<p>I am not going to lie about this. I was never a very good student, in that I never did my best in high school. I was much more interested in questions that we did not cover in any way at school and spent a lot of my time figuring things about life in general. I observed human behaviour a lot and spent a lot of time pseudo-philosophising and writing fiction. Fact that I have ADD didn't help at all either, I suppose. </p>
<p>In spite of that, I was in the top 20-30 of a class of 200 (usually an average mark of ~80%) without doing much and I was happy with that. I didn't complete year 12, transferred to an IB school and re-transferred to an A-Level school, and not feeling challenged in either of the two schools, I decided to do my A-Levels on my own. </p>
<p>My question is as follows: is there any way for me to make this look "acceptable" if not, "good"? If I were to achieve A<em>A</em>AAA-AAAA in maths, physics, chemistry, french and perhaps english lit, would it be okay if I didn't do so well in my last high school year? I was thinking of writing a polite explanation in ~200 words to account for my haphazard last high school years.</p>
<p>The adcoms would be familiar with different syllabuses and year-end examinations (including A-Levels). So, it’s a safe bet to say they are aware of how the London syllabuses focus on the final A-Level grades. If you looked up application procedure(s) at UK universities, you would find that their offers are mostly (if not wholly) based on the final A-Level results alone, and are independent of academic performance at high school.</p>
<p>As you may have guessed, I did the A-Levels - seeing as my country does not offer other programs at high school. Obviously, my school transcripts would not represent my best efforts; although I was ranked first in school (not officially reported) and had the highest A-Level average in the country.</p>
<p>I can let you know how my app turns out come March. Here’s hoping us A-Level students get a shot. Also, consider emailing the admissions office, explaining your situation. They would be best equipped to provide you with a straight answer. Good luck.</p>
<p>I’m not certain about your school, but at mine (and many students from elsewhere), most didn’t really care about school tests. Sure, we tried but we all knew that the final grade mattered the most.</p>
<p>Yes, they give out conditional or unconditional (in case grades are already achieved) based on A-Levels alone. My big “concern” is really how they would consider an applicant who dropped out of high school to do it on his own. I was thinking that if I pull it off, it shouldn’t be a problem, no?</p>
<p>I’d suggest you ask the admissions office directly. Saw your post (on the Stanford thread was it?) and as one of the replies assumed, you may perhaps be considered a home-schooled applicant?</p>
<p>Maldives here btw. No one from my country to my knowledge has applied or gained admittance to a Caltech caliber university (edit: for undergrad) in the US. It’s always England or elsewhere because we do A-Levels. And most here do not take school papers seriously either. Far as I know, a classmate who dropped out mid-11th grade was admitted to a UK university after he did his A-Levels privately. I have no experience with admissions in the US in this regard.</p>
<p>Yeah, I’ll probably have to fill in the home-school supplement or whatever.</p>
<p>There have been a few from here who went to MIT, Yale and Princeton over the past 5 years. Those are the ones I know of, at least. Apparently, there’s been more.</p>
<p>What were your grades like? Good luck with everything, eh! My O-Levels were okay, one 1, three 2s and three 3s. Gave the A-Levels a go a few months back and they were craptastic. :$</p>
<p>Thanks. A-Levels were okay. All A’s with ~99% across the subjects. And a B in a compulsory local subject that has about twice the content of A-L Biology to memorize. It’s not hard with a bit of revision and past papers. You can ace them between now and the June exams if you’re sitting them.</p>
<p>Good luck again. And let us know how it turns out yes?</p>
<p>Damn, that is excellent man! Do let me know if you get in <em>anywhere</em>. I will do likewise for the A-Levels and uni. I am guessing you will be applying for financial aid as well? Did you win Olympiads and such or…?</p>
<p>I’ll PM you then. When you’re from a place like mine, finaid is possibly the one factor that keeps on building hurdles on an otherwise laid out path. It is unfortunate but no, we do not have Olympiads or other such competitions here. Or the opportunity to partake in international ones. The A- (and O-) Levels are just about the only way to distinguish one from the other academically.</p>
<p>Sounds like a fun place*. Math 1 shouldn’t be a problem because I will be doing Apostol (or Spivak) soon (by the end of the year), Caltech or not.</p>
<p>I have a somewhat blurred memory of that thread.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>*I have no “peer” who likes math/physics to the extent I do. Everyone studies science to go into engineering or medicine.
Looks like fools such as myself could have a shot at a social life at a place like this. I wonder if they have a Spider-Man society…</p>
<p>Each year British students get admitted, and all they have at admissions time are the AS and GCSC scores and “predicted” A level/Pre-U results. (in some courses they may had some A level module scores too…) </p>
<p>I assume the maths are Further Maths? The number of A levels you took is impressive. If you scored a number of A*s along with some As for the amount of A levels you took, that will make a statement about how you have turned things around as a student. </p>
<p>As my CC name suggests, my son was an Etonian, and Caltech, nor any other uni, ever asked to see Eton’s internal trial scores, nor were they discussed in the Tutor’s letter, thus I should think that Caltech will view A levels on their own.</p>
<p>Of course, there is a different question that your posting brings up–why did you continually switch, not only schools, but types of programs? Will you therefore fit into a traditional collegiate setting or will you also have wanderlust once enrolled?</p>
