Hi,
I am moving internationally, and thus transferring schools. Both the old school and new school are regionally/nationally accredited in the United States. I spent my freshman and sophomore year at my old school. My old school did not have advanced/honors classes like Honors English, Honors Biology, Honors Physics, etc… although it had AP classes though freshmen were not allowed to take any. My new school has honors classes for every core class and students at my new school have all taken them and received the .5 GPA Boost that comes with these classes. At my old school there was only 1 level for these core classes (other than AP) and it would have the curriculum of an honors class but be called normal since there was only 1. I had an extremely high ranking at my old school (not official, my school does not rank, but I would say it was top 1 percent) but at my new school my class ranking is much lower since the only non-normal classes I have taken are AP Calc AB and AP World, while the rest of my classmates have been taking Honors classes that I couldn’t. I go to a fairly competitive high school. I am taking 6 AP’s in my current junior year but even so, my GPA, and thus class ranking will still be low due to 9th and 10th grade at the old school. I will not be in the top 10% of my graduating class, so should I inform colleges, especially the highly selective ones, as to why my class rank is not high when I apply? I plan to apply to Harvard, MIT, etc…
First, when you apply you will include both transcripts, so they will be aware of your situation. If your first school is that rigorous, they will be aware.
Second, will your new school even include your old grades in your GPA? Our local schools only include the grades from that school in the GPA, so you have a GPA from the old school (placed in context when you send that transcript), and a separate one from the new school. When calculating rank, first our school calculates rank for students who have been there since Freshman year, then they co-rank anyone who transferred in, using only those grades from the local school. If your school does that, you might actually be at an advantage. A student with 6 AP and 2 regular classes (PE and art, for instance that aren’t offered at other levels) would have the potential for a 4.75 PGA, while another student taking the same classes would have the potential for 4.75 Junior year, but would not have had the potential for such a high GPA the first two years - those honors classes actually weight them down.
My new school includes my old grades in GPA since my previous school was also accredited even though it was international, I guess it’s just the policy. What you are saying @CTScoutmom is totally true but unfortunately for me my old GPA counts.
Thank you, I didn’t know about the transcripts but I’ll attach a note explaining the difference in courses of the two schools, and that I took the most rigorous courseload possible at the old school. thank u!
My daughter moved schools after her sophomore year. The first high school was the US News #1 STEM public magnet school with a 0-100 grading system. We moved internationally for work, so the second was a German International School with an IB program that has a 0-7 grading system. We never knew what her 4.0 scale GPA was. She never had a rank.
Colleges admitted her anyway and gave her merit scholarships. The only glitch we had was our State Public U that had an automated system for scholarships based on self-reported data. An email to admissions cleared that up and she was also awarded merit.
My point is, don’t worry about it, the colleges figure it out.
I suggest talking to your high school counselor. My daughter transferred after freshman year and all of her 9th grade classes came in as on-level/unweighted even though it was from a highly competitive school. Her class rank was dismal because she was competing with kids who had already been in honors classes. At our school, class rank is done on the best 24 credits with a credit being 1 semester. At the end of junior year, almost all of freshman classes have fallen off - greatly improving her class rank and GPA.