Hi
So I’m currently on my second last year of High school in South Africa. Because I just want to be prepared for the future I started doing some research. I would like to study in the US and one of the requirements are midyear and secondary school report. I’m just confused on whether that refers to your final year exam results and your mid year exam results.
Thank you
Hey Shekinah!
Great to hear that you’re considering studying in the US.
US colleges typically require you to submit transcripts (grades) from your final 4 years of school before high school graduation - this usually corresponds to Grades 9-12 in South Africa.
The midyear and secondary school report are terms used by the Common Application (used to apply to many, but not all colleges in the US) to denote transcripts that should be submitted by your school’s guidance/careers counselor.
Typically, the secondary school report is submitted whenever you apply to your first school - this can be around Nov 1 if it’s EA/ED or could even be as late as Jan 1 if you do not apply EA/ED. The secondary school report contains all of your grades up to that point.
The midyear report is submitted a the midpoint of your final year of high school. However, since you are in South Africa, we are assuming that you are on the Southern Hemisphere schedule. Typically, the midyear report is submitted in January/February AFTER your apply to colleges to update them on your performance. For you, your midyear report will be submitted after your have graduated from high school and will most likely contain all of your final grades.
There is one final submission called the Final Report, but for you this will essentially be the same as your midyear report!
Hope this answers your question!
Yes, it did. Thank you very much! So say I want to apply to an Ivy League college, but my marks during one of my high school years weren’t so great but there was a great improvement moving to the following year. Will they still give my application a second look?
And by submitting my secondary school report when I apply to my first school do you mean grades 9-11 assuming that I apply during my final year?
Great to hear!
Yes, a strong upward trend in grades is always favorable. However, in order to give you a more accurate picture we’d need to see your full academic record!
Yes, your secondary school report would include all of your scores/marks from Grades 9-11 and from part of G12 as well.