Hi I am an International Student from India. I have my 9th, 10th, and 11th grade transcripts ready. Also I have my 12th grade Mid Term transcript. My 12th grade final exams will be held in March 2016. I am applying REA to Harvard. So what do I need to submit before November 1?
Calm down. Relax. Breathe.
If you are lucky enough to be accepted SCEA, you are still required to have your guidance counselor send in your 12th grade Mid-Year Transcript and the 12th grade Final Transcript. Most importantly – your SCEA acceptance is based upon maintaining the same kind of grades in 12th grade that you had during 9th, 10th and 11th grade.
So, at this point, you need to contact a school official to have them upload your 9th, 10th and 11th grade transcript. If you are accepted SCEA, then you need to move forward making sure your guidance counselor sends in the required 12 grade information. But, until then relax and don’t forget to breathe.
But in the Indian Senior Year, the mid term exams are held in September (results come out in September itself) which depict the ending of the 1st semester and the final exams are held in March, the results of which come out in May. So wrt Point 3, will I (my school) still not be required to submit my 12 grade Mid Term Transcript?,…And another question, My school has a counsellor but she’s got absolutely nothing to do with college admissions. So will it be fine if my Principal uploads the transcripts and My principal writes my LOR instead of the counsellor (My Principal knows me better than my counsellor anyways)?,…Thanks for your time Gibby. I really appreciate it.
Your high school is required to submit the Mid-Year report WHENEVER grades have been finalized for the first semester. If your first semester grades have been finalized before the SCEA deadline, then yes, your guidance counselor/principal needs to send in the Mid-Year Report along with your grades from 9th, 10th and 11th grade. The end of year report can wait until March.
Read the link in post #1 from the Common Application, which says any school official may upload your transcript. So, yes your principal can do it.
All right, I now understand that any school official can upload the transcript. But can my principal write my LOR when it says that Harvard requires 1 COUNSELLOR recommendation?
Your principal can write the Secondary School Report (SSR) which is normally filled out by a guidance courser, or he can write you a letter of recommendation – but not both. Harvard requires 3 recommendations in total: 2 LoR’s from teachers and 1 from the guidance counselor. Three letters from three different people.
Does this rule also apply to International students?
That’s a direct quote from one of Harvard’s websites. So, all domestic and international students need to supply a total of 3 recommendations: 2 LoR’s from teachers and 1 from the guidance counselor or principal. Three letters from three different people. If you fail to supply any of the required elements, your file will be considered incomplete and you will not be considered for Admission: https://college.harvard.edu/admissions/application-process/application-requirements.
Oh ok,…Thank You so much gibb. I have one more question if you dont mind answering. Where do I list my achievements on the common app? The closest tab I see where I can list my achievements is “Activities”. But my achievements dont exactly fit into those. For eg, I led my team to InterSchool bronze in chess. Now what do I fill in in the “hours spent per week”?,…I mean, the common app isn’t EXACTLY asking me for my achievements, It is asking me for my activities. I hope I make my point clear.
Chess is the activity. Within the activity it asks for any honors and recognition associated with that activity.
No I understand that it asks for honors and recognition and that I’ll fill like “Led my team to bronze” or something like that in the “Honors and recognition”. But for example in this case, what do I fill in under the “hours spent per week”?
How many hours a day do you play or practice chess? One hour, two hours? Do you practice every day? Or do you practice 3 or 4 days a week? Do you practice chess every week? Do you ever take a vacation week and not practice chess? Estimate the number to the best of your ability. This isn’t rocket science, it’s multiplication and addition.
oh,…ok cool,…Thanks a ton gibby. And I have 6 major achievements in chess. Do I fill up 6 activities for each one of them or do I try to mention them in one or do I mention only the one which is the most imp?,…I mean, the 10 activities don’t have to be all different right?
It’s still one activity under which you can list 6 honors. If it’s that meaningful, use it as the basis for your essay.
No. Nor do you need to fill in all 10 lines. It’s quality over quantity.
Thanks a ton ski and gibby. I have some more queries regarding the app. Does my teacher include the name “Harvard” in the Letter of Recommendation? I have told her I am applying to Harvard but I dont want her to include “Harvard” in the LOR if it is the same LOR that goes to different colleges. That would obviously be a blunder.
Your reading comprehension skills (or google skills) do not appear to be Harvard material. It’s all there on the Common App Instructions for teachers: https://recsupport.commonapp.org/link/portal/33011/33014/Article/172/May-I-personalize-a-recommendation-for-my-student-s
But the email I provide of my teacher is under the “Recommendors and FERPA” in the Harvard tab, not in the Common App. So that means, Harvard is going to be sending the link to the teacher’s mail. Then if I apply to Princeton, Princeton is going to be sending the link and so on. Shouldn’t that leave space for personalization?
And I am sorry for asking these things to you. They may seem trivial to you but I am an international student and I have no friends, seniors, teachers or family who actually know about this stuff. So CollegeConfidential’s the only place I turn to for help. Thanks Gibby and ski for all your help.
Not according to the directions provided by the Common Application.
FWIW: The email you provide in “Recommendors and FERPA” initiates an email to the TEACHER to upload their recommendation. (It doesn’t go to the college.)
I agree with @gibby, the common app is the least of your worries if you can’t figure out the instructions. Hundreds of thousands of international students apply to these elite schools (a large number are Indian) using the Common app.
Things get more complicated after the app.
No it doesn’t; colleges will not be emailing the teachers.
As others have stated, no.