Percentile pains!

schrodingerscat
Sat, 13 Feb 2010 19:12:25 +0000

I’m from overseas, but how do they consider the percentiles of students from selective schools?

My school has a senior cohort of around 240 students (the norm over here), and each year we have around 4 students in the top 0.05% (who graduate with a score of 99.95, calculated by considering all of their subjects) with around 50 in the top 1%. The median’s usually around the top 2 or 3%, and we usually have 20-30 students (in 2008 we had 35) topping the state in a subject, which is highly, highly, highly unusual. I usually come in the top 2 or 3 students of my year level, but the gradings are exceptionally competitive and artificial (often students who don’t attain the top marks within the school top the state in the subject). My question is, would a school like Princeton consider the exceptionally competitive nature of my school, despite the fact that it’s overseas and hence doesn’t have a reputation in the US? It’s really well known over here.