Hi, I will be a starting senior in my high school. I moved to the US a the start of Junior from England, but before that I lived in France, Belgium, Ireland and Gabon(Africa) and I am also originally from Cameroon. I am not the average student in my school, which is what many of them tell me since i have lived in these different countries and I am very cultured. My only worry is that I only arrived in Junior in the US, so before I did half of high school in England where the system is very different, which made it a bit difficult to adjust to the US system. I asked my counselor to tell me about my GPA and grades and she said that I had a 3.15 unweighted which apparently is very low very selective colleges like (NYU and USC). The thing is that I can’t do much because its not my fault that my GPA is at that level since I came from a different system where the grade scale is completely different, in my old school in UK I had straight As which are from 85% and up, but when my grades where transferred to my US high school they were all in the range of Bs because 85% is worth a B. I feel a bit discouraged because I want to apply to selective schools and I am trying my best to prepare for the SATs and take a few APs in senior year to prove myself. Applying to a UK college will be difficult at this point because since i’ll be graduating in the US i won’t be considereC a UK student anymore. Also I moved around so much because of my Dads job. So I just need advice, do I have any chance of getting into these schools or am I screwed?
Your colleges will see the transcripts from all of your high schools, including your international schooling so don’t worry about that part. Adcoms know that the grading system is different abroad. Just do the best you can with your classes and standardized tests. It’s too early to know if you would be competitive for NYU or USC without test scores.
You dont say what schools you consider to be selective for yourself.
You should apply to schools where you can succeed. The fact you moved around is irrelevant. 85% is not an A anywhere in the US–its a pretty low bar for an A. If you can take an SAT or ACT and get a really tremendous score you can validate your assertion that you are a top student. If not you probably should aim for schools where you GPA is better fit.
85% is not an A in the US. However, it is an A in some other countries. Also, in some countries an 85 is more difficult to get than it is to get an 90 in a US high school.
Admissions at US universities will see you high school transcripts from each high school that you attended. Your grades from UK schools will be compared to other students in UK schools. You don’t need to worry about your grades in UK high schools.
However, your grades in your US high school will be compared to other students in the US high school. Moving from a UK high school to a US high school should not be any more difficult than moving from a UK high school to a US university.
Keep your grades up as much as you can in your current high school, and apply to a reasonable range of universities. You should be fine.