How to Submit Foreign High School Transcripts to US Universities
By Muntasir Minhaz • Published Aug 19, 2026
US universities need your official secondary school transcript sent straight from your school or exam board, plus a certified English translation if the original is in another language. Some also want a course-by-course credential evaluation from a NACES-approved agency, especially outside the Common App.
📩 Official means sealed and sent directly by your school, exam board, or a service like Parchment, not just uploaded by you
🎓 A certified translation must be word for word, never a summary
⏱️ Order translations and evaluations weeks ahead, agencies need processing time
What counts as an official transcript
An official transcript arrives directly from your school, ministry of education, or exam board, sealed in an envelope with a school stamp and signature, or sent electronically through a verified school channel. A copy you scan and upload yourself counts as unofficial. Most colleges accept an unofficial copy for the initial application review, but require the official version to arrive before you enroll.
Certified translations
If your transcript is not in English, you need a certified word-for-word English translation alongside the original document, not a summary or a rough version you write yourself. The translation should also explain your school's grading scale, since a numeric or letter system that means nothing to a US reader on its own needs that context attached.
Your school can sometimes issue this translation directly. Otherwise a professional translation service handles it, often as part of the same package as a credential evaluation.
When you need a NACES credential evaluation
Some universities, particularly ones outside the Common App network, require a course-by-course evaluation from a member of the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES) , such as WES or ECE. This converts your grades, diploma, and credit hours into their US equivalent.
NACES members offer two report types. A general or document-by-document report states only that your diploma equals a US high school diploma. A course-by-course report lists every subject you took with a converted grade and credit value, which some universities need for course placement or credit decisions.
How the Common App handles international schools
The Common App does not require a NACES evaluation on its own. It asks a school official to complete a School Report, and if your school does not use standard letter grades, it asks you or your counselor to explain your grading scale directly on the form.
Individual colleges can still add their own evaluation requirement on top of what the Common App collects, so check each school's international applicant instructions separately.
Electronic delivery options
Most universities now accept official transcripts electronically, through a service like Parchment or a signed, stamped PDF a school official emails directly to the admissions office, not one you forward yourself. Postal mail is still an option, and stays the only route for schools without a digital transcript system. Build in extra weeks for international post if you go this route.
Documents evaluators typically ask for
A credential evaluator usually needs your diploma or leaving certificate, your full academic transcript covering every year of secondary school, and for a course-by-course report, a course description or syllabus if your subject names do not clearly match a US equivalent. If you sat a national or international exam board, such as the International Baccalaureate, A-Levels, or a national leaving exam, include the official results certificate alongside your school-issued transcript, since evaluators treat the two as separate documents.
Exam boards and school-leaving systems vary by country
Every country records secondary education differently, and a US admissions office relies on you and your school to explain that record clearly. Some systems, such as A-Levels or the IB, issue a separate results certificate months after the school itself issues its transcript, so plan to submit both once each becomes available.
Other systems bundle a national exam score directly into a single school-leaving certificate. Contact your school's guidance counselor or examinations office early to confirm what documents it can send directly and what you need to request from a separate exam board.
If your school cannot send documents electronically
Not every secondary school abroad has access to a digital transcript service. If yours does not, ask a school official, not you as the applicant, to place the official transcript in a sealed envelope, sign or stamp across the seal, and mail it directly to the admissions office, or scan and email it directly from the school's own official email address. Some universities also accept a transcript a NACES evaluator sends on your behalf once it has completed its evaluation, which can substitute for a second direct mailing from your school.
Order everything early
Certified translations and NACES evaluations take real processing time once an agency receives your documents. Start the request as soon as you decide where you are applying, not after you notice a deadline is close. A transcript stuck in translation or evaluation on your deadline date can hold up an otherwise complete application.
Do not convert your own GPA
Report your grades exactly as your school issued them, on your school's own scale, rather than converting them yourself into a US-style 4.0 GPA on your application. Admissions offices and NACES evaluators handle the conversion using their own established methods, and a self-converted number you invent can create a mismatch with your official transcript that raises a flag instead of helping your file. If an application form asks for a GPA and your school does not use one, note your school's actual grading scale in the space provided or an additional information section rather than guessing at an equivalent.