<p>Hi CC-ers,</p>
<p>I had a few doubts regarding the consideration of Grade XI/XII marks by the best colleges (HYPM, Stanford, UC Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon etc.) Would be glad if you people could help :D </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Do they consider Grade XI marks or Grade XII Marks or both? If both, then can Grade XII marks compensate for Grade XI marks and vice versa?</p></li>
<li><p>If the GPA/marks aren't the best, can GREAT AP scores in like 4 subjects make up for that?</p></li>
<li><p>How much does the SAT account for at these top universities? I mean, will a score of 2200+ be good enough?</p></li>
<li><p>I am currently doing the CBSE board in Std XI in an extremely competitive school where scoring marks or getting a good rank is a hell of a task. Do they consider percentile or is it the marks that they look at?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Please do reply! Thanks! </p>
<p>Sent from my HTC One X using CC</p>
<p>Bumpppp</p>
<p>Sent from my HTC One X using CC</p>
<ol>
<li>They consider both. 11th final, 12th 1st semester/trimester and 12th mid-year/2nd trimester grades play the major role. Decisions come out before the 12th final grades are released. So your 12th final grades are not really important unless you do very bad/fail.</li>
</ol>
<p>2.GPA/marks and APs are related to each other but only adcoms know if a good performance on one of them can compensate a poor one on the other. APs are not required but it’s good to have them.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Who cares about the SAT Composite?? You need good scores on each section of the SAT. By good I mean above 700 (maybe 730). Being an Indian student, you probably need a >750 SAT1 Math score. Subject Tests are also very important.</p></li>
<li><p>Now I can’t answer this.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>They consider all your marks from 9th grade onwards. Most emphasis is put on 11th & 12th mid year marks. Nothing can compensate for anything else. Though one or two blips(eg. You score an unusually low 60 in one Math exam, while you have 90s in all others) maybe overlooked.</p>
<p>APs cannot compensate for your school course load, simply because they are not required. APs help substantiate good grades and are used to get an advanced standing in your freshman year.</p>
<p>2200+ is good. Reach for a 2400. 
Nothing is safe though.</p>
<p>Adcoms evaluate your marks keeping in mind the syllabus and your class rank. How much weight is given to what - I have no idea. One thing though, even if your school has tough internal exams - where you get low marks, your rank needs to be on the higher side at all times!! </p>
<p>All the best!! :)</p>
<p>Thanks hopingforbetter and rishav17 :)</p>
<p>So, like a percentage of 82+, should be good? 'Cause one seriously needs to convey the level of difficulty here and the only way is percentile, I’m guessing? </p>
<p>That way, us Indians are at a loss, especially if we consider the fact that a lot of schools set papers with levels way above those that come for the Boards :/</p>
<p>Sent from my HTC One X using CC</p>
<p>I guess having a round figure of 90 or maybe above , would help push your case further in the admissions.</p>
<p>IF your school marks strictly, in the sense where your marks SEEM low to an observer but in comparison to your peers you have done very well, then you should get your guidance counselor to mention this in your application.
Basically, including your percentile or rank will help you.</p>
<p>We do not have a guidance counselor in our school. Everything has to be done by me. So can I attach a note next to my transcript that gives them the contents of the subject?</p>
<p>Hold it right there…so you are going to send them transcripts on your own??( or making use of your school principal??) Actually do the latter…former is not possible!!</p>
<p>And as for grades…pls don’t convert. Its a sheer waste of time…they know how high/low standards are here…hand that job over to the big boys;)</p>
<p>
Your Guidance Counselor is your Principal. Ask him/her to do everything related to transcripts, SSR and MYR.</p>
<p>So in my experience (I’m going to high school in America and will be applying to some of the same schools in the fall), SAT IIs (Subject tests) are considered over AP scores when actually deciding admission. So far I’ve taken Math 2 (on which I got an 800 without studying; if you have a basic understanding of trig and some calculus, it’s really easy), Chemistry (on which I got an 750, but if I had not waited a few months after taking the class and had I actually studied, I believe I would have done better), and English Lit (also 800, no studying required.) They are also so much easier than the AP tests.</p>