IB mid-year vs. predicted grades

Applying to College
1

Hey guys,

I haven’t been following CC for a while, so I might have missed out on a similar topic, but I hope some of you will be able to help out with your own experience.
So the deal is: I am an international student studying in an IB school. All my grades throughout high school were stellar, but for the first semester of my senior year the school started using a weird proportional grading system rather than the IB one, so instead of having 40/42 as I did last year now I have 34-37 (depends on how I finish the semester). School justified the grade deflation as “an extra motivational measure”. And no, I am not joking, that’s the exact quote. That is alright with most students, as they only apply to the UK where predicted grades are the only ones that matter, but for me and few other people this might make the difference between getting accepted and rejected.
Nonetheless, school just released my predicted grades, which are still 40/42 (i.e. without the extra points). Also, I haven’t send them to the schools before.
So my questions are:

  1. Do you think getting a 34-37 on my mid-year report would jeopardize chances of getting into a top-notch school? By that I mean most Ivies and other top liberal arts schools that provide need-based aid for international students.
  2. What do you think I should do with my mid-year report and why? Obviously apart from doing my best to get the highest grades possible with the little time left.
    The options I see right now are: a) sending just the mid-year report b) sending the mid-year report with those subpar grades AND adding the predicted grades to those c) asking my school for a permission to send predicted grades instead of the first-semester grades, adding that first semester grades are not counted?
    Thanks!
2

  1. They might not jeopardize, but they sure will hurt. Take for instance the recent GeorgiaTech EA results. One of my close friends was rejected. He had very good SAT (2290), A1s in his three years at high school, and lot of ECs. He did however have low mid-terms due to the grade deflation in our school (for the same reason as yours).

  2. IMO, b is the best option. However, I suggest you ask your counselor to include in her recommendation that the exams were harder and grading stricter for “an extra motivational measure”.

3

Thank you!
I was wondering, though: wouldn’t colleges see the grade deflation explanation in the mid-year report as an excuse, or would the fact that college counselor would send it with official documents would be viewed as a legitimate explanation?
I am paranoid that colleges would interpret it as a pathetic excuse rather than what actually happened.

4

Bump. Anyone else with suggestions? I am still hesitant to ask my college counselor to add the grade deflation explanation.