<p>Are there people who have gone to Brown without a 3.5+ GPA? </p>
<p>Just wondering, thanks!</p>
<p>There are, and I know some. The point, however, is that where they went to high school, a 3.2 was outstanding (and/or they were varsity athletes in fields like crew). The GPA doesn’t matter as much as how that compares to students from your school, how your school normally does in the college process, and if you have a hook.</p>
<p>so do colleges look up who went to your school and if so do they perhaps compare transcripts, etc?</p>
<p>At least at my school, all colleges were sent a school profile, which gave the colleges an idea where a student stood in their class. If your school has class rank, that would give an idea as well. At my school however, only 3-4 students a year in a class of about 300 finish with a GPA of about 3.8 or higher. Schools like Brown have seen how accepted students have performed, so they understand that these numbers will be lower than at many schools, and they’re willing to dip deeper into the application pool. I don’t think the schools will make a direct comparison with other applicants from your school, though. The point is more that there’s no magic GPA needed or a cutoff, especially since a 3.5 at one school may be average, while it may be exceptional at another.</p>
<p>A kid at my school got into Georgetown with a 3.4, but the top 10% cutoff is at 3.3, with the valedict having a 3.7. They’ll generally look at your class rank or % rather than GPA.</p>