<p>I am trying to figure out what the typical GPA is for admits into SCS. My son has pretty good SAT scores (780M, 680CR 760W), but his GPA is not quite as strong (3.75 unweighted - our school does not weight). Is this competitive? </p>
<p>He was a Microsoft High School Intern this summer (one of 50) and has done some other computer realted stuff (digipen summer wrokshops, AP Comp SCi). He also has other math and science EC's (although no big awards or anything)</p>
<p>I'm guessing he at least has a decent chance based on the CMU website, but I've also heard how tough SCS is to get into. Does anyone know how strong his chance are?</p>
<p>A lot depends on your school. If for example 20% of your school had 4.0s then a 3.75 would be not so good. But if he's one of the top students and you are at a school without a lot of grade inflation then it's a fine score. If he's taken the hardest courses and those with the 4.0's haven't, he's also probably fine. It's all about contest, your son's GC's recommendation should provide that context.</p>
<p>I presume you've seen Admission</a> Statistics. Your son's GPA is about the same as the average (mean or median - don't think they say) of the SCS freshman class. I'd say his chances are reasonable, looks like a match, but with a 15% acceptance rate there are no guarantees.</p>
<p>Thanks, mathmom. Our school does not weight, so it's hard to tell exactly where he fits. His class rank is only between top 15 and 20% because there are a lot of 4.0's that have few ap and other advanced classes. The grading is much harder in the advanced classes. My son has taken an extremely difficult scheudule (almost all AP and honors) and is even taking math at the local community college as he has finished both AP Computer Science AB and BC. We plan to meet with his GC and are hopeful she will provide the context. I've advocated for weighting grades, at least for ranking purposes, as it really disadvantages those that take more challenging courseloads.</p>
<p>WAMOM, I think CMU really likes students that have challenged themselves and taken the most difficult course load possible.</p>
<p>Also, weighting classes doesn't always fix rankings issues. I was barely in the top 10% at my school since I had taken all of the most difficult AP courses and done well in all of them (usually A-/B+) while most of the students ranked higher than me took all normal classes with maybe one or two APs which were easy As. So I finished with around a 4.1 weighted, they had slightly higher since they had always gotten straight As. Thankfully most colleges out there recognize this, as I wound up getting into "better" schools than they did. :p</p>
<p>Your son has better SAT scores than mine (freshman SCS). My advice is for you to get him to take the ACT which my S says had harder math, science, and easier English, all three of which worked to his benefit. He finished with a 35 which give him a much better equivalent SAT score, and your S has a good shot at getting a 2340+ equivalent. </p>
<p>I wish I knew what criteria they use and what gets weighted high. I agree with one of the other responses - in a CMU admissions presentation they did make a point about taking the hardest courses available. While my S had a class rank of about 7/340 weighted, his unweighted was much worse for precisely the reasons you've cited, but still within the top 10%. </p>
<p>Thanks for all the advice. My son is going to take a practicew ACT next week and well see how he does. We'll just have to hope they can understand the context of his grades.</p>
<p>I'm sure CMU will understand as long as the GC is abundantly clear in her statement concerning the lack of weighting for class rank. Honestly, I agree your school is, at this point, in the minority and is doing a great disservice by not weighting. It just doesn't make any sense and is clearly unfair to kids like your son.</p>
<p>Don't be shy about asking your GC how they handle this. They can easily write something like: "Our high school bases ranking on unweighted GPAs, however if we did weight grades ___ would rank in the top 1%" or "<em>_'s class rank is based on unweighted grades, among students with a similar challenging course load _</em> is one of our top students."</p>
<p>You can always try doing an alumni interview. I just signed up to be a representative in the LA area (apparently there's around 900 of us nationwide, so there should be one near you)!</p>
<p>Thanks for all the great advice. We are trying to arrange a visit, although it is hard to miss school, so we may just go with an inteview locally.</p>