Any other GCSE/IGCSE kids have great exams, but bad transcripts?

Student Lounge International Students
1

<p>I managed 9 A* in my final GCSEs, but year 10 term grades were littered with a couple Cs, and I even got one E in year 11(for graphic design, which I HATED and was required to take).</p>

<p>How will this reflect on me for US admissions? Do they put more weight on the final results, or do they essentially just read it like it's a US transcript?</p>

<p>I ask because for the UK and UCAS, where you only put in your final exam grades, I would easily be a candidate for Oxbridge...but I'm wondering if my poor term reports in the past would matter much to Ivy League schools. </p>

<p>Please reply with your experiences/thoughts on this matter.</p>

2

<p>I have the exact the same problem. They do put more weight on the final results, not sure how much though.</p>

3

<p>the exact same*</p>

4

<p>Um…I know this does not help much, but from what I have seen, people with good transcript as a whole tend to have better US admissions chances than people with great or even amazing GCSCs and/or A Levels.</p>

<p>i.e. 80s in all subjects from freshman to senior year>60s and 70s in 9th, and 10th midterms and 90+ in GCSCs and A Levels.</p>

<p>Speaking from experience. Friends of mine got screwed with bad transcripts. Some other friends got decent acceptances from good colleges with good transcripts and decent GCSCs/A Levels.</p>

<p>PS. the 3 people who were ranked 3 highest overall, and had multiple country highest got rejected from 10 places, and are, thus, going to Canada and the UK. The Ivy Leaguers this year had 80s mostly, but consistent throughout the entire high school years.</p>

<p>PPS The US applicants pool from our country is a very close community…so…we know all about each other, even if we haven’t met all the applicants.</p>

<p>Things might be different for your country…</p>

5

<p>I think college admissions do put MORE WEIGHT on the Year 12 Final results.<br>
My opinion…from Year 9, my child’s grades have a combination of As,Bs and Cs but the most consistent one was the English subject where my kid’s strength is.</p>

<p>From Yr 11 my child dropped all Math and Sciences and maintained As and Bs in advanced English and History.
The year 12 final exams results were also consistent plus an award for academic excellence.</p>

<p>SAT and ACT wasn’t very good, highest ACT score was only 33, SAT Math 430, Critical Reading 700 and Essay Score 11. </p>

<p>You can tell from the Maths results that this is where my child’s weakness is, and had this not been dropped in the senior year I’m pretty sure his/her grades will also be littered with Cs and it will not look good!</p>

<p>My point is there’s no reason why you will not achieve high marks on your Finals if the subjects you’re taking are your strengths, depending on what course you plan to take in college, you must have good results in those subjects.
If you plan to become a doctor for example, you must like science subjects and be good at them!</p>

<p>You shouldn’t really worry if you got an E in graphic design, that doesn’t matter unless you intend to take a course in that field. </p>

<p>College admissions are “realistic”, if that’s the right word!
I believed my child was offered a place in the class of 2016 with all the right combinations, also taking into account the essays and school recommendations.<br>
In fact we had a bit of a worry ‘coz there were some negative teacher’s comments like school detentions, etc., between year 9 to 11, but I’m sure the reader will take it as part of growing up! </p>

<p>You should really concentrate more now on your Final year, don’t worry about your past grades as that’s done! </p>

<p>College admissions are looking for a well-rounded person, not just perfect As!</p>

<p>I hope you get my point…just my opinion!</p>

6

<p>Im not sure how the system works but you still have to do you A-levels right? If so I think you will be fine.</p>

<p>Here’s few things you want to consider:

  1. Get close to your counselor or the one sending your transcript. For me, my school knows that all that matters is the final A-levels results and IGCSE. So when I apply, I specifically ask them not to give out my transcript (I failed my math A-level mock test and flunk physics too! <— though thats mostly because of health issues) with the reason that the school should only use my IGCSE and Alevels results as an indicator of how good I am and in lieu of the original transcript.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>IF they still need to send a transcript, take a gap year. I took a gap year so all my results were final. That makes it easier for my counsellor to explain to the admission officer anyway and it makes your application simpler too.</p></li>
<li><p>I hope you maintain your A* throughout your Alevels as well. As for me, I don’t think straight A* will really matter in your Ivy league application (I had 6* for ALevels including general studies) and was rejected by all the Ivies I applied. Perhaps try doing something your really passionate about and do well in, that what they like, having strong passion for sth! </p></li>
</ol>

<p>Anyway good luck.</p>