High school grades

Junior year and senior year grades (11th, 12th) are most important.

I attended the (arguably) second best state school in California and we didn't rank. Not a big deal.

Reply 3

shady lane

16

I went to a top private school in my state, and we didn't have rankings or GPAs. They just sent our transcript with our grades on them and highlighted any Honors or AP classes. I'm really glad we didn't rank actually, would have made things too stressful.

Reply 4

^^

Oh I totally agree. But even without rankings we were so stressed out... like OMG should I take choir because it might lower my GPA? Haha. We were oh so smart but oh so stupid.

Reply 5

IB-more

I didn't really think it mattered... until this year (I'm a junior). It's not worth stressing about, though. I mean, I try to do the best work I can with IB. Grades are just numbers, or so I keep trying to remind myself. I am not defined my numbers on a piece of paper. I am not defined by numbers on a piece of paper. I am not defined by numbers on a piece of paper.

That's my mantra.

Reply 6

^^

You are very smart.

Reply 7

WokSz

17

They ranked in my school, making things a whole lot more stressful! That's maybe I could deal with it, and did the English system!

Reply 8

OP

I would love to be ranked... I would probably be in the top 5 then :smile:

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Reply 9

Forester

we have ranks. its good to see ur always in the top 3

Reply 10

Jenii

15

Aren't the ranks pretty meaningless because it depends on what type of school you go to?

People at really good schools may not make the top three or five or whatevers important yet would if they were at a regular school, so how can universties use it objectively?

Reply 11

When universities assess your application, they usually are familiar with your high school. Most good high schools send out a legend with your transcript and a school profile. My high school sends 99% to higher education so even if you aren't in the top five or top ten, people still get in good places. We send like 10 to ivies every year, 10 to Berkley, 10 to UCLA, 10 to UCSD, 10 to USC, others to random UC's and Pasadena City College and a couple of students to Oxbridge/St. Andrews/foreign schools (though a student in '05 was the first to be admitted to Oxford from our school and I was the first St. Andrews-lite. We started a UK trend!)

Conversely, if you have achieved amazing things at a rural high school in Mississipi where everyone drop outs and gets pregnant, that'll give you major brownie points on your application.

Reply 12

OP

My high school was ranked in the top 3 schools in the Netherlands one or two years ago, but lost that place this year I believe.

Reply 13

^^^

Just saw you were 13 on your profile. WOW. When are you applying to uni? It can't be this year can it?

Reply 14

OP

Of course not :smile:

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Anyway, my birthday is after two weeks... I'm currently in the 3rd form (=grade 9 in US) (I skipped 1 class at elementary school).

Never too early too start thinking about your future :smile:

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Reply 15

Ah okay. Just wondering if you were a prodigy. lol. Just a word to the wise though... don't start obsessing too soon. Be concerned about it, but remember to relax and remember everyone who is anyone ultimately ends up somewhere. I made the mistake of mapping out my future starting in eigth grade and I would not reccomend it. I promise you, the places you decide you want to go to at age fourteen will change... I always wanted to go to Dartmouth... didn't apply.

Please remember to enjoy yourself and don't be a perfectionist... it killed 1/3 of my soul. You have time yet and believe me, at my high school everyone does apps at the midnight hour. You might sit you here saying oh no I won't ever, ever procrastinate like that; you will, believe me. If you don't think so, just remember this and see if it is true when you're applying three years from now. haha.

Good luck with everything.

Reply 16

dobedobedo

what is ap and gpa? they dont do that in england

Reply 17

GPA stands for Grade Point Average. It's your grades in the US. Over here we have schoolwork that is continually assessed and cumulative, so it's pretty much impossible to slack off all semester just for the exam. In Britain, from what I've read, you are much more exam oriented.

AP stands for Advanced Placement. They are supposed to be like university level courses taken in high school, roughly similiar to A Levels. They are less in depth, but to counterbalance that I think top US students tend to take more exams. At the end of May there are exams students pay $80 a piece for (a BAD cause to surrender your money to in my opinion) with multiple choice questions and three timed essays of 40 minutes. AP Exams help in admissions, but your actual grade in the coursework in the class is more important (arguably).

Reply 18

OP

ebonyphoenix

Ah okay. Just wondering if you were a prodigy. lol. Just a word to the wise though... don't start obsessing too soon. Be concerned about it, but remember to relax and remember everyone who is anyone ultimately ends up somewhere. I made the mistake of mapping out my future starting in eigth grade and I would not reccomend it. I promise you, the places you decide you want to go to at age fourteen will change... I always wanted to go to Dartmouth... didn't apply.

Please remember to enjoy yourself and don't be a perfectionist... it killed 1/3 of my soul. You have time yet and believe me, at my high school everyone does apps at the midnight hour. You might sit you here saying oh no I won't ever, ever procrastinate like that; you will, believe me. If you don't think so, just remember this and see if it is true when you're applying three years from now. haha.

Good luck with everything.

Probably you're right :smile:

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The problem is that I've always been a perfectionist, and it's very annoying sometimes... People have always told me that I should forget about my grades now and enjoy life, but I have a competitive soul and just always want to do well (better than others). I finally started realizing that one cannot focus on one's future too much, but make use of the present. It's just hard for me because I am a perfectionist, but I'll try to change that.

Reply 19