<p>Hello, I’m an international student. I wanna major in Physics. My apps other components may be competitive, but my GPA is terrible although I am a topper in my class. The education board under which I study is very prudish about giving marks. So which of these places give the most importance to standardized testing and the least to GPA? I don’t know about Dartmouth, but among Yale and Princeton which one is better in Physics? The website of physics at Princeton, gives you the impression that it’s better there but I don’t think that anyone can write Yale off from anything!</p>
<p>[Rankings</a> - Physics - Graduate Schools - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-physics-schools/rankings]Rankings”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-physics-schools/rankings)</p>
<p>Princeton is 5, Yale is 11, and Dartmouth is 70. The general consensus is that a little variation in grad school rank is irrelevant at the undergrad level, and you’ll have an excellent education at any of these institutions. The hard part is getting in.</p>
<p>Colleges view GPA in context. When you say “terrible,” do you mean 2.8 or something like 3.6 [which is solid]. If you have a good class rank, then that’ll offset it provided you go to a good school. </p>
<p>I think they all give comparable focus to standardized testing and GPA. If you show that you can do the work, then you should be alright. Best thing to do is to call admission officers at these schools or ask your guidance counselors.</p>
<p>If your school in general gives low grades, ask your college counselor to explain this in her letter and to use your class rank as a justification that you are in fact an excellent student. If people from your school apply to yale regularly, the international admissions officer will probably already know this and be able to read your application in context.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies. No I don’t think that anyone from my school has applied to any of these places. We don’t even have a GPA system, but considering that some of the schools that I’m considering to apply require me to give my numbers in the American System; that makes it tough for me. If only my final exams or midterm exams are considered my gpa would be decent. Yeah if my Board exam’s grade was considered my Grade Point for that particular exam would have been 3.97, but for unit tests it can go as low as 3.25.</p>