi, I am a student with a dual citizenship for the US, and I live in the Caribbean. In my secondary, school, most of the students here get around 50's-60's, because my school marking systems are extremely hard, but when it comes to the official exams, CXC/CAPE, we usually do the best in the country. The thing about it is that, how will the admissions staff interpret our transcripts. I'm recalling an incident, in which another student from another school got 90's + in all his report books but when he did the test he got a B, and I got an A in my additional mathematics exam (Additional Mathematics- Cambridge) getting 50's - 60's in my end of term exams. So I'm really worrying about how my transcripts will be. Will they use the standardised test results instead, such as CAPE, CXC and SAT's instead as the main thing for admissions. Plus, we don't class rank or do class %'s/</p>
<p>American schools often include what is called a school profile, which would explain grading practices. Your school counselor can also include that information in a letter. Schools are all so different, that your problem may not be as unusual as you might think. Good luck.</p>
<p>Thanks MD Mom, another thing is that, at one term 75% of their students failed end of terms maths exam, so I’m wondering if I should tell my counselor to include things like these stories and anything like that</p>
<p>I would not worry about what the other schools are doing. Just have the counselor address the rigor of your school and the average grades for your school’s students.</p>
<p>I agree that your counselor’s evaluation and comments will be important for your application. Do students from your school typically apply to top American universities? If your school has had applicants to Hopkins before, odds are that whoever reads Caribbean applications has heard of and knows a little bit about your school.</p>
<p>Yes, but I don’t really know if anyone is applying to Johns Hopkins from my school.</p>