Many international students who are hoping to attend U.S. colleges and universities worry that American admission officials won’t understand their transcript from a foreign high school.

If you’re applying to a U.S. institution that routinely admits international applicants, and if you come from a country that commonly sends students to America to attend college, your fears are probably unfounded.

And even if you are aiming for a lesser-known college in the U.S., or if your home nation is one that many Americans might have trouble finding on a map, you can rest assured that the admission folks who evaluate your transcript will make every effort to understand how it may differ from the more familiar domestic ones.

However, if you’re concerned that the admission committees at your target colleges may not fully understand the grading system in your country (or the education system overall), you should feel free to submit a brief explanation (in English, of course) that emphasizes the key differences.

You might also want to take a look at this pdf booklet, “Evaluating Foreign Transcripts: The A-Z Manual,” which was produced by the New York City Department of Education but is also used by many college officials throughout the U.S.

And if you think that the information herein doesn’t accurately clarify your own high school grading system, be sure to point this out to admission officials when you apply. You may not be able to convince them that a “Fail” you received in algebra was actually a good grade , but, in some instances where you suspect confusion, you should at least spur them to take another look.