<p>I had a 9.2 cgpa in my 10th (my school was very strict and there was no grade inflation unlike most other schools)...however I made up for it by scoring 96% in my 11th with full scores in physics,chemistry and maths. So,my question is with my 11th grade marks,should i really consider my 10th grade marks as a major drawback?</p>
<p>Although a 9.2 is poor, you shouldn’t worry too much because as you said, it was school based. Had it been board based, they certainly would have questioned your academic prowess. Just think about it, why should they admit you in place of an ICSE guy who can speak fluent English and whose curriculum is recognized by Cambridge, Oxford and the like?
Colleges don’t have a real feel of a student’s academics w/o his board exam results, so they play a very vital role in admissions because 12th grades are yet to be released.
I think it can go both ways (i.e)
- colleges would think that because the exam was school based and not standardized, it may have been graded stingily.
OR - they may think that despite the prevalent grade inflation, you couldn’t score a >9.5 meaning that you’re an even poorer student.</p>
<p>The likelihood of the latter happening is much greater. However, the good news is that you can prevent it by convincing them that your school doesn’t inflate grades like the rest of schools. The bad news is that it would be really hard to convince them so, given the corrupt reputation of India. I think you should ask your recommendation writer to subtly hint that your school is very competitive academically and doesn’t engage in grade inflation.</p>
<p>@peepingtom but they ask for class rank don’t they,my rank wasn’t so bad…it was top 10,everyone in my school did bad…we’re one of the best known schools in my state and consistently churn of CBSE 12th zonal toppers in all streams. And also would a 2300+ at SAT make them overlook that deficiency in my application?</p>
<p>That may be true bud, but they don’t do that much research on each applicant’s school. They have a hierarchy for Indian schools that looks like this:
Cambridge or IB Schools > CISCE Schools (ICSE and ISC) > CBSE schools > State Board Schools.
Is your school famous throughout the country or produced Olympiad medalists?
SAT will enter you in the ballpark but not necessarily help because you’ll be competing with fellow Indians with exceptional SAT scores, lots of 2400s and even more 2300s. Remember, selective schools turn down more than 80% of 2300s!
What you really need to do is stand yourself out by excellent recs, activities and being on top of the whole admissions process. Do some research about how the process works and read some admissions books for brutal honesty.
In the end, it’s your essays, recs and activities that get you in, not your academics or SAT/ACT scores.</p>
<p>@peepingtom oh yes my school has produced several olympiad winners…some have even reached the IMO camps and all that…we are a 156 year old missionary school…and we’ve produced zonal toppers in 12th boards for last 3 years in a row…and my extracurriculars,i led my state team in interstate nationals in tennis once in U-14,once in U-17,twice in U-19…and have won a national title in U-18…apart from that i don’t have anything really exceptional,but what i’ve achieved in tennis at national stage should help me i guess…my recommendations are for most part excellent(one from state team coach,one from my principal,and one form my physics teacher) …not a member of a lot of school clubs though…and my essays,well i have some beautiful themes,though i haven’t been able to execute them well enough,i think i would have by then… + I am not stupid enough to believe that i have a realistic chance at HYPSM,or Caltech,or some other Ivies…i will give my best shot,bit i really doubt i would get through…I am really pinning my hopes on some great unit with a higher acceptance rate …like UIUC,UT Austin,UMich,Georgiatech,Purdue…if I am extremely lucky then maybe the UC’s …do i stand a good chance for these in your opinion?</p>
<p>First off, Tennis won’t help help you if you are not following the recruiting process, my suggestions is immediately make a Tennis resume and some videos of your play and send it to coaches, politely asking if they have any seats left for the seasons. Chances are that they will, especially at the ivies. This could really be your ticket to ivies.
Good Luck</p>
<p>@peepingtom How do I find the coaches?..By coaching you mean the university coaches,right?..All right I’ll send them my videos and a list of my achievements,but how to fin the coaches?..and I am very grateful to you for the assistance </p>
<p>Is a 9.2 a poor GPA? I don’t know much about that particular GPA system. A good friend mentioned that her DD has a 9.0 at a pretty rigorous HS and I thought she was correct when she said it was high…</p>
<p>@michaelite Go to schools website, click on Athletics link, then go to the Tennis page on the athletics website. Then there will be various links like Roster, Schedule, Facilities, Coaches. Click on coaches and that’ll give you their contact info.
Here’s Harvard for you : <a href=“http://www.gocrimson.com/sports/mten/coaches/index”>http://www.gocrimson.com/sports/mten/coaches/index</a></p>
<p>@NewHavenCTmom I don’t know which school are you talking about. Is it in India? A 9.0 may be good in itself but for students aiming selective colleges in the US, it quite poor. I guess they only like to admit the very cream of foreign countries.
For e.g. In the ISC system, an 85% is considered top notch and it’d be equivalent to A<em>AA in the Cambridge system but schools in UK like LSE, Imperial, Oxbridge etc. rarely admit any Indian with an 85%, though they do admit A</em>AA students from Cambridge system.
It all comes down to this: if the adcoms are familiar with the curriculum, the grades would be recognized for what they are or else they’ll just increase the cutoff for systems that they’re not familiar with. Some times it can be in favor of the student or against him or her! For e.g. An Indian may not get into LSE with an 85% but an American will easily get in with a 3.2 GPA (its very bad as per the American system). In case of Americans, the unfamiliarity helps them. </p>
<p>Ok. The school is here in the US. A very well known school in NYC. I was just curious! Thank you.</p>
<p>@peepingtom thanks man</p>