Is an 85% average a 3.0 GPA? What would be the basic requirement in average grade percentage for the Ivies? Is an 85% average too low? Cause I live outside the US and this is considered a pretty high average here. (Also bear in mind that this is my total average, without considering the ammount of credits I get from each subject, so perhaps my GPA would be higher?)
My grades from the most important and longer subjects are the highest, and the ones from the much less significant subjects(and much shorter, like 2 hours or less a week) like art or gym are the lower ones. I guess the adcoms will that into account.
It really depends where outside of the US you are from…you could be anywhere from a mid B to an A average. For example for Canadian students, my understanding is that it’s not uncommon for 5-10% to be added to the percentage grade of each subject and then calculated into GPA, if knowing the GPA is required (ie for the academic index).
Otherwise, admissions has a good handle on what a certain grade in your country would translate to in the US. They will also be interested in how challenging your course load is, and where you stand relative to your peers. I am not sure if they give extra weight to more “significant” subjects than others. Again, that would most likely depend on what the education system is like in your country.