I have excellent grades in class 9 and 10. However, my class 11 are only average and my class 12 marks are pretty bad (international curriculum). How do I compensate for these bad grades? I haven’t written AP or anything of that sort, but I have written SAT Subject Tests and gotten 800 in Chemistry and Math 2 and 740 in Physics. I also have a SAT score of 1490.
How? You don’t. You can only make the best going forward by getting into a the best program you can find in college and making a new start. Your SATs will give you a little more leeway but you need to be realistic. Your Jr and Sr year GPAs are the best indicators of success in colleges and they know it. Your choices will be limited.
But that’s OK. You get a “reset” next September. Craft a wide set of target colleges. Good luck.
You will still have options even with lower grades, just not Ivies or US News top 20 schools. Make a realistic set of colleges, and like the above poster says, you will get a “reset” next September.
Define bad. Are you talking a string of Bs? Cs and Ds?
@mamaedefamilia Well, Bs mainly in eleventh grade. Although, my curriculum is really hard and that’s what mainly students score. Above 80 (out of 100) is really good (according to various university websites) and I have gotten around 80 in eleventh grade but only in 60s in twelfth grade.
You can’t compensate for your academic record. It is what it is. You have good standardized test scores and if your academic record is good but not great you have to find realistic schools for you. There are many good colleges that will be happy to have a student like you. They may not be the top ranked schools in the country but they will be very good schools. Do some research and find schools that are a good match for you.
This:
You can’t. Seek out colleges that match your actual academic record.
@InfiniteLibrary you say you are doing international curriculum. Are you doing IB? Are you aware of the grade boundaries for IB? An “80” may be a B for a US HS but for IB it may be a “7” which is the highest possible score. You will be compared only to other IB students - they do not take IB grades and look at them through the lense of a US grading system.
@CValle Nope not in IB - I am in CBSE.
Ok - so even CBSE grades are NOT equivalent to US high school grades. Are you comparing them as if on a one to one comparison?
@CValle What do you mean by a one to one comparison?
I’m not really comparing CBSE and US grades, mainly since I do not know what to compare them to. I am not completely sure if my scores are average or bad or anything. It is somewhat above average as compared to many others. My school is particularly tough too, but it doesn’t really have any ranking system.
My questions may seem or are probably dumb! I’m sorry - the whole admission process seems like an infinite web! Thank you so much for the replies!
You can compensate by demonstrating that you’re academically capable by taking college courses and doing well or showing that you’re half-intelligent through extracurriculars. I compensated for my failures in freshmen bio by publishing a couple scientific papers in peer-review journals; my friends made up for their poor cs grades by competing in usa computing olympiad. You can also try lessening the blow and explain your reason that you did so poorly in comparison to your earlier grades in your essays. Can I ask your reason why you’ve done badly in those two years?
Otherwise go to a mid-tier college and just transfer if you don’t feel like you fit in academically there.
Even I am in CBSE and we are quite similar academically!
In fact your performance in 11th is commendable!
PM me I might be able to help you
You are saying that you got “Bs” because you got “80 out of 100” and now you are doing bad because you are getting “60 out of 100.”
What I am trying to explain is that different systems have different cutoffs for their grading.
For example, in IB HL Math, if you get above a 74 - you get the HIGHEST possible grade (a 7). But a 74% in the US system is only a C. So basically - a 74 in one system is NOT the same as a 74 in another system.
So you are “doing bad” because you are gettting a 60. But colleges will compare you to other CBSE students (they get lots of applications and your application will be reviewed by someone familiar with the CBSE system most likely). If a 60 is “good” in the CBSE system…they will read it as a good 60 and not a bad 60. CBSE is notoriously difficult and my guess is that the grade boundaries are much lower than they are in the US.
Does that make sense?
In effect you are comparing apples and oranges instead of apples to apples.
@CValle Yea that makes sense. Thank you so much!
A Class XI 60 is closer to a B+/A- than to an “American 60%” - as CValle explained, numbers don’t “mean” the same thing. If a 60 is top 10% for national board exams, then it’s very good.
I have a 78.4% in my 11th grade and 63.2% in my midterms.
Despite that I got accepted into PURDUE for FYE and RIT with 18k scholarship.
As far as I know, some of these top schools don’t place emphasis on CBSE internal examinations.
For eg: UIUC only asked me my 10th CBSE results and nothing else. No 9th grade CGPA, no 11th grade marks or 12th grade midterm results.
** So, you just have to take the extra effort, email every prospective college and just ask, whether they give weight-age to it or not. And if they do, what is considered as a good percentage. **
One cannot compare the CBSE grading system to the American, IGCSE or IB board. This is because in our internal markings, the teacher correct our papers strictly, often taking the marks we deserve so that we are motivated to score more in the boards.
And considering the number of applicants from India, I am pretty sure most of the admission officers do know that.
I would say your SAT Scores and school grades are more like switches.
If one goes does try compensating for it by scoring higher on the other.
I fetched a not so impressive 1370 on the SAT, but I am quite confident because I scored 88% in class XI and a 95.4% in XII( with a 99 /100 in Phy Ed.).
I believe they consider the Indian Education System to be tough. Topics like Calculus are taught to us in Grade 12( Terms like Bayes Theorem, Alpha Decay, Coordination Number, Grignard Reagent etc seem like long-lost sisters! XD XD; I am a gap year student)
At the end of the day, you are going there to attain education. So naturally your grades do matter. UC’s have an appreciable International acceptance rate and they do look for Grades( Check their website, they mention Applicant Grades at the top of their Admission Factors List)
@IamINTP Congrats! This year’s admission process is strange. In fact, I heard that this year Purdue is trying to increase its average incoming freshman GPA. You seem lucky!
o.o So I see. I did not know that.
My predicted class 12th percentage ranges from 90%-94%… so maybe that might’ve helped.
Besides that I have a spike in the STEM field.
Good luck with your applications! 