<p>A couple of weeks ago I got my IB first midterm report. It seemed great at first but I realized that it was nothing special. 34/42 (pretty much a 4.0 GPA, if you include the additional components, in according to my college counselor)</p>
<p>However, out of ~50 people:
-1 got 38
-1 got 37
-2 got 36
-1 got 35
-2 (myself included) got 34
This means that even though I have a 4.0 GPA I'm not in the top 10%</p>
<p>However, if we talk about the cumulative GPA:
-1 person has a 4.0 GPA
-2 people have a >3.8 GPA
-1 person has a 3.7 GPA (me)
In this case I would in the top 8% with a relatively low GPA (I had a huge upward GPA, from 3.0 in freshman year, when I did not speak english at all, to 4.0 in junior year).</p>
<p>My question is:
Will my rank help me or hurt me?</p>
<p>N.B.: Not sure it matters, I'm in the second best school in my country, that's why our class is so small</p>
<p>It seems hard to say without more context but unless your school determines class rank by midterm IB scores I don’t think it would matter. I think it’s not quite true that a 34/42 corresponds to 4.0/4.0 either as in the first case there is quite a bit of space between that and perfection while the second is perfect. A 3.7 GPA seems kinda low for an international at MIT but maybe if your school is very rigorous.</p>
<p>Actually a 4.0 GPA translates into 37/45 IB points. The reason is that, while GPA stops at A (which is excellent) IB has also a higher grade, 7, which stands for exceptional (this is ranked equally to a 6 on a 4.0 GPA scale). Therefore, people do not need >40 to have a 4.0 GPA. My GPA is low, I’m aware of that. However, I started high school in a british school, while, before, I have only studied in Italian. Therefore during my freshman year I did not speak English at all. This is the reason for my low GPA. Also, I have taken the IGCSE exam in sophomore year. I have heard that the conversion scale from IGCSE to GPA is very generous. For example a C is equal to 3.0, a B to 3.7, A and A* are equal to 4.0. Instead of following this scale to calculate my GPA I assumed that:
A and A*=4.0
B=3.0
C=2.0
This means that my GPA might be significantly higher, around 3.85. I just want to have an idea about my chances with a 3.7 GPA.</p>
<p>And yes, my school is very rigorous! For IGCSE, our grade boundaries are 15% higher than what cambridge sets.</p>
<p>SamMIT, which country are you studying in? IGCSE grade boundaries are set by CIE, not your school. If you are talking about in-class assessments, then they are not recognized. I don’t understand how you can call your school rigorous when no-one got above a 38 in the IB. </p>
<p>MIT and other U.S. colleges are fully aware of the British curriculum (e.g. GCSE, A Level) and the IB. You must not convert your grades into a GPA. MIT already knows how to interpret your results.</p>
<p>MeIsHM: East Africa. I’m talking about all the work we are doing in class, including tests etc… Those are maked with my school own boundaries. I’m not sure on what you mean with “those are not recognized” because those grades go on my transcript. And yes, my school is very rigorous. The reason why no one got above a 38/42 is again the fact that the boundaries used by our school are higher than what IB sets, way higher. This makes a ~40 really hard to get.</p>
<p>SamMIT, you need to stop trying to sugarcoat your otherwise average results. You can fool people on this forum, but the MIT admissions team (or that of any college) you won’t. They receive thousands of foreign transcripts, and they know how to interpret them. </p>
<p>In class assessments are only used by U.S. colleges if you haven’t yet been awarded your IB result. That is, if you only have “predicted” grades, then colleges will look at class assessments. However, as you have already achieved your grades, colleges will look at your official scores. </p>
<p>Your school cannot choose what grade boundaries to pick. The IB board picks them - I have no idea where you got this idea from.</p>
<p>I’m seriously not sugarcoating anything! If I was making up the thing about having a school that does not follow the CIE an IB boundaries, how can you explain that, even though I had a 3.5 GPA on my report, the average of my IGCSE scores was a 4.0? And trust me this is not the only case. We have a girl that on her report achieved straight As and got straight A*s on her report card. Coincidence? I don’t think so. Our school increase the boundaries on purpose so that we can achieve higher on our actual exams. Again, I’m not sugarcoating anything.</p>
<p>SamMIT, you’ve made yourself more clear now. However, as I said before MIT will NOT consider your School’s report, instead it will look at your “official” GCSE and IB grades. I know this, because I went to a British school and applied to the U.S.! I now understand that you are talking about a school report, not ‘actual’ grades. </p>
<p>Your school report only matters if you applying with PREDICTED grades. However, because you have ALREADY achieved your grades, your official scores will be considered. </p>
<p>If you got lots of A<em>s at GCSE, don’t worry about what your school makes them to be. They ARE A</em>s; your school has no authority to change that officially. And, the 34/45 you got on the IB - is this a “predicted” score by the school, or an official score by the board?</p>
<p>@MeIsHM: I’m sorry if my previous posts weren’t clear. I’m glad there is someone who attended a british school that can help me clear some doubts! :)</p>
<p>Anyway, are you saying that colleges in the US will look only at my IGCSE and IB scores? They will not even look at my report cards? Sounds VERY good! My IGCSE scores were:
A* in physics
A* in ICT
A* in french
A in Maths
A in Biology
A in Global Perspectives
A in Geography
B in English First Language (I’m so proud of this one!)
B in English Literature</p>
<p>My IB score was from my first report card (I’m still a junior). I still have a year before I get my predicted score. </p>
<p>So, In a nutshell, my freshman and sophomore year report cards will not be considered. Instead they will just look at the IGCSE results. For IB (junior and senior year) they will consider my report cards because I will not have my results by the time of my application.
Am I right?</p>