moon05

Hello everyone,

I am not asking for any answers, today I need your help collecting QUESTIONS.

Here's the thing - I'm a volunteer at the American Center (EducationUSA) here in Bangladesh. Me and a couple of my volunteer friends have been thinking of creating a FAQ software which will have the answers to international students’ queries who're willing to study in the United States. I've been assigned to type a whole list of FAQs related to the sections "Recommendation Letters" and "Transcripts".

What I'm looking for now are the most commonly and frequently asked questions which we hear from international applicants every now and then regarding "Recommendation Letters" and "Transcripts".


If you have any contributions to make, please go ahead. All of your inputs will be highly appreciated.

(I know that recently there was a similar post, he is one of my friends working in this project)
Thank you

b@r!um

What if my teachers don't speak English - can I translate the letters of recommendations myself? Can I translate my transcripts myself too? How can I help my teachers write American-style letters of recommendation if they do not know what is expected?

Which grades do colleges want to see? Should I report external exam results (e.g. GCSEs and A-levels) too?

Should I convert my grades? If so, how? If not, can I still indicate an approximate grade equivalence? How do my home grades correspond to US grades? How do I compute a GPA?

If you are covering the whole school report and not just transcript, you might also want to say something about the "school profile" that counselors are supposed to upload with the school report on Common App. What is its purposes and how do I make one?

EducationUSAtips

Hello Moon5. I am sure the advisers at the American Center in Dhaka would welcome your support in this effort. Just a quick suggestion. We already have a series of over 240 FAQs we've developed over the years that will give you a good starting point: EducationUSA - FAQ

Kakaouko

How does my counselor send my transcript in? Is there any other way than by slow mail? (btw, does somebody know the answer to this? I'm struggling with that one...)

b@r!um

If you are applying online and your counselor chooses to complete the secondary school report online, you can upload a pdf version of your transcript. Otherwise, it's snail mail.

ohitskayleigh

What if my country doesn't use the transcript system what information do I have to give them?

How to convert my grades to the GPA scale?

katliamom

You don't convert the grades - the university to which you apply will do that.

moon05

Thanks to everyone who posted a question...

@ b@r!um: thank you for all these questions. I think I know the answers of all of them. But if I forget I will just ask them...

@EducationUSAtips: thanks for the help. The FAQ collection is really awesome. It certainly will help me. I wonder how come I didn't know about that! I guess I'm just busy in choosing colleges with my adviser here at EducationUSA...

b@r!um

You are welcome!

Just to be precise, what I really should have said was, "YOUR COUNSELOR can upload a pdf version of your transcript through his Common App account."

happymomof1

Love the FAQ Archive! Boy is this an improvement over what we had to work with back in the '90s at the AVAA in Caracas!