First things first. GPA is the final scores of 9thgrade (3rd of gymnasium), 10thgrade (1st of Lyceum), 11thgrade (2nd Lyceum, or IB1), and predictions for 12th grade or IB2. The is one of the most important factors for USA Universities admissions as it indicates how well a student performs and how strong the applicant is academically, not only in one year but in four.
For universities, it is really important to see if as an excellent student at their final year of high school has also been excellent in the past three years or he/she improved in the long run. Most elite colleges require a GPA of 4/4, which indicates that the student excels consistently – in all years of highschool, as the admissions officers seek for their freshmen classes the best students from each school.
However, GPA is not the only indicator of academic strength. Universities also take account –in conjuction with the GPA- the SAT scores, especially for international students whose mother tongue is not English.
Thus GPA and SAT scores are the two factors that will break it or cut it in the first part of admissions. This is due to the fact that admission officers cannot read the thousands of applications that students sent. Thus they use an indicative academic index (a number that results of the combination of SAT and GPA) to see whose application they are going to read and evaluate and which applicants do not have the academic credentials to make it into the second phase of applications’ exvaluations.
This is an example of an academic index. Each university obviously uses different data set and have unique academic indexes based on which they evaluate applicants.
The students in the deep blue section of the graph are automatically considered for admission and financial aid/academic merit. And as the color changes towards becoming white the chances of a student to make it into the particular university become lower and lower.
Since this is the first screening of an application, it is safe to assume that both GPA and SAT scores play a vital role in universities’ decisions on applicants. And though different universities have different standards it is very important for a student to know from early on that his/her grade of the final four years will be the ones which can help him/her get into the university of their dreams.
The CLC mentors stress this not very commonly known fact in every opportunity and meeting with parents so to guide our students towards academic excellence and subsequently into their top choice Universities. That is why we stand by our students’ side and work on their profile from as early on as the beginning of 9th grade (3rd of gymnasium) until they reach their goals with much of their effort and lots of our guidance and assistance.
