<p>??? I'm interpreting that as your going to strengthen your resume?</p>
<p>How the hell is 63% a B, and how is 83% an A? That's the first thing in my mind, let alone your chances. I don't give a rat's ass if India's courseload is harder than the US's, that's your problem. But if people are applying for seats at US colleges with hyperinflated GPAs, that just ticks me off. That's the problem of international applications, some schools will bring up grades of students just to raise their school's "prestige" levels.</p>
<p>Colleges should set guidelines for percentages and the letters they assign, and not see a "B" which will get a failing grade in some private schools, as a fair impartial grading criteria.</p>
<p>We dont have GPAs here. Why dont you come over here and experience some Indian schooling? </p>
<p>Duke has assigned those grades you download the pdf file from their sites explaining Indian marking system and equivalent grades.</p>
<p>kyzan probably, if you consider that I have my own science magazine launching next month a strength to my resume.</p>
<p>I just thought I'd address Gryffon's concerns.</p>
<p>Frankly, Gryffon, you've nothing to worry about International students compete in a different pool. That being said, the letter grade (B) and the entire grading system ajayc's referring to is that proposed by external evaluators like WES. Indian schools don't use these evaluators and will normally have their own grades. (90-100 being an A, 80-90 a B, and so on). In addition we don't use letter grades that much at all. Our exams and transcripts use marks in percentage form. In addition the top colleges would know about the strange (almost ludicrous in my opinion) manner in which our grades are evaluated by WES, let me assure you that practically every student applying to the top schools in the US would have perfect GPAs by that method of analysis, so they'd judge using the marks and percentages.</p>
<p>In addition, grading, like in the US varies widely from school to school, however all schools are part of either of two central boards (I'm generalizing here), so each student takes a set of standardized examinations in grade 10 & 12 that are externally evaluated by the central board, so those marks are more important/comparable.</p>
<p>As regards school grades, well grade deflation's the norm; for example in English, no one in 20 years of my school's history's ever been given a 90 (until this year :)), including students who have gone on to gain 800s in CR, 800s in SAT Literature and 5s in the APs.</p>
<p>$0.02</p>
<p>That being said, a 63 still isn't particularly good. (and would be graded as a D on the official transcript in my school)</p>
<p>I kind of agree with Brown Man 1987... the international applicant pool is very very tough. However, Ivies are more selective than MITs or Stanfords, so I don't think Princeton should be a problem for you at all. However, it is said for Duke that only about 50% of the students get admitted on merit, legacies and wealth making up for the other 50 %.</p>
<p>As an Indian of US citizenship and plenty of B's (read 60s... I live Delhi and take CBSE) I didn't worry that much about my admission chances, and so far got into 2 excellent colleges. While you are obviously smart, I believe marks here at school have a lot to do with reputation as well. There have been times when I got way more marks that I deserved, and times I got way less than I deserved (according to my paper.) I scored a 3.68 gpa (converted.)
Boards are fair and unbiased, but 12th finals hardly count for US-bound students.</p>
<p>Congratulations for doing so well at school.</p>
<p>k_twin I am not talking about grading by WES that is the grading behind the Official Transcript I got for Class X CBSE.</p>
<p>well that being said, you'll still be evaluated, ajay, based upon your marks not your grades, otherwise they'd be no means to distinguish between a 70 & a 100.</p>
<p>I think you have some amazing accomplishments, like the NASA student involvement project, and the various sites and softwares that you are initiating. Those are some pretty amazing stuff and will make your application stand out. Added with your good marks and high SAT scores, I'd say you have a pretty good chance into princeton.</p>
<p>Well, Gryffon the general high school course load is much more, and tougher here... however I'd say APs require more brains than our general high school level. We do a lot, but not necessarily focus on quality... tests are fairly routine and predictable... it's more about slogging. However, I still believe we have it much harder than average American high school students, MUCH harder... college coursework becomes quite manageable for us later. Also, internal evaluation can be very strict in India. However, SATs are most important. I know a topper in my school got only 1780 on the SAT... you see if that has much value...</p>
<p>Besides domestic applicants are evaluated in a separate pool.</p>
<p>I'd actually disagree/agree with you, (not being very rational am I?) I've seen some AP exams and they're pretty much of an equal/lesser level than our exams (of course that could vary from school to school), although, you are right, in some subjects (especially English), they are a more creative/interesting.</p>
<p>Of course the fundamental difference in our curriculum is that everyone takes the same course/syllabus level (no honours/normal courses), so every student's pretty much at the AP level.</p>
<p>CBSE lends a solid high school foundation. However, scoring high marks in CBSE is not as strong an indicator of your intelligence as scoring a high SAT score or doing well in APs. It is easy, quite frankly, to mug your way to a high CBSE score... that is why in India itself, so many 90ers fail to make it to IIT/DCE/BITS... no offence meant to you as you seem VERY smart by the standards I mentioned (SAT scores). </p>
<p>A lot of good students get marks only by being systematic... by doing previous year questions/model papers... by basically not doing anything else..... they become pretty one-dimensional.... no extracurriculars...</p>
<p>The hardest exam in the world has got to be IIT... do you plan on taking it by any chance?</p>
<p>No we don't plan on taking the JEE. (Not really interested in the IITs :))</p>
<p>The ISC syllabus is slightly better in that regard though. (Not as dependent upon mugging/rote learning and orders of magnitude ahead in English)</p>
<p>How come you didn't get in MIT? I saw your scores... made me feel a lot better about my rejection lol...</p>
<p>Yea, I've heard loads about ICSE... it's a great Board... best of luck in your college admissions and congratulations on getting into Michigan.</p>
<p>IIT sucks! (Indian Inst of Tech) You study for two years like an ass and still f you do get in you are not sure that you will get your choice of major! and if you want to get into IIT you have to neglect your school studies too :( Takes the fun out of your life!</p>
<p>I never considered IIT at all... I'd hate doing that much Phy and Chem.</p>
<p>I dont mind doing phy and chem, but like doing bookish phy and chem for 24 hrs a day is nightmare!</p>