Hi so im a grade twelve Canadian student. I live in Alberta which has the hardest education system in Canada. Currently I have an 84% average from grade ten marks to so far grade twelve marks… but my average without my grade ten marks is about an 86%.
My family lives in Florida so I was hoping to go to school around there. I understand my GPA isn’t the highest, but because the Canadian curriculum is a lot more advanced than the American curriculum will my GPA be bumped up to a higher grade? I’m looking to apply at FSU, FAU, and UCF.
GPA doesn’t take going to an advanced school into effect. I’m not here to tell you that Canadian schools are easier or harder than American schools, but an American university is not going to tell you that a Canadian school is a lot more advanced than an American school. Colleges are going to compare you to the other students in Alberta. Even if you would be at the top of a Florida high school, they would still take it into account if you were at the bottom of your school system.
As far as GPA goes, it’s hard to tell. Each school will calculate differently. If you have taken any courses that are marked AP, IB, or Honors, your GPA will go up. An B in AP is still better than an A regular. If all of your classes are at regular level, it will be somewhere around a 3.36. They will count all 4 years of high school, no exceptions. If you got a D in 9th grade and made it up later, that D will still be there. Whether or not electives are taken into consideration is up to the school.
Don’t forget, you need to take an ACT or SAT before any of these schools consider you. It is really hard to tell what your chances are without them. The easiest out of the three schools is FAU, then UCF, and FSU is the hardest to get into. FAU you’re going to want an ACT of at least 23, UCF of at least 26, and FSU of at least 28 to have a good chance.
I’m not at the bottom of my school im at the top 20% class rank… All of my classes are also honours. I have written my SAT but I’m not required to write an Act
“Canadian curriculum is a lot more advanced than the American curriculum”
I actually hear that a lot from people who have gone to school in Canada. I also hear similar comments from people who have gone to school in the Caribbeans, and it maybe true; but, no, your GPA will not be bumped up based on the academic rigor of your school. If your school is renowned for producing top notch scholars, then that might be a consideration. But understand that the academic rigor of schools varies a great deal across America as well. So for admission consideration, it’s the GPA along with SAT and/or ACT score that most universities use to judge college readiness. It’s good that you’ve taken the SAT but I would recommend taking the ACT too, as some students tend to do better on one than the other. Right now your academic profile isn’t complete enough to offer any advice on chances, but good luck.
Hi thank you for the info. I actually scored 1750 on my SAT I wrote last year… but I just recently wrote the SAT again two weeks ago so im waiting for those scores back!
Is the ACT harder than the SAT?
Based on my SAT score from last year what would you say my chances are?
I attend a school that gives out some of the best scholarships in Canada… right now I am in the running for receiving the Rutherford scholarship for my third year of high school (I received it for my first and second.)
To give you some more info, I am in all dash one classes… those are the advanced honours classes at my school.
@evermom1 if that helps you chance me please reply! I would love to get all the info I can!!
You could buy the red ACT book and do a practice test under timed conditions to see where you net out. Some students do better on ACT. My son only took ACT. You’re probably fine for FAU even with the 1750. Here is their data set: http://www.fau.edu/admissions/freshmanreq.php . That being said, I haven’t heard how FAU looks at Canadian GPAs.
I would want to nudge higher for FSU, especially with the GPA issue. I do not know as much about UCF.
My son dual enrolls at FAU and it is a wonderful little campus, about 10 minutes from the beach.
Both the ACT and SAT are changing. Some people feel that the SAT is harder than the ACT, but I think the SAT is just trickier, lots of red herrings. In any case, you sound like an excellent student. Were you a Florida resident, I would say you were fine for FAU and UCF. I’m not sure how much of an effect being OOS would help or hurt your chances. I’m guessing you would have to beat out in-state students with similar or better stats because I’m assuming in-state students would have a bit of an edge. Even so, I don’t think you would be rejected with your academic history and winning repeated scholarships. There maybe a chance you would be put on a wait-list and then accepted if there’s room or offered summer or spring admission. Still, I’m betting your application will be impressive enough to get into one of those schools.