Hi Guys,
I was wondering if someone here could help me out.
In Germany the E1/E2 does not count in your Abitur, it’s basically like the GPA. But I have to apply during Q3 where I just got reports from Q1/Q2, these grades would count in the GPA. So my english teacher suggested to use the E1/E2 but my problem is that I kinda ,ya you know, I didn’t take it seriously and i struggled even more because I came from a montessori school. You can image I got a lot of C’s. In the E2 I got a lot of A+ ( 15 points rare as cds nowadays) is not bad but I know I can do better. My question ist how should i count the GPA ? and how should I weight the Lk kurse ?
Because acutally Icould get an 1,00 abitur still - 4.00 GPA- cause my grades don’t count yet.
Maybe some of you have other questions 
You would not use E1/E2 but predicted results from Abitur.
@b@r!um?
Most schools wouldn’t predict Abitur results.
First off: Don’t overthink the GPA computation. It (probably) won’t matter.
I know that GPAs are the only metric most German universities care about, but American universities may ignore your reported GPA entirely. The reason for that is that grades are not standardized in the US. American high schools all choose their own grading scale and their own way of averaging grades into a GPA, so GPA is not a useful metric to rank applicants. It’s not even particularly useful for international applicants: a German GPA from two different states will mean different things, and don’t even try to compare a German GPA to a French GPA.
That all said, since the application form asks for a GPA, just report one that’s reasonable. I would compute a simple Notendurchschnitt over some years of grades. Since your grades are probably reported on different scales in the 3-4 years of grades that American universities ask for, you have a few options:
- Convert all Punkte (15-0) into Noten (1-6) and average over all years of grades requested by the American university.
- Only compute an average over years that used the Punkte scale.
- Only compute the average over Q1/Q2 grades, with the rationale that only those grades matter for your Abitur.
- If you use multiple years of data, I would take a simple unweighted average. If you only use Q1/Q2 grades, you could consider taking a weighted average that gives more weight to grades from Leistungskurse than Grundkurse.
Regardless of how you compute your GPA, I will guarantee you that universities will look at your individual grades over the years and will notice that your E1/E2 grades are lower than your Q1/Q2 grades. If the difference is significant, many universities may hold it against you, though high SAT/ACT results may compensate somewhat.
Thank you so much !
it felt like christmas this morning when the notification popped up on my screen, I’ve been so confused for the last weeks because most english teachers have no idea about college or the application process in generell. I have one question though, how should I translate the montessori reports cause there no grades, it’s like a nice letter written to your grandma on how well you’re doing in school. I already scored 1590 on the SAT -thanks to the math section- and 111 on the TOEFL still don’t know how I did that lol. I think I have some great extracurriculars because that’s what you do in a montessori school on a daily basis. I also had something called “Schülerstudium” that’s kinda like you’re already in college, I studied two semesters physics in 2015 and one chemistry 2018. A lot of people ask that but do you think I got a chance to even get into a college cause the E1 report kinda ruins everything.
Can you submit the last written evaluations for Montessori?
In addition, unless your school really won’t do it, either predicted points (12, etc.,) Or expected final result 1-1.1 or1.3 …) would be useful. The universities don’t expect seeing the future but rather “based on the current data we would hope Freja will get a … For Abitur.” That is, interpreting your results in the context of your school wrt typical Abitur results.
1, 1,1, would be 4.0uw.
I second MYOS on the Montessori report. I would have at least one translated and include that with your transcripts.
Americans call this “dual enrollment” and it generally reflects well on an applicant. You should include the university grades in your college applications. (Even if your university grades are lower than your high school grades. Not disclosing all grades earned on your college application is the kind of thing that can get you into trouble later should it ever get discovered.)
In all likelihood, there’d be plenty of American colleges happy to accept you! The devil is in the details. Do you have your mind set on Harvard, or would you be happy to attend a good-but-not-elite university? Can you pay the full fees, or do you require financial assistance (available but much harder to get)?
Since US admission outcomes can be hard to predict, it’s usually a good idea to apply to multiple universities with a range of selectivity. It would not be at all uncommon to send applications to 10 different universities.
Random piece of advice: research what Americans look for in a letter of recommendation, and coach your teachers how to write one that will sound good to an American audience.
German letters of recommendation have a way of sounding like the brief behavioral evaluation on a report card: “Student X was mostly punctual and consistently completed his homework assignments. His concentration in class was good and he interacted well with his peers.”
An American letter of recommendation would go more like, “Student X was my strongest chemistry student this year. I am impressed by his analytical skills that allowed him to connect concepts between chapters and anticipate future material. Student X is so reliable and his work so meticulous, that he was able to convince the principal to let him use the school’s chemistry lab after school hours. He completed a project on … that won an award in a regional science competition. His peers frequently turn to him for academic help between classes.”
Also contact the EducationUSA advising center nearest you
https://educationusa.state.gov/find-advising-center?field_region_target_id=&field_country_target_id=214&field_center_level_value=All