GPA help?

Parents Forum
1

<p>Please will someone help work out my converted GPA? Apparently the coursework/exams we do here at the age of 16 are the equivelent of your coursework (or so I was told on here) I know it's not possible to fully work out the GPA I would have but just an estimate will be okay just so I know what type of schools to look at. </p>

<p>Here are my results: (I know they're not amazing but at least I passed)
I have also got 8 (hopefully soon to be 11) GCSE's at grade C-B,
English lit - C
English lang -C
German - C
Drama C
History - C
Media - CC
ALAN (adult English and maths) - B </p>

<p>I'm resitting maths and science and will hopefully be getting C's in both.</p>

2

<p>I kind of wonder about this too. My HS GPA in Elbonia (small backward European country :)) was somewhere between awful and G*d awful by US standards, as we did not hand out A’s like candy at Halloween, so most students would appear to be mega-slackers by USA grading standards… </p>

<p>Do AdComs convert based on some magical ‘hardness scale’ (Mohs Scale of Academic Hardness?) from international schools? In Elbonia there would be a handful of kids that graduated with 20/20. In my high school the highest GPA was in the mid 18/20’s…</p>

3

<p>You do not actually have a GPA, ohitskayleigh. The GCSE grades do not correspond to American course grades. What you should look for is a college where the admissions personnel are familiar with the GCSE grading arrangement. If you simply converted the GSCE grades to the American equivalent, using A = 4, B = 3, C = 2, D = 1 and F = 0, and then took the average, you would have a sub-2.0 GPA, and it would be almost impossible to be admitted anywhere other than a community college that must accept anyone with a high school diploma. This is why finding colleges where the admission personnel understand the GCSE’s is so important.</p>

<p>There are two things that you can do to help your admissions chances: First, ask someone or several teachers/counselors at your school to indicate what colleges have been attended by students with similar scores (or projected A level scores). Second, you might consider taking the SAT II subject tests in a few areas. I would not suggest American history, but the other areas should be fine. If it is not convenient for you to take subject tests, you could determine what per cent of students score below C on the GCSE’s, and then look up the SAT II numerical score that corresponds to that percentile. That would at least give you a rough estimate.</p>

<p>I would say that in American terms, your GCSE results are “worth” roughly a 3.2 (although clearly they do not average out that way).</p>

<p>Similarly, to turbo93, you need to look for colleges where the admissions personnel are familiar with the grading practices in Elbonia. There are some. You could also ask the people writing the letters of recommendation to indicate where you stand relative to your classmates.</p>

4

<p>turbo93 - students in America, in advanced classes like AP or IB are hardly “slackers” and the grades of “A” are not handed out like candy. Students in advanced classes do endless hours of homework up to 6 to 8 hours a night, depending on how many AP’s or IB’s to earn these grades. All students take the SAT or the ACT to back up the validity of high grades.</p>

<p>AdComs are very familiar with grading systems from other countries and do not compare them directly. There is NO reason to put down American students, especially if you are trying to obtain a spot in one of our universities.</p>

5

<p>Cormom, I feel that there is spectacular grade inflation in the USA versus the rest of the world based on the grading scale and what is considered to be a good grade. In much of Europe and the parts of Asia I am familiar with, a true ‘A’ (18/20 or 9/10) is considerably harder to get than most any school in the USA, AP or honors or not. I have my 9th grader in 4 AP or IB or honors classes and she studies 8+ hours a day. She gets decent grades but the issue is not effort, it’s the country mentality. Only a handful of kids a year there get 20/20’s for entire HS GPA out of a decent size country. </p>

<p>In many such countries there’s no SAT or ACT but a national entrance exam where a fraction of the applicants get in (and where the GPA in HS is not factored in). The successful candidate is also required to spend several hours a week in ‘cram school’ for 3 years at considerable cost to prepare for such exams. Ask your student if he/she would rather have that :)</p>

<p>I won’t deny that the AP/IB classes in the US are harder than those of my standard Comrade SuchAndSuch High School in Elbonia but the reason for generally higher grades in the US is not that. The reason is that in Elbonia at least virtually every HS class grade was based on maybe two tests a semester, no homeworks, projects, and the like. And problems were devilishly hard and not many of them. </p>

<p>Same for college. I took Differential Equations in college there and the grade was a midterm and final. Period. Three problems each, 3 hours. If you know the answer you’re done in 30 min. If you don’t, you might as well have 3 days. Even in college grades are not handed in like crazy - i had a few 10’s but in subjects I was the best student in class, period (and only maybe one a semester). I only know of one person who got out of college there with a 9/10 or better and he’s department head in an engineering school in the US. Lots of college prof friends in the US nearly all with 7.5 to 8.5’s… And that’s with a 5 being passing grade. Lab classes there are separate than lecture (grade wise) so in a class like Concrete II or some such the lab is the lab (100% lab assignments) and the lecture part has its own grade, 2 tests. Not in the US where lab would be (grade percentage) 30% say, tests 60%, homework 10%… Big difference blowing a 50% midterm than a 30% midterm. Same in HS (for those lucky to have labs :))</p>

<p>Needless to say, no weighted grades, no extra credit, no make up tests, no do-overs, and no curve. No honors classes, no AP’s, class sizes of 50+, no school buses, very few EC’s, etc. No study guides, generally bad state issued text books, no Cliffs Notes, and in many cases very few easy classes to help boost GPA (largely fixed curriculum with few, if any, electives). Throw in your typical high achieving US 4.3 / 790’er and see how well they do…</p>

<p>So, bottom line, the reason for the US grade inflation is the absurdity of considering 80% or 90% as a ‘good’ grade, the fixation of Americans with grades and scores in general, a large ‘educational industrial complex’ that thrives on helping those with money ‘do better’, the variation of US high schools (versus the national curriculum and national tests everywhere else) and a myriad of other factors.</p>

6

<p>From what I see so far, you are a solid B (3.0 gpa student) when looking at the grading for students from the UK.</p>

<p>As others have stated, colleges that get applications from international students are aware of the grading polcies from other countries.</p>

<p>Since it is not unusual for students in NYC to get students who were educated outside of the US, the NYCDOE has a book for evaluating foreign transcripts</p>

<p>hopefully this will help</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.ocmboces.org/tfiles/folder732/Evaluating%20TEXT%20(2).pdf[/url]”>http://www.ocmboces.org/tfiles/folder732/Evaluating%20TEXT%20(2).pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

7

<p>At my D’s competitive public high school, there were no curves, no extra credit, no grade boosting incentives for taking advanced classes, PERIOD. Those who wanted to take those classes risked a lower GPA. The only incentive was that they were academically challenging classes that would better prepare students for college. My D had a lower GPA than a girl in her grade that was ranked number 3 who took all non-advanced classes but had a very high GPA (the rank game.) The result? Both girls applied to the same Ivy. My D got in and this girl did not. </p>

<p>We are a middle class family that had no special advantages, monetarily or otherwise to bolster her achievements. She did it 100 percent on her own based on very, very, VERY hard work. </p>

<p>The syllabus for each class varies tremendously both in high school and in college. My D has had it both ways. Sometimes she has classes with projects, tests, quizzes, etc. Sometimes she has a mid-term and a final. That’s it. </p>

<p>It shouldn’t matter how you “feel” about US grading unless you are interested in US schools. Perhaps you should learn to have a little more respect.</p>

8

<p>Below is a chart displaying approximate grade conversions that may be useful in determining competitiveness for admission.</p>

<p>"We do not recommend reporting a US GPA on your applications or transcript.‘’ </p>

<p>[US</a> Admissions Criteria | Undergraduate Study in the USA | US-UK Fulbright Commission](<a href=“http://www.fulbright.org.uk/study-in-the-usa/undergraduate-study/applying/admissions-criteria#performance]US”>http://www.fulbright.org.uk/study-in-the-usa/undergraduate-study/applying/admissions-criteria#performance)</p>

9

<p>Respect has to be earned, and based on my experiences in both Elbonian and US K-12 (myself and my kids) neither K-12 system deserves much respect as implemented. </p>

<p>One of my favorite summer pastimes is to watch the National Entrance Exam tests and see how much they’ve changed from my days (in difficulty as well as scores). The scores have not changed much, nor have the points needed to get into the better programs. What has changed is the difficulty of the questions, which have gotten to Math or Science Olympiad difficulty level…</p>

10

<p>Thank you so much for your answers.</p>