You can read my resume on another thread. In Australia we don’t have a GPA and it’s much more difficult to earn As in Australia than it is in America. Will colleges convert my grades to a GPA? These are my grades from every year. BTW, in my school this is around top 5%. Also we can’t choose our subjects like in America. We only have 2 electives and no advanced classes.
Year 9 Semester 1: 5 As 3 Bs
Year 9 Semester 2: 7 As 2 Bs
Year 10 Semester 1: 3 As 1 C (PE) 4 Bs
Year 10 Semester 2: 5 As 3 Bs
Year 11 and 12 is when we have ATAR subjects which are really really really hard like x1000 times harder than America. Will colleges know this?
Year 11 Semester 1: 3 As 2 Bs 1 C
Year 11 Semester 2: 4 As 2Bs
Year 12: Haven’t got yet.
My ACT is 34C. I self studied AP Macroeconomics, AP Microeconomics in Year 11 (got 5) and AP Calculus AB and BC (got 4s) - this is covered by the curriculum since I’m doing Specialist Mathematics.
Also we do not have B+ or A+ only whole grades. These are our grade equivalents.
75+ = A
65-74 = B
60-65 = C
50-59 = D
Getting an 85% in Australia is really really hard for subjects other than Math. Getting an 90%+ is like OMG and somewhat unprecedented.
Well since it isn’t really a Harvard question, you should post in search and selection forum for general questions. But since this is about international admissions, then try the Int’l forum where people know. Americans don’t really have experience with it. You can be sure the college admissions officers who deal with international student admissions will be quite familiar with the general education model and grades. If your schools is different they won’t. In the US the counselor sends a sheet with information about grading and what percentl of the class does what as far as grades and course rigor.
Hi I’m from Australia as well and I don’t think they convert your grades to a GPA system, instead they review it in context of fellow applicants from Australia (how you match up) and also the system. For example I study under the Queensland OP system so obviously I need pretty much all A’s to have a shot at Ivy League. I think since your curriculum sounds much more rigorous (NSW I presume from the AP testing centre) they probably would be a little less harsh. Focus on getting an ATAR as close to 99.95 as possible (past acceptances have been around 99.85+ for non athletes). Coming from a good school like Sydney Grammar would help
Hey, just apply if you want to go to Harvard. No guarantee that you will get admitted but if you dont apply then you will never get admitted, for sure.
Although Harvard, Stanford and the rest of the Ivy League schools do not have quotas, they limit the number of international students to no more than 10% to 11% of the incoming class. At Harvard, that means they try to admit about 180-190 international students each year – and about a third of those students come from just five countries: Canada, Great Britain, Germany, China, and South Korea. If you go to: http://www.hio.harvard.edu/statistics, you’ll see there are currently 5 students from Australia attending Harvard College (the undergraduate school). That means that Harvard admits about one (1) student from Australia each year, and in some years, two (2) students. So, your odds as an international student from Australia are not that great no matter what your GPA or test scores.
@gibby - I’m seeing 32 Harvard College students from Australia on that page. So it’s more likely 10 students from Australia (assuming 80%) yield are accepted. It doesn’t make it much easier though
@aussie101 - I looked at your other threads, and I agree with the response from @GregB77777 - you should read it again. Assuming your resume is not overstated, I doubt you will be receiving many (if any) rejections and you could probably find better ways to spend your time than asking others if you are competitive or not - you are. Apply to the schools in your list, and then chose the one you would most like to attend. You have done amazing things - keep up
@Bldrdad: Thank you for the correction. There are currently 32 students from Australia at Harvard, meaning that about 8 students from Australia matriculate to the college every year.
Just following up on what they said, I spoke to the Education USA people at the US consulate general in Sydney recently regarding this topic, and they said that while only a few students from Australia may attend elite Ivy League schools such as Harvard, many more students are accepted but end up choosing not to go for whatever reason. So give whatever credibility to that as you want, but the actual number of acceptances is likely higher than the number attending. However, keep in mind that a significant portion of the Australians there have been recruited for rowing etc. or have represented Australia in international competitions like the International Mathematics Olympiad.