I’m currently an American student studying @ a prestigious + competitive high school. Unfortunately, I took some wrong turns through my HS career and ended up with an abysmal GPA, though my performance on the SATs are satisfactory. I was led to believe UK universities don’t look @ GPA, which would make applying for those my best chance of getting into a competitive institution.
I’m currently looking at:
University of Edinburgh
University of Glasgow
King’s College London
I’ll be applying for the Business Management course in the aforementioned universities.
My stats:
GPA: ~2.0 (will definitely graduate though)
SAT-R: 1420 (720 English, 700 Math)
SAT II World History: 700
SAT II Biology: 740
SAT II US History: 700+ predicted
SAT II Math I: 700+ predicted
SAT II Literature: 700+ predicted
I additionally have pretty formidable extracurriculars relevant to Business Management.
Glasgow is lower at ABB - BBB but Kings wants A*AA.
You are very likely to be offered a place but it is likely conditional on your next set of SAT Subject Tests, as you only currently have 2 and they want 3. They WILL look your GPA and SAT score too, they won’t totally discard it. Will they be more lenient because of your American dollars? Maybe…
I heard Edinburgh doesn’t look @ high school transcript… are you certain they look @ GPA? If they see my 2.0, I might as well use the UCAS spot on another university.
SAT score of 1290+ (650+ in Evidence based reading and Writing and 620+ in Math) plus two AP scores at 4+ or two SAT subject tests at 650+
Ofc, that just makes the OP ‘competitive’ - it doesn’t guarantee a place.
Where Edi’s standard offer is AAB for Business Management, King’s is A*AA, which translates to 720, 700, 700 in three SAT Subject tests and 1380 in the SAT-R, with a minimum of 620 in Maths and 650 in Evidence-Based Reading and Writing in one sitting.
As @CollegeMamb0 pointed, out for either of these, any offer would definitely be conditional.
Glasgow is AAB, which they align with SAT: 1280 AND 2 SAT subject tests (in relevant subjects): 600+
OP, I don’t know what your ‘wrong turns’ were, and I love a good come-back story, but just in case it is relevant: if your academic issues had to do with self-discipline or motivation, be sure that maturity has worked it’s magic and you have sorted that out. The UK system is unforgiving: most or all of your grades will be based on a single end of year cumulative exam in each class you have taken.
While the GPA per se is not considered, don’t forget you need a teacher recommendation, which may well draw on your past study practices. So select carefully!