I just found this site and am really excited to embark on the college journey with all of you. My son is currently a junior and is in the process of compiling his list of dream schools. He has high hopes for some wonderful schools but we have a giant obstacle…GPA calculation.
Basically we have a slight problem with his GPA calculation due to a transfer from Europe, and I need some advice/input from all of you experts.
My son spent his Freshman and Sophomore year in an elite HS in Europe (admission to this highly ranked HS by admission testing only). He was in the IB program there and the program was EXTREMELY rigorous and reputable. He worked incredibly hard and achieved amazing grades. For his junior year, we moved to the US (his first schooling in America and first schooling in the English language.) He is attending a public HS now in America which is also an IB school. At his new school, he is taking 4 IB classes and has received A’s in all. Evidently these are weighted and are on a 5 point scale because his GPA was 4.5 last semester.
Our very big problem is that the new school only converted his European grades from Freshman and Sophomore year on a 4.0 scale (even though the school was IB). This leaves him with a 4.0 unweighted GPA but a very low weighted GPA since he only has had one semester of the 4.5 and weighted grades. He is in the top 4% of his class currently and might even move up to the top 2 % after this semester (class of 450 students). He will most likely be in the top 10 students. I mentioned that he does have a 4.0 unweighted, but he is not ranked very well among the weighted rank because he has only had one semester to achieve a 4.5. This semester will also be a 4.5 so that should help. The school gives two class ranks… weighted and unweighted rank.
My question is this… how much do schools look at the weighted GPA vs the unweighted? Should we ask for some sort of a note put on his transcript? Should we request that they reconvert his IB grades from Europe? I am very proud of him for stepping into the USA system (FIRST TIME EVER in a native English speaking school) and being in the top 4% of his giant HS class in the IB program… and even testing 96% for PSATs also for both. He is just very sad that he doesn’t look like a very good student overall because of the non-weighted grade conversion from his European school.
Please does anyone have any thoughts? He is very sad he doesn’t seem to look very competitive…and a lot of US Universities want 4.4 weighted and he simply can’t get that without those 2 years of weighted grades.
He is afraid schools won’t see him as a competitive student. I feel so bad that he might get overlooked for admission due to this unfair technicality. And honestly, it makes me so upset too. He is such an amazingly sweet, hardworking and happy boy. How many kids can be top 2-4% of their classes (in IB programs) in TWO different countries and languages equally? Just feeling really down that he might get overlooked. And now he only has PSAT scores (top 96% for all sections), but his SAT/ACTs were canceled… He is enrolled for both June tests though and fingers crossed that will happen!!!
It sounds like you have an excellent student and I wouldn’t worry about it. Admissions teams will be able to see his history and view grades directly from each school.
Thank you both for the reassurance that he will be considered individually and that the unweighted GPA and course difficulty is the primary consideration…this is what we were HOPING to hear! Phew! Sometimes, however, after reading posts on this site, the larger schools don’t seem to have the time to deal as personally with each application and in as much detail as we would like…it feels like it could potentially be very mechanic and less personal.
Wow, I hadn’t even though of contacting the European HS for a transcript. It will be in French, but hopefully, that will be alright. The systems are very different and the accepting transfer HS simply translated the classes and added them to their transcript the best they could. They gave him the equivalent US grades on an unweighted system. Sigh. A note on the transcript seems like an ideal solution.
It’s all so stressful, isn’t it? We do all we can to support our kids and encourage them…but in the end, it isn’t AT ALL in our hands and it doesn’t seem entirely fair…
THANK YOU!!! Here’s hoping the unweighted 4.0 and the rigorous IB coursework (and full IB diploma) will be enough!
Maybe contact the European school and get a transcript and letter outlining the curriculum so that colleges can do their own interpretation of the work completed. Your DS might not get the class rank he wants but at least that way the colleges can weigh it for themselves. EDIT: I need to read more closely.
Keep in mind that some selective colleges will recalculate GPA based on their own standards, so as to be comparing apples-to-apples among high schools with different weighing systems or even different rules as to what goes into an unweighted GPA. They will note the rigor of his first high school as well as the rigor of the courses in the second, and he will likely do equally well in this calculation. So…no worries on the GPA front.
Did you ask the high school about their policy on not weighting your son’s grades from Europe? It seems if it was also IB they might have also weighted them the same way they do their own IB classes. I think he sounds like a very impressive student. Good luck!
In my opinion, it’s a non-issue. Your son should not waste one more second being sad about this. Colleges do not split hairs when it comes to a “high-enough” GPA.
At this point he should only be thinking about the things he CAN control, like SAT/ACT scores and application essays. These two components of his application will be WAY more important at this point because he’s already passed any perceived threshold for grades and rigor.
I also think that his having been educated mostly in France (or is it Switzerland?) will make him stand out on his applications. A great essay topic would be how he managed to transition to a U.S. public school education. He will be one of the only ones – if not THE only one – with that topic. Please do not under-estimate the importance of the essay in college admissions in the U.S.
Oh, and definitely send the European transcript.
If you can afford it, I highly recommend hiring a private college admissions counselor to guide him through the process. The U.S. process is so different.
This all depends on where he is trying to apply to school.
Some schools couldn’t care less about weighted vs unweighted GPAs. Some schools like to compare weighted GPAs because it shows high performance in AP classes etc. An unweighted 4.0 is very impressive. You can always consider doing ED to a school that he feels he might not have the best chance because of the weighted GPA, but I don’t think its anything to worry about! Some schools don’t even require a submission of both, and only care about the unweighted.
Dear StPaulDad, 2plustrio, Groundwork2022, brantly and tulanestudent23,
Thank you so much for taking the time to reply!! I have sent my son over here to read this thread and he is already feeling much better! I will indeed take some proactive steps in getting that French transcript from the school. Who knows maybe just the fact that they see he actually managed to rock HS in both France and the USA equally will be a super boon to his profile! Honestly, I don’t know how he does it. As you mentioned Brantly that could make a cool essay! He already did a rough draft though a few weeks ago…and did touch on that but used a slightly different topic (still interrelated.)
Anyway… sadly the SAT/ACT announced yesterday about the June cancellations so we aren’t really in control of that either… but I suppose the 96 percentile in PSAT could be mentioned at worst. I think it had him targeted to score 1450…but sigh…all of this is really frustrating, especially for me because I like to have a plan! We wanted to visit schools together this summer but I’m not even sure if international travel will be an option for me.
Thanks for the support though… and 2plustrio I hear you on those ECs. Sadly he was planning track and field in the spring, but his school closed and spring sports were canceled. Obviously he has lots of good ECs but basketball, for example, was messed up for him with his transfer (he wasn’t eligible to play on the basketball team because of transfer rules etc)…
Does anyone know if it is standard to have a page on applications where you can explain outside circumstances? Ex his transfer ineligibility (he did train 2 months with the team) and cancellation of the spring sport? Even we could explain the unweighted GPA if there were a space for this?
Also…I’ve lived in France for nearly 1/4 of a century…hahahaha…so I’m pretty clueless about all of this. I’m a ND grad and I COMPLETELY remember my application back in the day, however! Times have changed enormously. And brantly…he was aware of the EC importance and luckily was very active anyway in France. In our country (and even Canada) you don’t even have the opportunity to mention your activities (exept for the scholarship applications). A TOTALLY different game.
Glad to hear he’s feeling a bit better about things. Just a few notes:
–Transcripts have to be sent to colleges directly from the high schools. When it’s time to send applications, he has to ask the French HS to send his transcript directly to all the colleges he’s applying to. With US high schools, it’s done electronically. Maybe he can investigate in advance if his French HS has a special process for making these requests, or to give them a heads up.
–I would not recommend explaining any of the items that you listed. It’s really not that important. He needs to concentrate on the positive parts of his application, not what he perceives his application to be missing. (Just for comparison, the type of thing that would need explaining would be, say, if a parent died in 10th grade or if the family lost their house in a fire – NOT why he was not on the basketball team or why his weighted GPA is what it is. And even when something does need to be explained, the guidance counselor would do it in her write-up, not the student.)
Unless you now live in Texas (where the high school’s GPA calculation is used for class rank which is the most important factor in Texas public university admission), it is probably not a big issue for most universities, although there may be some cases where high school weighted GPA is taken at face value (e.g. University of Alabama scholarships).
If you include the French transcript, also remember US colleges get French applicants…they will know how to read it, probably better than your son’s high school did.
We did this, exactly- and it worked out just fine. Fwiw, UW > W any day.
We had the international school send the transcript with a an official translation (it was a less common language than French). Start asking for it now- it took a lot of back and forth.
With luck the GC is helpful- b/c s/he can make a lot of difference. Also, when it comes time for teacher recs your school probably has a system, but if not teach your son the art of getting recs now. He should: provide each teacher he is asking for an LoR with a cheat sheet of bullet points with reminders of specific things or events that stand out (linked to specific traits as appropriate - as in ‘I appreciated your comment that my tenacity on lab work made the difference in my final results’), reminders of key facts unique to your son (eg, 1st year in a US school), and what things he is emphasizing in his college search (subject area interests, EC interests, college environment).
On the essay: if he wants to write about this big change in his life and all that he has overcome- which is fair, it is a lot!- warn him that it is hard to write that essay so that it shows something about who he is and where he is going, not just tells the story of where he’s been. It can’t be ‘this happened to me and now I am stronger / more resilient / more culturally aware / etc for it’ - it needs to link to actions and future plans.
Colleges will recognize the rigor of the French curriculum, especially if they know the school (HIV, CIV, JMB, etc) or if there’s a proof of its rigor. They will also need his DNB grades.
Did he complete 3e, 2e, and a bit of 1e?
Is he in the top 10% weighted or unweighted? Could the GC retroactively “weigh” all his classes as Honors?
What IB classes is he taking?
What has he achieved in terms of ECs?
Is he recruitable for a D3 school (many top private schools are D3, meaning athletics are a hook but academics come first).
Yes on commonapp there’s a space where you can write additional information. What to write there should be selective - might be worth noting he trained the varsity basketball team but couldn’t pay due to transfer rules.
Also, don’t forget that colleges have admission representatives specifically assigned to regions abroad, and those representatives are very familiar with the high schools in those countries.
*trained with/couldn’t play
(But not the rest)
Hopefully he can resume training/playing this year. Are there neighborhood leagues he could join once the lockdown is over and before school starts?
The sat may be administered at home, too. He can use the time he’s got now to work on essays for the honors colleges at his flagships, running NPCs, and prepping for the SAT or subject tests.
BTW do you know your EFC?
Do you understand “meet need” ,“merit”…?
Wow, wow, wow! What a GREAT info packed post! I’m so thrilled! This board is absolutely AMAZING!
Okay, he is in top 4% unweighted of his school (class size is 450) and he SHOULD bump up to top 2% he thinks since he had all 5 IB A’s (99-102 averages in all)… and was one of a few to do that. His GPA should be 4.5+ this semester UW… He is in HL IB Physics, HL IB Bio, IB English, IB French, TOK and …and will be doing the IB Duo Diploma in French (first to do that in the history of his school. Obviously not hard linguistically for him but LOTS of literary work in French so yes still not easy.)
Lots of ECs but the “usual” I guess…nothing leadership. Weekly Hospital Voluneer, NHS member, Rocket Club, Salvation Army volunteer, French tutor, Model UN delegate both France and USA, Nationally ranked javelin thrower in France, Varsity basketball in France freshman and sophomore year. NO sports this year as he was ineligible for basketball (*HUGE BLOW) and Track and field cancelled. He was recruited by a D3 for basketball based on a summer camp last summer, but not a school he is interested in since he wants to do Premed. ALSO although he loves basketball and would LOOOOOOVE to play D3, but realistically can’t… it is such a time commitment still and he wants to apply to medical school and will need a 3.8 minimum GPA for that. He knows how much time schoolwork was this year to get good grades so he even said HS basketball would have been hard!
He did his entire life in France (public French schools) until the end of 2e and is doing Junior and senior in America so he can get the full IB diploma with 2 years necessary for completion. Top ranked school in Strasbourg (public)…Lycee International des Pontonniers. ANYWAY…yes you have motivated me to make a call to his French school…and I know that his HS in America did mess up one grade giving A- for sports in France but…honestly I didn’t want to nit-pick. Sadly as we get closer to thinking about applications I am SEEING schools require things like 4.5 UW! It’s crazy the competition!
Hi Collegemom 3717! Again… these replies here are absolute GEMS! Thank you! Amazing to hear you were in the same situation as us! I will definitely call the school now! I’m am pretty sure this might all need to wait until September though with COVID 19 but I will get it going. Great idea about the translation too! His comments from teachers ARE THE MAIN HIGHLIGHT of his report card. Having that translated would be so nice thank you!!! Unlike the USA schools I absolutely LOVE that the report cards in France have that as such an important feature. Comments are gold.
He already has been “overasking” for Letters of recommendation. His HL Bio and HL physics teachers have them on their desktop I think, lol! He applied to a bunch of amazing biomedical research internships which were ALL CANCELLED this year. It is so so so very sad after his enormous effort. BUT the upshot is that he has letters already written and ready to be modified in a flash (date).
He wrote a first essay last month. It was 650 words on the nose! I liked it but I don’t know if he managed to do as you said. THAT was my concern too. If anyone would care to read it I could ask him for permission? It is a lot of ground to cover in an extremely limited essay space. He said he was also going to attempt a few other prompts and do different spins on his experience. He was planning on doing more this summer because actually they are piling on the work now. He had time over Spring break for the first though…He thinks with COvid 19 they are actually busier now.
