<p>To start off, I'm a student who has just finished my junior year in canada. </p>
<p>This term's results is really disappointing. I dropped a lot in some courses, and stayed relatively the same in others. It's not like I'm giving up school, but somehow, in 2 courses, my marks dropped really low for nothing (computers and community service). </p>
<p>My year averages is as follows...</p>
<p>Biology Honors - 81
Chemistry Honors - 91
Community Service - 89
English - 81
French - 75 (I know, I suck)
Computers - 80
Physics Honors - 93
Math - 91</p>
<p>This averages to 85%</p>
<p>Anyway, at first I had high hopes of attending a descent american university, but now, it's at its all time low. </p>
<p>I'm just wondering, do american universities look at all your grades? Or only the core courses? Because I see a hole with this "unweighted" gpa that they look at. If a student excelling in unimportant courses (like cooking) gets a higher GPA than a student doing well only in difficult core courses (my situation) but are dragged down by useless classes, who will the university favor?</p>
<p>Also, if I go all out for the SAT's and get really good results, is it possible to overlap this disgusting school grade and still get me into a good US university?</p>
<p>American schools look at your unweighted GPA with respect to course rigor. Thus, a 3.8 with all AP classes is much better than a 4.0 with all regular/easy classes.</p>
<p>What schools are you looking at? I think you could get into decent schools with a good SAT score, but you probably won’t get a lot of aid since you’re an international.</p>
<p>Hi, thanks for the fast reply.</p>
<p>My top choice schools would be UC berkeley, UCLA, or cornell engineering department (yea it seems impossible but it actually has a 40% acceptance rate).</p>
<p>But I’m content with schools like USC or University of Washington also. </p>
<p>I’m still pretty depressed though…I feel my 85% average this year will really hurt me on my app :(</p>
<p>Do you think that I still have a good chance at the good schools? you don’t have to sugar-coat it xD give it to me true and cold</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>An 85% average is a 3.0 in GPA terms.</p>
<p>I don’t think you can just determine a GPA by the year average. Though I’m no expert, I know that GPA is calculated from a cumulation of all your classes…so correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think 3.0 is an accurate number.</p>
<p>Where do you rank?</p>
<p>Cornell engineering has a relatively “high” acceptance rate (although 40% is an exaggeration), but don’t be deceived or equate the admit rate with CU engineering being “easy” to get into. I’ll simply point to the average SAT/gpa of student accepted to engineering. If you do the research, you will see that they are very, very high. So if you’re not in the range of SAT/gpa scores for accepted students, do not take the college’s admit rate as serving in your favor.</p>
<p>@RedRoses well for courses like french and computers, my ranking isn’t great, probably average or above average.</p>
<p>My math, physics, and chemistry is probably around top 10% or better (physics is definitely in top 5%). </p>
<p>@mrsopresident</p>
<p>yea I never said that it’d be easy to get accepted…</p>
<p>I meant that cornell’s higher acceptance rate suggests that it’s not as selective and impossible as places like harvard and MIT. </p>
<p>Now can anyone answer my ORIGINAL questions? </p>
<ol>
<li>Can great SAT scores cover for my grades?</li>
<li>Do I still have hope for descent schools in US? If so, which ones?</li>
</ol>
<p>bump…really need help cause it’s an uncertain time for me</p>
<p>Colleges will look at where you rank in your high school class as a whole.</p>
<p>What do you mean by good college? Do you hhave some specific ones in mind? Do you need financial aid?</p>
<p>It’s relatively difficult to gain acceptance to UC Berkeley without a 3.8+ GPA, and that’s if you’re in-state. OOS and international students have an even more difficult time getting accepted to institutions like Berkeley and UCLA. While it’s true that other universities have even lower acceptance rates, you have to put things into perspective. UC Berkeley is ranked #1 in US public universities. It has, arguably, the best public EECS programs.</p>
<p>As for your other questions, yes, all universities look at all of your grades. It’s important to earn high grades in all of your classes, rather than picking and choosing which ones you believe you should do well in.</p>
<p>I see where you’re coming from though. Colleges do take into account the course rigor, but for the most part, applicants to high-ranking universities won’t have schedules filled with cooking courses. It’s been said a lot, but it’s not better to do worse in a hard course or well in an easy course. It’s best to do well in a difficult course.</p>
<p>Doing well on the SAT is important, but unfortunately, won’t make up for a poor GPA.</p>
<p>Okay I just calculated your GPA</p>
<p>Biology Honors - 81------------------>2.67
Chemistry Honors - 91---------->3.67
Community Service - 89--------->3.33
English - 81--------------->2.67
French - 75 (I know, I suck)---------->2.0
Computers - 80------------>2.67
Physics Honors - 93----------->4.0(A 93 is a solid A, right?)
Math - 91--------->3.67</p>
<p>This adds up to a 3.085 or a 3.0728 if a 93 is an A- in your state. </p>
<p>I really doubt your chances of being accepted into a top T1 school, however with that being said, I don’t know your SAT scores and with some extra-curricular activities, a spectacular essay with a great life story+URM statues and you have a fighting shot at a Top 100 school.</p>
<p>Let me also make it clear that Canada has a very different grading system, and a B average in Canada is 10X more significant and impressive than a B average in America. </p>
<p>I suggest you apply to NYU, it’s a top 50 University which is also highly regarded and in a very active location(New York City). </p>
<p>The average accepted student’s average GPA is 3.7, but I suggest you apply anyway because a 3.1 Canadian GPA will look pretty nice considering the fact that American Universities look for diversity.</p>
<p>Good luck and try your best!</p>
<p>hey guys, thanks for the answers, especially precognition.</p>
<p>In canada, over 86% is an A, and over 73% is B. </p>
<p>I’ve done some research, and I think I’m pretty much screwed for berkeley lol. Time for plan B. </p>
<p>I asked lots of friends and experienced advisors, and right now these are probably the schools that I have a shot at:</p>
<p>NYU
UoMichigan
UBC
UofT
McGill
Imperial College London
University College London</p>
<p>Right now I’m sorta favoring the two UK schools after talking to a really informative friend who goes to private school. </p>
<p>He says that the UK schools look at grade 11 marks, but their main stress is on grade 12 term 1 marks. He says that more than 50 people in his school got into Imperial College and University College with around 86% averages. </p>
<p>But now I’m hit with another dilemma…I know that american universities heavily stress gr11 marks, but how about UK? Do they put stress on gr12 marks over gr11 marks? If so I can totally hammer grade 12…cause I’ll have no standardized tests to study for by then. (in case I haven’t said, I messed up in gr 11 cause I had to invest lots of time to self-study 3 AP sciences for the AP exams).</p>