How can colleges distinguish difficult courses from the easy ones

Applying to College
1

<p>My GPA is 4.0 (on 4.0 unweighted) or 90% at my school. (It's in Canada by the way) The thing is that we're only allowed to take APs in grade 12. But, I'm self-studying three of them right now, so that should add up later on. </p>

<p>I'm a junior and I take English, French, music, biology, pre-cal, and chemistry. Oh, and we can only choose three options because English, French and precal are the mandatory courses we have to take. </p>

<p>My real problem is that there's another student whose average is slightly higher than mine (92%), and she takes economics, art, and chemistry. </p>

<p>At my school, chemistry and biology are considered the hardest options, then it moves down to physics, and history. Below those are geography, economics, comp sci, music, art, drama, and creative writing. </p>

<p>So, I take two rigorous options and one easy course whereas she takes one difficult option and two of the easy ones. </p>

<p>She and I are in same English, French, chemistry, and precal classes, and I'd like to know if colleges know which classes are more rigorous. :S</p>

2

<p>Sorry, they’re only going to look at the fact that she got better grades in her classes.</p>

<p>It’s such a shame that the two of you were competing for the exact same spot - what are the odds?</p>

3

<p>The colleges look at your transcript, not just your grades! Don’t be fooled by ^^</p>

4

<p>90% translates to a ~3.667. And colleges will take note of your transcript, but besides any information your regional adcom has, they probably won’t know the difference in difficulty of two non AP/IB courses.</p>

5

<p>A 90% translates to a ~3.667. At least not in a Canadian system when an 80 = A. </p>

<p>So a 90 is actually around a 4.0. And for those of you who don’t know, an 80 is ten times harder to get in Canada than in the US. </p>

<p>As for answering the OP’s actual question, you could ask your guidance counsellor to mention that.</p>

6

<p>Look at the CA Secondary School Report, it asks your GC:</p>

<p><a href=“https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/DownloadForms.aspx[/url]”>https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/DownloadForms.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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7

<p><and for=“” those=“” of=“” you=“” who=“” don’t=“” know,=“” an=“” 80=“” is=“” ten=“” times=“” harder=“” to=“” get=“” in=“” canada=“” than=“” the=“” us.=“”> They probably use the european grading system where they keep the scores low to keep the students from becoming overconfident.</and></p>

8

<p>Aye, the only thing US colleges will know is what your counselor put you down as having. If you took, essentially, the most demanding courseload possible (without giving up your passions like music, that is), they’ll put you down as taking the most demanding load. But they’ll probably also do the same for the person with a 92%, even if it was slightly easier than yours, although for certain counselors that may not be the case, especially if it’s considered a major drop in difficulty (among the faculty, not the students) between your courseload and hers.</p>