Hi there. I’m pretty confused about the high school GPA; I know it’s very important for admission in college, but what concerns me is the fact that US secondary school is almost completely different from, for example, the Italian one (I’m Italian myself). The evalutation is not the same and even if one transcripts the marks from the Italian system to the US one, the context is not similar (for example, while I believe in the US you’re taught to have the best marks possible from the first year of your secondary education, in Italy they don’t really matter until the third year and still even after that they don’t matter that much, they only are used to calculate your credits that will be added to your final score of your final 5th year exam: if you don’t have the minimum requirements in classes every year, you either repeat the year from the beginning or you study during the summer for an exam in early september to recuperate the failed classes, and in case you happen to fail such exam, you will still eventually have to repeat the year). Italian universities use, for the admission, in fact, different criteria. If there’s anyone who could give me clarifications regarding the matter, especially international students who have experience about, I would really appreciate it. Thanks.
@Adrano, Most colleges who have significant numbers of international applicants are familiar with the different school systems, just as they are familiar with many high schools in their US region, which also differ.
My son’s roommate is from Italy, so it’s not impossible 
Thanks for your answer @IxnayBob. The main problem would be that my marks aren’t the best, they’re just slightly above the minimum. As I’ve said, it’s very different here, they don’t really push you to take good marks for your future university. Even if I started now, that I’ve began to grow interest towards college in the USA, to take the best marks possible, the transcripted GPA would still not be good.
Adrono, I feel you. Last year (3rd year out of 5) I had 7.83 which is B- but it was the highest GPA of my school! Anyways I was once told by an exchange student from The USA that Colleges and universities knew that Europeans have tougher classes and therefore their GPAs are def lower. Are you applying as an undergraduate? I would love to talk with you about admissions processes as I’m from Italy and currently enrolled in Liceo Classico Statale. Inbox me if you’re interested!
@Adrono
Harvard will be looking at the best candidates from Italy. If, as you say, you are not at the top of your class, your chances are very low. There are plenty of other colleges in the US you could qualify for, if your SATs are competitive.
I’m one of the best students of the class but our schools don’t rank.
@fauve @Adrono
My comment was directed at the OP. However, in your case, you will also be compared to all the other Italian (and European) applicants–do you have top SAT I and II scores? National level awards or accomplishments? The bar is set very high for international applicants.
I’m confident I can do pretty competitive tests. My only problem would be that the GPA is not high; as I said, the point is that in Italy it’s not as important as in the USA to take good grades in high school. I’m pretty good at writing essays as well, but I guess my GPA would just get me rejected from most top colleges even if I did a wonderful application then. Am I right?
Admissions are holistic. Don’t worry.
@Adrono
7.83 is the same as a 3.8 American GPA by most transcript agencies. Which is an A -