In terms of application, there are a number of common terms among the requirements. For example: standardized tests, such as TOEFL and SAT, requested by foreign universities. Add to that the list of requirements that are not as obvious or easy to explain as good academic performance.
It is common that edicts for common scholarships and applications, for graduation or post-graduation, mention this criterion in the description of the selection process. Rather than simply mean “good grades” in the previous training, a good academic performance translates into several aspects of the application.
To begin with, it is necessary to understand how the grades are evaluated by educational institutions. The school history is sent to the university, usually accompanied by a translation into a foreign language, listing which subjects a student has taken and which grades have been obtained.
At this time, universities consider not only the bills separately, but also an average – what, in American institutions, is called GPA. The result can be calculated on the basis of all subjects, or on the basis of subjects considered essential.
Many American students have, for example, dance classes or other electives since high school and this will stop at academic history. At the time of the selection process for universities, such electives are left aside so as not to “pull” the grade up, making the GPA consider only the “principals”.
Standardized examinations
There is yet another aspect to consider when talking about a good academic performance: how can you use a grading system to tell if a student did well in high school in any country in the world? For example, a school in the interior of São Paulo can evaluate students with grades zero to ten, but assessors will not be able to tell what level of requirement the environment is, and what those numbers represent.
Standardized examinations then arise to determine the performance of candidates with the same ruler. ACT, SAT, TOEFL and so many tests set the same criteria, same subjects and same level of requirement for the students who enroll. These results are, therefore, one more factor in the definition of good academic performance.
With the candidate’s bulletin in hand and also his scores on standardized tests, it is easier to say who stood out in the school. There are even more documents that serve for this analysis: attestations that the student was among the top 10% of the class, for example. To get an idea, at top universities like Princeton and Yale, 97% of the student body was among the top 10% of their class.
For overseas graduate applicants, there are even more factors to consider. Among them are the production of knowledge during previous training (through published articles, for example), good results in their professional experience and work – voluntary or otherwise – with a consistent social impact.
“I have bad grades, now what?”
Having a good academic performance does not necessarily mean having top 10 grades. A poor grade, or a particularly difficult semester, can be beaten, even if they reduce a student’s overall average.
If this impact is significant and justifiable, it is worth using the application steps to explain the problem. In the additional comments tab, for example, the student can list the reasons why they had problems in a given period, if they are worthy reasons. A loss in the family, school change or a serious illness may be grounds in this case. It is not worth, however, to occupy an essay with such an explanation, since the purpose of the application is to evidence positive points of the candidate.
If the student is someone who has had medium or bad grades throughout the training, but has shown clear interest in improving, or gradually increased their grades, there are other exits. One of them is to have the letters of reference, written by teachers; to explain how there was an evolution on the part of the student. Or, to say in which other senses, which cannot be measured by notes, the subject does well. After all, good grades are not everything and there are other items to be checked, such as extracurricular activities and leadership skills.
It is worth mentioning that the level of requirements regarding banknotes varies from institution to institution. A less competitive university, other than groups like the Ivy League , can set more flexible standards in the selection.
So what are the selection criteria?
The admissions department at Harvard, the most prestigious American university, lists a series of questions asked when reading an application related to good academic performance. For example, if the student got the maximum result possible, since he had to take on other responsibilities, such as employment and family care.
More than questions related to the notes that constitute the bulletin, this analysis has a holistic character, and considers from extracurricular activities to the personal trajectory of the candidate. In the words of Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at Harvard, William R. Fitzsimmons, selection is “more an art than a science,” given the many aspects taken into account. “We know that we work with imperfect information and that no one can predict with certainty what an individual will achieve in college and beyond,” he explained in an interview with The Choice, a New York Times blog.
At the university itself, there are discussions about how to select students who may not have done well in Chemistry and Mathematics, for example, but they are promising students. For Helen Vendler, the question does not refer to Harvard’s ability to select future good lawyers and engineers , but to identify students with potential in creative areas. “The question is, do we get the most out of Emily Dickinsons of the future? How can we identify these people? What should we ask in interviews? How are we going to make them want to join us? “Helen Vendler says in her text on the Harvard admissions website.
It is therefore a complex process – taking into account notes, indicative of leadership skills and areas of interest – and different for each university. More than a good academic performance in the bulletin, the student must demonstrate the characteristics that make it unique and a good acquisition to the institution. Whether this is a special talent and dedication to dance, whether its trajectory in peripheral regions of your country of origin, or your mathematical skills.
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