Question About Grades + General Worries (help would be appreciated :) )

Prep School Admissions
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Hi! I’ve already posted a early chance me and i’ll paste it down here too but I was wondering if my grades for this year are adequate for boarding school admission. I’m definetely going to get a better math grade next year as it got dropped because of provincial testing that is no longer standardized so now everyone get between 50-80 percent… Regardless of how high your grade was before. My grades this year were honestly kind of abismal, but I was crazy busy at the end of semester 1 when it counted and the first half of semester two as this year was my first time really juggling wrestling with school. 92 in geography, 94 in english, 92 in math (way worse than previous years bc of the test), 91 in french, 90 in dance, 90 in science, 93 in religion and 81 in gym (hand eye coordination isnt exactly stellar :sob:). Would love some insight on how my grades would look to AOs, I’m absolutely going to work my butt off this coming year so the most recen report card that they see is stunning. Also wondering if having a job counts as an EC, I just started working as a swim instructor for kids!

About me below
Demographic: First gen canadian + female applying for 11th grade 2026-2027. currently go to a plain old catholic school with not a ton of funding, got into an IB school for next year though so ill be completing some 11th grade classes in 10th
Languages: Fully fluent in french + english
Sports: Wrestling and cheerleading
Cubs: Debate, Mock Trial, STEAM, French, Equity Interact (finding ways to help the community)
Volunteering: Tons of running events, junior coach for middle school wrestling, cleaning my park, tutor math, volunteering at a math camp for younger kids this summer
Extra ECs: Violin since i was 5 (can no longer afford lessons so ive been teaching myself for the last couple of years), piano since I was 6, lifeguarding, patriot for my current school (in charge of a 7th grade class throughout the year and talk to the 6th graders at our feeder skls)
Grades: All 90s and above except for gym (81 this year, 78 last year)… unfortunately dodgeball is not my forte. 96 in math last year.
FA + Money in general: Live with a single dad, mom went byebye in 5th grade so there’s basically no way i can pay the tuition. can’t get as many opportunities to beef up app too so im trying to find as many as I can that wont cost an absolute fortune
SSAT: Practice test went great only got 1 math question wrong and did stellar on qualitative. Aiming for 98th percentile if i use the SSAT resources enough
EXTRA!!!: Gifted kid, passion for biomedical engineering, chosen to go to local university program to take courses for the last 2 years (genomes + biomedical engineering)

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Are you a high school student in Quebec?

The reason that I ask is that I was once upon a time a high school student in Quebec, and at least in my experience the grade scales there are quite different compared to the grade scales used at high schools in the USA. The grades that you are mentioning would have been very good in the high school that I attended, and would have put you pretty close to being the top student in the high school (one or two students would have edged you out in math, but not overall). Down here in the US where I live now, these grades might or might not put you in the top 10% and are still quite good, but are not as close to “top student in high school” compared to where I went to high school.

I think that your guidance counselor might be better able to help you, or you could just wait and see what happens.

And in my experience university admissions are quite good at understanding the grading scales that are typical in different high schools, and interpreting grades in the appropriate context. I would expect the same to be true for boarding school admissions.

It is difficult to know how much your need for financial aid will impact admissions to any particular boarding school.

Dodgeball was not my forte either. :slight_smile:

Best wishes and bonne chance.

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Hi! I go to school in Ontario (I am billingual tho!), but this coming school year I’ll be going to an IB school so the grading scale will translate much better in the US. Totally get the grading scale thing, an A here is 80-100 while basically anywhere else that’s 90 and above.

Merci pour toute l’aide!

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I wouldn’t worry about your grades at all. They are fine!

Your biggest hurdle is probably going to be needing a lot of FA as an international student. Definitely ask about that in your interviews – not sure if that’s as big an obstacle for a Canadian as some others.

You look like a very interesting applicant. Anywhere that has IB and/or girls wrestling would probably see you as a great fit too.

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Hoping that being Canadian might come in clutch, especially considering they wouldn’t really have to contribute to transportation as I live really close to the border + getting a student visa will probably be easier. I’ll definitely address FA at interviews and I’ll ask questions during the tours this summer!

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