I’m currently a student in a french high school applying to US universities. I’m finished filling out my CommonApp but my only concern is about my Bac Grades.
I feel like my Bac grades do not show my true self. Through out high school and Premiere I got amazing grades but I couldnt get stellar grades for my Epreuves Anticipees. I’m applying to very competitive colleges like Ivies and T20s so I feel like my grades will be detrimental to my application.
My grades:
10- Epreuve Ecrite
15- Epreuve Orale
15- TPE
Am I required to enter these in the Testing>Secondary Leaving Examinations part of the CommonApp? I have no problem sharing the average of these 3 exams. Can I do that? Also, do you guys think that my Bac grades will hurt my application?
Yes your bac grades will hurt your application. Even if you don’t enter them, your prof principal or English teacher or whoever fills out the guidance counselor’s report will have to enter them. You CAN mitigate this a bit 1) if you have a string of 16s for the DNB and enter those too (or ask your GC to) and 2) if your GC can confidently say you’ll get a mention Très bien with likely grades of z in (subject) and y in (subject). I know no one can see the future and an accident can happen but… Barring an zccident, your teacher should be able to say whether a mention TB is within reach or not.
Either enter DNB+BAC or don’t enter anything. Your GC must enter either both dnb+ bac.
Thank you for your reply,
I had good grades on my DNB so I’ll be sure to include those grades. Is there a way where I can only submit the average of these 3 grades of my Bac? (It would be 15)
By saying that the “GC must enter both dnb + bac”, are you saying that the GC has the right to enter only the DNB and leave out the bac ?
They will either expect you to list French and TPE separately or not at all. If not at all, they will wonder why. If aggregated, they will wonder why. In any case your GC will have to list them (with or without DNB).
So, my advice is to bite the bullet and list them, as at least you won’t add “shifty” to your evaluation.
They will look at your grades during the year in relation to your bac and whether your GC can say you were a strong student in literature with, say, a 13 throughout the year but had an ‘accident’ for the BAC. The fact both written and oral grades match would indicate this isn’t an accident though.
All in all though, even with “perfect” (14+) grades odds of an international being admitted to any university or LAC in the top 20 is probably 1in 20 at best.
Find safeties where your sat scores guarantee admissions to the honors college.
@jsnblk: what’s your SAT score? Your “moyenne”? Is your school well-known, an international school…? Are you a recruited athlete? How much can your parents afford?