Our district doesn’t weight GPA’s either. Had the OP moved here the drop likely would have been similar.
Not all colleges look at weighted GPA’s, for that matter. I’m having trouble figuring out how prestige seems to matter so much if prestige isn’t important, also, I believe some of my middle eastern coworkers attended Texas Tech, which surely seems like an option.
I’d bet more people’s lives are wrecked by getting into a top 20 school than by being rejected by one. Candidly, I wouldn’t worry about that.
^the problem is that, right now, we have no idea what OP’s grades were. It sounds like they were not properly evaluated. I’m not talking about weights - I’m talking about the fact a 50% on his school’s scale is a C and a 70% an A, indicating an international scale (and yes, those do exist - in some countries, a 50% is a pretty good grade. In others, middling. In the US, failing). Therefore, for all we know, he has neither 3.1 nor 3.5. That’s why the matter of the transcript needs to be sorted out first.
Prestige, Texas Tech or LAC or whatever, all of that is secondary to having a “correct” transcript.
What says this was ICGSE? Did OP say that? There is tremendous variation in international schooling, just as in the US. When a student transfers in the US, there is no universal sort of obligation to transfer grades ‘as is’ if the level taught was not equivalent. Or if the new hs doesn’t use the +/- system (something some CC kids have run into.)
Much about this thread is confusing and blurred. Afaik, the Texas law is to bring foreign speaking kids to “basic” proficiency. We don’t even know how OP’s skills were rated. Nor what OP’s role in course selection was. ESL would not have put him on the high college track he feels his ME education earned. In fact, the honors he took in the ME would still be rated by adcoms based on the school’s rigor. Lawyer up is premature, as is calling racism.
OP said he earned a 3.6 in his first US high school, then moved to another state, presumably Texas, where the 3.6 was converted. That gpa suggests there were English skills. I am not downplaying the effort.
OP did not say 50% was a C in the ME; he said it was the minimum passing. Or was that the ME or the other US high school?
Didn’t s/he mention straight A/Bs on IGCSE’s though? (Keep in mind that a British B is roughly an American A-, because the scale includes all the letters to G, which is the minimum satisfactory performance score.)
OP mentioned IGCSE’s and A-Levels, the Middle East, arriving in a US classroom with only basic English fluency but fluency in Arabic and French but having learned English in school (so, probably to CEF A2 level). OP also mentioned what amounts to racist bullying from other students, not from the school, when they realized he was Muslim - the school has a responsibility to put a stop to it when/if it is brought to the GC’s attention. The student likely worked in the Middle East, where child labor laws aren’t the same as in the US, but needs to detail whether s/he worked in the US. Problems with grading scales (and the 50% as passing is NOT any US scale I know of) are common for schools that don’t receive many international students but needs to be rectified. American students who get A’s would feel incensed if their A’s were turned into C’s, for instance, due to a system that doesn’t have adequate or correct information. I’m not saying OP has A’s, but right now we don’t know what grades s/he got, what subjects were taken at what level, whether OP attended Middle School in the Middle East and under what type of curriculum, High school in the Middle East and/or US and under what type of curriculum, etc.
All in all OP needs to clarify many things, so hopefully OP will return.
Wow, MYOS, I had to slog thru a few times to find, “3 A* in British A-Levels…”. (Doesn’t that suggest English skills?) At this point, I’ve been struck by the circular and confusing info, the talk of deserving a better GPA on record, a shot at top school, teacher predictions for AP scores, what may be a practice (“home”) SAT and the etceteras. Don’t know what grade in hs, if the SAT is real. Apparently, no AP or subject tests.
If the ME record was strong, did he present an official and officially translated/approved transcript to the current or former US hs? Sorry OP but loose ends here. I know you want the opps you feel you deserve but this is confusing.
Firstly, let me address the above post, what I mean by at home is I have self studied the SAT, secondly, yes, I was my family’s sole support, in terms of work We don’t have a minimum wage back in the country I lived in the ME, I worked for 9 hours a day. To address the British curriculum, I’ve studied 3 AS-Levels, French, Classical Arabic, and pure mathematics. Extended papers. The only thing that was taught in English was pure mathematics which explains why I’m not proficient. In terms of the English class I’ve taken; they’ve given me a very very simple placement test that a 3rd grader was able to do, and I have scored well and got placed in regular class, a pass is indeed considered a C- which is 50, a 55 is C, a 60 is C+, 65 is B-, 70 is B, 75 is B+, 80 is A- 85 is A 90 is an A+, 95 is above the possible grading system and so on.
“when your family does not have bread to break, when your family has an almost completely paralyzed son that you have to take care of all by yourself because your father is screwed up in the brain and your mother is too busy to raise her children, when you work until 1 A.M to provide for your family and work at a rate of three bucks an hour, when you can’t buy any new shoes for years because you know that with the money of that shoe you can feed your family, when the winter comes and the water drips on your head due to having no money to insulate the roof,”
You’re stating that your father has mental illness and your mother is neglectful?
Is this the same father who paid for (or offered to pay for) SAT prep last spring? Are your parents supporting your family now, so that you no longer have to?
Please tell us how much money your family can afford to pay for college.
My father left us when I was 11… and my mother had another 2 children to take care of. My uncle paid for my SAT prep, but I have also self studied the SAT, along with the prep, my parents can’t contribute anything, my uncle will help paying $10,000/year for college for 4 years. At the moment, I do still work.
I have been awarded about $16,000 in government aid ‘fafsa’/including a Gov loan. Here is my plan, if I do not get into a top 20 American university, I’ll go to England that has colleges of my standardized test caliber that are top 20 world, even many ivy leagues don’t make top 20. the cost is about $30,000/year including tuition and living expenses, with Gov aid and uncle assistance I would be $4,000 short which will not be much of a problem as I could start saving. Now, for the jealous haters, I’,m going to a university that your father could not dream of I am very satisfied now, and I will take action for my GPA to be adjusted with accordance to the Cambridge standards.
Thank you all very very much for the extremely helpful tip that got me through the dark tunnel, I appreciate all of the compassion from many of you. My uncle who is a lawyer is going to my school tomorrow and will demand GPA fair adjust,tn or he will pursue legal action, thanks for that idea too!
If you have European citizenship however you’re eligible for the European fees and for a maintenance grant.
In order to apply to British universities, you need 5 AP classes with 5 or (since you have IGCSE’s) 3 “core” AP 5s., or 2 Core + 2 “complementary” and related to the subject you plan to study.
Be aware that you come off as quite abrasive in English.
For someone asking for help, OP, you are not being very gracious and are frankly being quite pugnacious. I’ve been following this conversation and have been very surprised and taken aback by a number of things you have said.
But back to the point… Why is it so important you go to a top 20? There are PLENTY of other VERY respectable and prestigious colleges that are not top 20, and claiming you’re entitled to go to one because of your SAT score is ridiculous. I know several people succeeding greatly in college with jobs lined up already who had a higher SAT and GPA than you have who didn’t attend top 20s.
