<p>I understand that the following is quite long. Please bear with me. </p>
<p>The school counselors at my previous schools (already graduated) seemed quite apathetic to giving me my transcript at all. People don't really apply to the US from here and I suppose it's just more work for them. I still need to get all of my transcripts.</p>
<p>How should I send those to the colleges I am applying to? Here's what I was going to do, if I were to be applying to x colleges. I will use the paper application because my schools don't use e-mail. And it gets a little complicated for my recommendation letters because one of my teachers works in another school...in another country now.</p>
<ol>
<li>Fill in that part of the CommonApp that only applicants should be filling in.</li>
<li>Get my transcripts from each school.</li>
<li>Get my recommendation letters.</li>
<li>Make x photocopies of those.</li>
<li>Have each school stamp the photocopies with their official seal.</li>
<li>Put each set of transcripts (i.e, from all schools) and recommendation letters (from 2-3 teachers) into the envelopes and seal them with the school's stamp. </li>
</ol>
<p>Does that sound about right? If yes, I've got some further questions:
a. Each school's stamp would be on the corresponding transcript but what about the envelopes? Which school's stamp should be on there?
b. Should I ask each of the school counselors to complete the "International Supplement?"
c. What about the counselor recommendation? Do I need one from <em>each</em> school?<br>
d. For my teacher who's now in another country, should I ask him/her to mail my recommendation letters to the colleges I am applying to directly? I am confident that this teacher will write me an excellent recommendation.</p>
<p>Note that I spent less than a year at the last school I went. It is at my first secondary school where I did nearly all of my schooling. All the way till GCSEs and then most of the first year of A-Levels. I only completed them at the school I transferred to.</p>
<p>My apologies for the long thread. Evidently, I am quite confused!</p>
<p>If I were to have to go with my gut, I would do what I outlined above in “1-6”. I would tell the teacher who’s abroad to (sign and) send the recommendation letter to that older school. Then, I would photocopy it and have the copies certified (stamped) by the school. As for the International Supplement, it would be filled in by the counselor at the very last school I went to and I would also ask them to seal all the envelopes. </p>
<p>This sounds correct to me but I could be wrong. I’ve tried to find some sources to confirm that but couldn’t find any! Hence, the thread.</p>
<p>You only need the school report/counselor recommendation and international supplement from your current (or most recent) school. Ideally each institution would seal the envelope of their own documents. The point of the seal is to prevent tampering with the documents - that only works if the applicant never gets to touch them after they were certified by the school.</p>
<p>Okay. I could put the transcripts from each school in an individual envelope, with each one sealed by the school. Each recommendation letter would be in a separate envelope but put together in the same envelope as the school’s document. Then, I’d put all of that in another big envelope that I’ll send to the colleges I’m applying to. Will have x copies of that.</p>
<p>Is that acceptable? That <em>I</em> am sending everything in myself? </p>
<p>What about that other recommendation letter (from the teacher who’s abroad)? Does what I said sound good?</p>
<p>What about my official certificates for GCSEs and A-Levels? Do I need to send photocopies of those with the application or are they only required if a school admits me?</p>
<p>If I do need to send them, should I send my GCSEs with the other documents from the school I did my GCSEs at; same for my A-Levels?</p>
<p>Your GCSE and A-level results should go into the school report. The international supplement to the school report explicitly asks for them.</p>
<p>
That would work, but you don’t necessarily need to seal the teacher letters together with the school report. </p>
<p>I had each document sealed by the person who wrote the document. Meaning: my teachers put their recommendations into an envelope and signed across the back. My counselor put my transcripts and the school report into another envelope, sealed that and put a school stamp across the back. I collected all of those envelopes, put them into an even bigger envelope and mailed them.</p>
<p>Your teacher who’s abroad can either mail those letters directly to colleges, or give it to you and you can send it with the other materials.</p>
<p>I’ve created an account on the CommonApp. When applying to any given college, do I need to do anything with the online account? Or should I just download the forms from the CommonApp website, fill them in and include my CommonApp ID, and then post them? If that’s the case, what really is the purpose of the "Common"App?</p>
<p>Should I staple my transcripts to the school report for each of my high schools? I’m not so sure how to go about that…</p>
<p>The school report and international supplement also asks whether I’m taking any courses this year. Should I cross those lines out? Or write “None?” </p>
<p>For the field which asks which school I currently attended, what should put there? I was gonna go with “None. Completed A-Levels.” Is that okay?</p>
<p>Would it help my case at all if I were to write a school profile for my high school? (the one I spent most years at) The counselor himself asked whether there was any way he could give further information on the school and the opportunities available there, so I figured I could do that. Or do things like that fall under the counselor recommendation?</p>
<p>On that note, would I require counselor recommendations from all the high schools I’ve attended or just the one?</p>