I’m from Poland. I have a different grading scale than students in the USA. I don’t have a typical GPA (A, B, C, D, and F). In my country grades are (from the worst to the best): 1 (unsatisfactory), 2 (poor), 3 (satisfactory), 4 (good), 5 (very good) and 6 (excellent). I can’t translate my scale. I think that’s impossible. What should I do in this situation? I would like to know my chances of getting into Princeton (I would like to apply SCEA), Yale, MIT or Harvard College. It devastates me so much… The worst “GPA” in schools in my country is 1.00 and the best is 6.00. Getting 6’s is impossible and reserved only for winners of competitions. A normal student who is passionate about some courses has an extremely low chance to get the best grade. 5’s is quite rare too. My final high school GPA is 4.52. I am one of the best people in my class. Additionally, in Poland, we can’t choose subjects which we love and want to learn. We must learn the imposed courses. Teachers don’t care about our grades. They repeat “I care about only your matura exam. Grades are not important”. And yes - in Poland grades don’t matter at all. Universities look only on matura exam results (it’s the final exam in Poland). I go to one of the best high schools in my city, but I know that my friends from other schools, not so good as mine, have a better situation. In those schools teachers require less and getting good grades is less impossible. My friends even confirm it! Is it a good idea to add a supplemental material with an explanation of the Polish educational system. I could ask for it my form teacher.
US admissions staff will understand your grading scale. You don’t need to try to convert it or explain. You will need standardized test scores (SAT or ACT, and subject tests) and letters of recommendations which will provide more context as well. If you have a class ranking ask the guidance counselor to be sure that is included in the info they send.
As noted by responders in your other thread, likelihood of admission to these schools is extremely low. You would be better served finding schools with higher acceptance rates and back ups in Poland.
Asked and answered on your other post. Admissions will be familiar with your grading scale. If you are top student at your HS and within your country, you should be competitive academically.
I’m from Poland. The grading scale here is:
- 1 (unsatisfactory)
- 2 (poor)
- 3 (satisfactory)
- 4 (good)
- 5 (very good)
- 6 (excellent)
How can I convert it to an American GPA? We haven’t a weighted GPA.
You may assume that colleges will know how to interpret your transcript. There is a company (I forgot the name) who does “translate” transcripts, but if a college wants you to do that, they will specifically say so on their applications instructions page of their web site. Unless they say they want it, just send the transcript.
You will NOT be the first applicant with this grading scale. Adcoms know how to work with all sorts of scales. They will also know how a 4.52 meets their needs- or not.
More important, thinking this is some huge hurdle or that you need to convert just hints you don’t have a full idea of how admissions to tippy tops works. Better catch up on that, and thoroughly. If you don’t know what matters, how do you expect to make a solid presentation in your own application? This is a lot tougher than just showing your stats. And tippy top colleges care about how informed you are, it’s a measure of your thinking level.
The translation services are for the wording (course descriptions, LoRs, etc.) A tippy top won’t rely on a service to state how strong your grades are.
…and the key point is that for Harvard/Yale/Princeton/ MIT (HYPM) you need to be one of the most interesting* students in your country- not just your school / town / region. You say that " Getting 6’s is impossible" but then you say “reserved only for winners of competitions”. The “winners of competitions” are who universities like Harvard are looking for.
“Additionally, in Poland, we can’t choose subjects which we love and want to learn. We must learn the imposed courses.”
That is mostly true in the US. For universities like the ones you list students are expected to apply with 4 years each of English / Math / Lab Sciences / Foreign Language and History. HYPM assume that you will have top marks in all of them.
"Teachers don’t care about our grades. They repeat “I care about only your matura exam. Grades are not important”. "
Some of my collegekids were in secondary schools in countries with the same system: by age 12 they are teaching to the exam at the end of secondary school. When applying to US colleges the school included their “predicted” results of the ‘matura’ type exam, to show what they were expected to get. The colleges understood the differences in the ways that classroom grades were treated.
*interesting is top marks + something else that makes you stand out. It is a very hard standard to meet, I know a Swedish student who was tops in marks in his province, and spent a summer doing biochemical research at Harvard with a professor who wrote a strong recommendation for him. He was not accepted to Harvard.
When your country has fewer applicants, it’s more than just best in your country. Depending on the pool of applicants, several countries can be treated as a subregion, in building the class. OP needs to be among the very best in a region wider than her own country. Otherwise, adcoms can look to those other kids.
OP needs to use the time available very wisely. No one should apply to a tippy top just for the advantages in prestige and financial aid, if they don’t have a strong picture of what those colleges value and look for. The colleges get to choose the kids THEY want.
One way to think of this is that each of “Princeton, Yale, MIT, Harvard College” is likely to accept either one or zero students from Poland. Are you strong enough that there is a reasonable chance that you would be the one student from Poland who is accepted?
Of course you do not know who else from Poland might or might not apply. Therefore if you are a very strong student, you could apply but also apply to schools in your own country where you are likely to get accepted.
These schools will all know how to interpret your grades so that is not an issue at all.
If you want to study in the US, then you should apply to schools that offer a high likelihood of giving you sufficient financial aid. However, you do not need to apply to schools that are need blind. Even a school that considers need in deciding whether to admit you, still might be easier to get accepted to than any of these four schools (which might be four of the five or six hardest schools in the US to get accepted to).
Exactly. Figure out what is most important to you. If it’s only worth coming to the US for an internationally recognized name- go for it. But if the goal is to go to college in the US, broaden your search parameters.