<p>Hello,</p>
<p>I wanted to ask how good are straight eight A grades in your O'levels if you want to apply to universities like Harvard and MIT ? Are they equal to a 4.0 GPA or something ? I've heard that A's and A*s are usually treated the same at Universities - is it true ?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>The fact is that the more As or A<em>s that one has, the better. But if you think that a great O-level result is a major thing to get you into MIT or Harvard or in fact any great institution, you are mistaken, sir. Sure they look at your O-levels but your A-level transcript is much more important in comparison. They want to see how good you are now and are not greatly concerned with how good you were two years ago when you gave your O-levels. And as for the GPA thing, they have a separate system for us. Just know that if your result is good in Pakistan, it will be considered good in America. I am not sure about the A and A</em> being treated equally part but probably not. To conclude, the things that make a good applicant from Pakistan are : Good A-level transcripts, good essays, good Extracurriculars, good recommendations, good SAT or ACT scores and good O-level results.</p>