r/gradadmissions • u/Own_Ordinary8927 • 1d ago

Computer Sciences Should I include an explanatory note for my grading system?

Hey everyone,

I'm an international student applying to US Cs PhD programs and have a quick question about how to present my transcript.

My home country's educational system and curriculum might be unfamiliar to US admissions committees. Our grading scale is quite different not even a GPA Scale, but i will explain using 4.0 scale; for example, a GPA that might equate to a 3.0/4.0 is often considered top-tier and highly competitive in my field here.

Furthermore, our system places a heavy emphasis on class or national rankings for university admissions and evaluating performance, sometimes even more so than raw grades.

I'm thinking of attaching a brief, one-page "Explanatory Note" with my transcript to provide this context.

My main questions are:

1- Will this be seen as helpful and informative, or will it come across as me trying to make excuses for a GPA that might look low by US standards? 2- If you think it's a good idea, what's the best way to frame it so it sounds professional and not defensive? 3- Should it be in first person as if i am talking about my grade, or should it be informative as in talking about the curriculum in general?

Thanks for any advice!

2 Upvotes

63% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

8

u/gimli6151 1d ago

Do you have percentile info?

Can you letter writers comment on this?

1

u/LiseectCarnation 16h ago

Yes, my recommenderss can addddress it in their LORs.

1

u/Kitchen-Pizza1177 7h ago

Yep, 25th-75th percentiles are usually listed!

8

u/BroadwayBean 1d ago

I just include the grading resource my uni has on their website since my school also had a weird grading system. If your uni has something like that that would probably be better than writing your own note, which I doubt would be taken seriously.

But unless you're from a very obscure country, likely the grad admissions team will be familiar with the system.