Foreign GPA to U.S GPA??

Applying to College
1

Hi I posted earlier about understanding my chances of admission into an American college, as I am a year 11 student from Australia (with U.S citizenship). I asked about how I was meant to understand my chances of admission if my school grading system is completely different for the American. I understand now that I do need to take the SAT’s etc.

This is how we are graded: we don’t have SAT’s or GPA, we have ATAR (Australian tertiary admissions rank). This is your overall score (out of 100) calculated from just 5 subjects that you went best in over your junior and senior year. Thus, the other subjects you technically only need to pass. So we tend to focus greatly on our 5 main subjects.

I am planning to get all A’s in these 5 subjects (so far successful), which apparently would give me a GPA of 4.00. But if I apply to college in America, is my GPA calculated using my other subjects too? How many subjects are taken into account to calculate GPA in the U.S? Will the American system look at my ATAR score?

2

Different colleges handle it differently. Colleges will want to see all grades, but, in general, schools care more about the “core” classes than the things like art and physical education (unless that’s your major).

Colleges tend to have international specialists so the people reviewing your application will be familiar with how the Australian grading and school systems work.

3

That’s good to know thanks @Pheebers