How to Explain Your Grading Scale to US Colleges
MIT, Stanford, Princeton and Penn say do not convert marks to a GPA. How a school explains its grading scale to US colleges: legend, Common App fields.
How to Explain Your Grading Scale to US Colleges
Do not convert. Explain. MIT, Stanford, Princeton and Penn each say in writing that they read marks on the school's own scale. The Common App lets a student pick "none" for GPA scale. What a US reader needs is a one-paragraph transcript legend written by the school: the scale, the passing mark, the highest mark awarded, and which marks come from an exam board.
Our view: a homemade 4.0 conversion makes a number the reader has to distrust, because nobody can check how it was made. A legend gives the reader the facts to place the mark themselves. This page is for the counselor, principal or teacher who prepares the transcript. If you are the student, the Common App step-by-step guide for international students covers what you type into your own application.
Every college and Common App page quoted below was checked on October 30, 2026. The Common App School Report wording is from Common App's School Report PDF, marked © 2026 (file created July 2026). The form names no cycle year, so we read it as the 2026–27 version.
The short answer: leave the marks on their own scale
Four colleges, in their own words:
| College | What its international page says |
|---|---|
| MIT | "We do not try to convert your grades to the American system, or to find other sorts of equivalence." (MIT) |
| Stanford | "There is no need to have your marks converted into an American Grade Point Average (GPA)." (Stanford) |
| Princeton | "We also do not expect you or your school to provide a conversion or grade-point average (GPA) if this is not a standard practice provided by your school or education system." (Princeton) |
| Penn | "No, international transcripts do not need to be evaluated by a third party and applicants grades, GPAs, and test scores should not be recalculated." (Penn) |
Two reasons sit behind this. MIT says its readers "are trained to understand the educational system in your part of the world", and Columbia says "All applications are reviewed by region." And Princeton says a transcript "is evaluated within the context of your educational system and school curriculum." A converted number strips out that context.
The countercase: if your school already calculates a GPA as standard practice (some US-curriculum international schools do), report that GPA as the school issues it. Princeton's wording only lifts the expectation "if this is not a standard practice provided by your school". What you should not do is invent a GPA for one student because a form has a GPA box.
Graduate admissions works differently, and some graduate forms do ask for a conversion. For that case see MBA GPA: should you convert foreign grades?
What goes in the Common App GPA and rank fields
There are two sets of fields: the student's Education section and the counselor's School Report.
The student's side. Common App's High school details information sheet (dated September 2026) says the GPA scale "appears as a drop down menu in the application, with options of 4 through 20 and 100. If your school doesn't calculate a cumulative numerical GPA, or if it uses a GPA scale that is different than the options available, select "none". This information is not required in the application." If your school calculates both weighted and unweighted GPAs, it says "students should report the weighted value."
The sheet is meant to be filled in by the school and handed to students. Do that. It stops thirty students from guessing thirty different ways.
The counselor's side. The School Report asks "Do you report GPA? If you answer no you do not need to complete the other questions in this section." Its class-rank question offers "Exact", "Decile", "Quintile", "Quartile" and "None". Two GPA-section fields are the ones a non-US school most needs: "School's passing mark" and "Highest grade/GPA in class". The School Report guide for international schools covers how to answer them when your school does not report a GPA.
Scale by scale: what US colleges ask each system to send
The colleges above name specific exam systems. The table lists what each college page asks for, then what your legend should state. We do not print pass marks or grade boundaries for these systems: they are set by the awarding bodies, and your legend should quote your own board's current rules rather than a number copied from another site.
| System | What colleges ask for (source) | What your legend should state |
|---|---|---|
| CBSE / ISC and other Indian boards | MIT wants external results such as "CBSE" on the transcript; Princeton names "national leaving exams such as Std X/Std XII in India"; BU requires "predicted results" for "CBSE/ISC" | Which marks are school marks and which are board marks; the board's pass mark; whether Class 11 and 12 school exams are internal |
| IB Diploma | Harvard expects "predicted grades" and says final results arrive "in mid-July"; the School Report has an "IB Diploma or Career-related Programme candidate" box | That marks are per-subject on the IB scale; how predictions are set; whether school marks differ from IB predictions |
| A levels and IGCSE | Princeton names "IGCSE, British A-Level"; Harvard expects "final A levels results by mid-August" | Which board; which subjects are AS and which A level; how predictions are set |
| French Baccalaureate | MIT and Columbia name it among required external results | The scale your school reports on, its passing mark, and which marks count toward the bac |
| Any national leaving exam | Columbia: results "must be submitted if they are required to complete and graduate from secondary school"; Penn: "submitted by either your school or the appropriate testing agency" | Exam name, when results come out, and who will send them |
The common thread is two sentences every legend needs: which marks are yours and which are the board's, and when the board's marks arrive. Every college in the table asks about external results in some form. For the timing problem after admission, see board exam results after US college admission. For predicted grades from the student's side, see predicted grades on the Common App.
The legend: a paragraph the school writes once
The Common App School Report tells the counselor to "attach the student's current or most recent official transcript, including courses in progress and a transcript legend." The legend is a school document. Write it once a year, print it on the transcript or on page 1 of your school profile, and send the same text for every student.
NACAC's school profile guide explains why it matters: "Absent detailed information about a school's grading system, colleges may be prone to draw conclusions on their own."
Constructed example: a transcript legend for a 10-point school
Constructed example, written by us, not a real school's legend. The school and its policies are invented.
Transcript legend, Hillcrest Secondary School (fictional) Subjects are marked on a 10-point scale in steps of 0.5. The passing mark is 5.0. A mark of 9.0 or above is rare: in the 2025–26 school year it was awarded in 4% of Grade 12 subject results. Marks are set by teachers and are not curved. The final-year national examination is set and marked by the national examinations board; its results appear in a separate column and are released after US admission decisions. Hillcrest does not calculate a GPA and does not rank students. A grade distribution for the graduating class is on page 1 of our school profile.
Why each sentence is there:
- "10-point scale in steps of 0.5" tells the reader that 8.5 and 9.0 are neighbours, not far apart.
- "passing mark is 5.0" answers the first question a US reader asks of an unfamiliar scale. It matches the School Report's "School's passing mark" field.
- "9.0 or above is rare" with a share does the work a conversion pretends to do, honestly. Only use a share your school has counted.
- "set by teachers", "not curved" separate internal marks from board marks.
- "released after US admission decisions" explains an empty column before anyone asks.
- "does not calculate a GPA and does not rank" stops the reader looking for numbers that do not exist.
The legend body is 101 words. Keep yours under about 150, so it fits at the foot of a transcript.
When the student should explain grades themselves
The school's legend explains the school. The student explains only what happened to them. For the student:
- Do use Additional Information for a personal fact the transcript cannot show: a school change, a board switch, an illness in one term.
- Do not re-explain the school's scale. If the legend is on the transcript, a student's paragraph repeating it spends words on something the reader already has.
Constructed example: a board switch in Additional Information
Constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant statement.
I moved from a state-board school to Hillcrest at the start of Grade 11, when my family relocated. Hillcrest marks on a 10-point scale; my Grade 9 and 10 marks are percentages from my previous board. The two sets of marks are on different scales and should not be compared directly.
That is 51 words. It names the change, when it happened and what it affects. It does not try to translate one scale into the other. Our guide to Common App Additional Information has more on what belongs in that box. Indian students reporting board marks have a specific walk-through in how to report CBSE marks on the Common App. Other student-side guides are in the Common App essays hub.
A five-step check before transcripts go out
- Legend on the transcript: scale, passing mark, highest-mark context, internal versus board marks, no GPA or rank statement if true.
- Same legend on the profile, word for word.
- High School Details sheet filled in with "none" for GPA scale if the school calculates no GPA, and handed to every applying student.
- School Report fields consistent: "Do you report GPA?" answered the same way the sheet tells students; passing mark and highest grade filled.
- Exam timing stated: when board or IB/A-level results arrive and who will send them.
If one of the five fails, fix it before the first School Report is submitted. Each one is written once and reused for every student.
Questions about explaining grading scales to US colleges
Do US colleges convert percentage marks to a GPA?
MIT says it does "not try to convert your grades to the American system". Penn says grades and GPAs "should not be recalculated". Neither asks the school or student to convert.
What should a student choose for GPA scale on the Common App if the school has no GPA?
"None". Common App's sheet says to select "none" if the school doesn't calculate a cumulative numerical GPA or uses a scale not in the dropdown, and that the information "is not required in the application."
Who writes the transcript legend, the school or the student?
The school. The School Report asks the counselor to attach the transcript "including courses in progress and a transcript legend." Students explain only personal circumstances.
Should we use a credential-evaluation service?
Penn says "international transcripts do not need to be evaluated by a third party", and Stanford says it "does not partner or work with paid agents or credentialing services." Check each college's page; none of the four above asks for one. UC and Berkeley publish the same rule for their own application; the country-by-country version is in UC application grades for international students.
If a college asks you to self-report grades, enter them exactly as printed; see the STARS self-reported transcript guide.
Get a free review of your Common App essay
Get a free Quick Review of your Common App Additional Information section against GradPilot's Additional Information rubric. It checks whether a note supplies the context a reader needs and shows the extent and timing of a change, which is what a board-switch note has to do. The 650-word essay has its own Common App personal essay rubric, and the Common App essay review page explains how the review works.
Sources
Retrieved October 30, 2026.
- MIT Admissions, International Students: no conversion; readers trained by region; external exams on the transcript.
- Stanford Undergraduate Admission, International Applicants: no GPA conversion; no paid agents or credentialing services.
- Princeton Office of Admission, International Students: no conversion expected; record read in context; named external exams.
- Penn Admissions, International Applicants: no third-party evaluation or recalculation; who submits external exams.
- Columbia Undergraduate Admissions, International Applicants: review by region; external results required for graduation.
- Boston University Admissions, International Applicants: predicted results for exam-based curricula.
- Harvard College, Application Requirements: IB and A-level predicted and final results timing.
- Common App, High school details information sheet (September 2026): GPA scale dropdown and "none".
- Common App, School Report (PDF, © 2026, read as the 2026–27 form): transcript legend; GPA, rank, passing-mark and highest-grade fields; IB Diploma box.
- NACAC, Best Practices for Developing a School Profile (April 2020): grading-system information.
- Not used: the IB's own assessment pages returned a bot-verification page on October 30, 2026, so this page quotes no IB scale details.
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