Hello. I am an international prospective applicant from India. I have a few doubts regarding the “mid-year reports” (and the whole grades uploading thing actually). So I will be applying through the common app. Where do the grades have to be uploaded? Does the counsellor upload them? If so, where does he/she upload them? Do they have to send a separate email? Attach the grades and send them by post or is it okay to upload them online?
Furthermore, I gave my term exams (mid-year) in the month of October, and I still haven’t received all of my marks. I also need to get cracking on the guidance counsellor letters of recommendation. So is it okay if I ask the counsellor (in this case the vice-principal) to predict marks based upon the 11th standard marks?
Also, I have had 2 schools until now. I had a high school till 10th grade and now I am attending a junior college after that (11th and 12th grade). What’s the process for 2 schools?
If someone could guide me in the whole recommendation letter and grades/ predicted marks process from start to finish, I would be really grateful! Thanks
The first thing you need to do is add your school counsellor to the Common Application by entering their email address. Once they accept the invitation, they will be able to access the list of colleges you have added to the My Colleges list, and, optionally, your applications.
I’m an IB student from India. The way my school does it is by combining grades from the 9th, 10th, and 11th grades, as well as my predicted grades for my final exams, into a signed and stamped PDF. This gets uploaded as the School Report on the Common App.
In the Mid-Year Report, the counsellor can add your grades for the first semester of the 12th grade, if you have received those already. I had internal exams in November, and those grades were added.
In addition to these two things, the counsellor also has to answer a few questions about class rank, GPA, and where they feel you stand in comparison to your peers. If your school doesn’t have a GPA system or class ranking, they don’t have to submit it. The counsellor then writes a short report about you and your personality, sort of like a short letter of recommendation.
If you ask the vice-principal to predict grades, those would likely be your predicted grades for the final exam, not for the 12th grade term exams.
The process for two schools is fairly simple. You will have to ask your old school to send a signed and stamped declaration of your transcript to your new school, and they will add upload those grades for you. You also have to give details of the school in the Common Application yourself.