<p>Hey I was just wondering what a good average would be for a student applying to Harvard. I'm just really confused since I hear a lot about GPAs but we don't have that system here, we only have percents... Also, do Harvard/other ivy league schools look at your ENTIRE transcript, or do they just look primarily at your grade 12 marks?</p>
<p>If anyone has any other tips for a Canadian interested in Harvard, please let me know.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>since we don't generally calculate GPA's (i'm canadian too), the admissions committee is going to be looking at your entire transcript -not just your grade 12 marks.</p>
<p>american schools generally add 10-15% to canadian grades to account for the difference in the two grading systems (that doesn't mean that if you get 85's you're going to be looked at in the same light as an american kid with a 100% average, however). i think a >90% high school average would be ideal but you could probably swing high 80's if the rest of your app is particulary impressive.</p>
<p>In the U.S., we go by a grading scale 0-4.0. 4.0 is an all a average. Harvard starts looking, the moment you start taking high school courses, whether it be in the 7th grade or the 9th.
;]</p>
<p>OOOff 10-15%??? daaaammnn
Id be getting above 110-115 in math then lol</p>
<p>Woot ottawa,ontario REPRESENTing... Canadians!... first one in my school to apply to harvard</p>
<p>pakalypse they look at all your grades... first semester gr 12 marks after exams...</p>
<p>BigCat, I've heard the same thing - they add 5-10% to your grades.</p>
<p>Ambitiousteen, I'm from Ottawa as well! Do you mind me asking what school you go to? I'm the first from my school to apply south of the border.. a few people have gotten athletic scholarships in the past, but no one has actually applied normally. Quite the exciting, and nerve-wrecking/frustrating, procedure :)</p>
<p>haha as if! im from ottawa too!
repping CB here =) how about you guys</p>
<p>is there a source on the +5-10% thing? sounds kinda ridiculous cuz then i imagine a lot of applicants are going to have over 100% averages</p>
<p>regarding applicants in the past from my school,
last year, ~97 average applicant got wailisted
2 years ago, ~93 average for rejected
3 years ago, 98+ average got accepted</p>
<p>Wow the +5%-15% just made my day</p>
<p>I'm in CEGEP (Quebec post-secondary school) and I have like an 85 average... I was actually wondering how so many members had perfect GPAs, because up here anything over a 95 is pretty much unheard of</p>
<p>^^ yeah same
also i think its important to focus not just on the averages, extracurriculars matter as well.. although i know there arent as many extracurriculars available to canadians, they should also be fairly strong..</p>
<p>Lots of kids from Ottawa...Halifax here.</p>
<p>I submitted my app on Saturday.</p>
<p>I'll be submitting my application to Harvard very soon. I go to school in Ontario and have a 98% average (in my Grade 12 courses, that is). Taking into account every high school course I've taken, my GPA is 4.0. But the grades matter little. I think Canadian students tend to focus (a little too much) on the numbers because most Canadian universities base their admissions decisions the applicant's grades alone. But what matters most when applying to Harvard are your recommendation letters, extracurricular commitments, personal demographics, and essays. That said, <em>nobody</em> should get their hopes up just because Harvard adds 5-10% to Canadian grades; the focus shouldn't even be on one's grades.</p>
<p>whoa seriously? 5-10% boost is huge. borderline ridiculous if it's true. </p>
<p>I'm from toronto. IB program. I'm liking this grade boosting thing :D</p>
<p>well said winnygee; American schools care much more about the student over all than just numbers. I mean yeah, I've got a 98% now too and I imagine a ton of Ontario students alone will have averages in the high 90's so it's really gonna come down to EC's. </p>
<p>Top 3 Ottawa board graduates last year were 99.5, 99.2, 99.0. Last year, of the 30ish Canadian students who went to Harvard, almost 20 were from the GTA. The top graduate in the toronto board is usually around 99.5, but there a much denser cumulative frequency so there's probably nearly a hundred of kids who get 95+. So yeah, can't really make final decisions on the transcript alone. (It's kinda stupid how Canadian schools rely completely on grades yet they don't bother implementing standardized testing) </p>
<p>but on the topic of this boost...
I talked to my guidance counselor today about this boost (he's in frequent contact with all the ivy league admissions officers) and here's what he had to say</p>
<p>-there is indeed a boost
-10-15% is an over-exaggeration
-admissions is done on a regional basis so the boost isn't to make you comparable to American students as the comparison would never be made in the first place
-the boost is to moderate the variance in grading systems across Canada (a 96% in alberta and 96% in Ontario are completely different things; heck, a 96 at my school and a 96 at the school down the road mena completely different things)
-there is probably a 2-3% boost for AP/IB courses to make up for Canada's lack of a weighting system
-additional minor boost for well established schools such as UofTschools or Upper Canada College so that the potentially lower marks due to a much more rigorous curriculum won't make you seem worse</p>
<p>besides, look at this boost from this perspective...remember everything is regional
student A: 98% average -> 108% after 10% boost
student B: 89% average -> 99% after 10% boost</p>
<p>student A still looks way better</p>
<p>if u know the right people anything is possible... i got to merivale high school in ottawa... if i get michael ignatieff to give me a hand ooo man ill be happiest kid alive</p>
<p>Canadianftw, check out my thread in International Forum for more info about the exaggeration thing...</p>
<p>Anyways, you guys with 98 averages.. that's ridiculous :P (and congrats). But I think school ranking counts for a lot, because as Canadianftw said, a 96% at 2 different schools can mean completely different things. Btw my average is low 90's and I'm in the top 3% or better of our 220 or so people class (I'm at a Catholic school in the west end; I don't want to say exactly what school). But I'm hoping our grades look better compared to those people in the States, because over 90 average is pretty much a guaranteed 4.0 GPA?</p>
<p>"regarding applicants in the past from my school,
last year, ~97 average applicant got wailisted
2 years ago, ~93 average for rejected
3 years ago, 98+ average got accepted "</p>
<p>Do you mind saying what their class rank was like? Getting waitlisted with a 97 average sucks (esp. considering that person was at Colonel By, and I'm guessing doing IB?)... unless it's for Harvard haha. But yea if this American thing doesn't work out I want to go to Queens or Dalhousie, more Queens because of their med school.</p>
<p>Where are you Ottawa people applying to? I'm applying to Wash U, Brown, and JHU.</p>
<p>And ambitiousteen, were you writing your SAT subject tests at Queens on the 6th???</p>
<p>Canadianftw, what do you make of the discrepancy between grades from Alberta and Ontario? I applied from Alberta with a 99.7% average, in full IB. Does that mean anything?</p>
<p>100 Canadian: "90 average is pretty much a guaranteed 4.0 GPA?"</p>
<p>i don't think its posisble to translate it cuz like theres discrepancy both ways: -there's a test and you score 46/50, its a A in Canada but A- in the states
-but on the other hand, getting an A on an english essay will enter a 89 in Canada but 95 in the states.</p>
<p>literally, 4.0 gpa is like getting 94 or higher in every single high school course. Thats just not possible depending on the nature of the course or the type of teacher
Last year, the highest course mark in history and law at my school was like 93 so yeah...</p>
<p>as for the applicants...both the 97 and 98 average was top1%...its the highest my guidance counselor will rank us because we don't officially rank. 93 im not too sure what rank he got.</p>
<p>and oh man did u guys have to do that 2 hours drive to queens =/. I did that for my oct SATs...ashbury and their closed door policies...</p>
<p>actually on that note, Tessa from Ashbury 2 years ago got in with 96</p>
<p>@.serenpidity. I don't know how universities will interpret various provinces. I said alberta back there completely arbitrarily =P. But I'm assuming you got predicted like 44 or 45 for your diploma? I'm sure that's kick ass wherever you are =)</p>
<p>"i don't think its posisble to translate it cuz like theres discrepancy both ways: -there's a test and you score 46/50, its a A in Canada but A- in the states
-but on the other hand, getting an A on an english essay will enter a 89 in Canada but 95 in the states."</p>
<p>Yea that's true. I guess rank is also important, and my school doesn't rank either but oh well, it's not in my hands lol</p>
<p>"and oh man did u guys have to do that 2 hours drive to queens =/. I did that for my oct SATs...ashbury and their closed door policies..."</p>
<p>Yup I had the 2 hour drive.. but we stayed overnight haha. But my subject tests in January are at Ottawa U, thankfully.</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone though</p>
<p>I applied early to MIT, JHU-BME, and UChicago</p>
<p>
<p>Top 3 Ottawa board graduates last year were 99.5, 99.2, 99.0. Last year, of the 30ish Canadian students who went to Harvard, almost 20 were from the GTA.
</p>
<p>I don't believe that 20 of 30 were from the GTA (and honestly this entire thread is Ontario-centric). </p>
<p>I know of one girl from Halifax, one from Vancouver and another from Montreal. Are you seriously telling me that I know 3/10 of non-Toronto Canadian freshmen? I mean, there's Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg and Montreal and then rural candidates and us Atlantic Canadians.</p>