hey so I am an international student from Africa applying to US colleges for fall 2021 acceptance. Here almost every student creates their own counsellor common app acount or they share one if they are from the same school. They submit their transcript and recommendation letters themselves and just go to colleges. It is a common trend. It is mostly because schools aren’t cooperative and don’t know the US system.
But that’s not the problem. I have already created a counselor common app account. The problem is my highschool transcript isn’t good enough for US colleges, I think.
No one at our school(especially our batch is the worst)has a 4GPA. 3.5 is very high when it comes to our school, and my GPA is in the 2.5-2.7 range so I just decided to lower the grading scale of our school when submitting the counselor common app account so when colleges compute my GPA it goes a bit bigger than that
I dont think this is cheating. I think I am just trying to put a perspective here. Compared to my class, I am in the top 10 but still when colleges see it they might reject me because of my grade when infact I have worked hard to be in the top 10 but most colleges don’t consider class rank. They just see GPA
So I just decided to change the
90-100-A-4.00 scale to 80-100-A-4.00
Is there anyway colleges will find about this? Or maybe check? If so how???
Yes this is cheating. Schools are familiar with how grading works in different countries. If you submit something that doesn’t match what they know they will automatically reject you. If you are somehow admitted anyway, and then they find out, you will be expelled. Don’t do this.
Ah, but it doesn’t matter what your opinion is: the fact is that pretending to be somebody you are not is, in fact, cheating. Lying about what the grading system is at your school is, in fact, cheating.
So “almost every student” fakes their transcript and counselor report, gets admitted to and then attends college in the US? Color me skeptical.
These two posts don’t line up. And, surprise! if your actual GPA really does put you in the top 10% of the class, colleges will recognize that- especially for an international student, as they know that grading scales vary considerably around the world.
Because so many of your classmates seem to be cheating, gaining admission to US colleges, and attending university in the US, can I infer that you have the money to pay for university in the US?
Aw, geez. If OP is thinking one of the colleges with generous financial aid for internationals, that 2.5 won’t cut it.
Very few high schools drop the A range to 80. It will be an immediate flag something is off. Yes, adcoms know how schooling works around the world.
There are so many accomplished applicants from across Africa, who do not need to manipulate reality. I don’t see how you can pull this off. Are you going to write your own recommendations, too?
By changing the grading scale you HAVE lied. You are attempting to cheat your way into a foreign college with shady ethics. It is not OK.
–Admissions officers are likely to question the A range going down to to 80, especially if it is way out of line with other applications from your country.
–If you do get into a US college and your lie on the application is found out down the road you will likely be dismissed from that college.
–If you graduate a US college and your lie is discovered down the road you could have your diploma rescinded.
College confidential is not here to encourage or give approval to outright lying on an application. What you are doing is 100% unethical.
Moderator’s Note: College Confidential does not promote lying on apps. closing thread