<p>I hear the average GPA of highschool students who apply to Stanford is 3.9, however I'm looking around, and I see many who have a 3.9-4.0 unweighted GPA were rejected, and mostly those who were accepted have about a 3.7-3.8 unweighted GPA. Why is this? Is the "average GPA" (3.9), weighted or unweighted? Is it only for certain classes? Certain school grades (10th and 11th only)?</p>
<p>What I've seen lately is that Stanford admissions are less... linear than other university admissions. So maybe it just happens that the people with the 3.7's have more of a life than those with the 4.0's? ;) I don't know for sure, though.</p>
<p>the people with lower uw gpa's usually have higher w gpa's- for example, I have a 3.89 uw but a 5.02 w. I could easily get a 4.0 W and UW but its hard to get a high W and UW</p>
<p>Those with lower GPAs probably had more promise than those with the (insignificantly) higher GPAs. Generally, though, the applicants with promise (strength of character, leadership, etc.) tend to have higher GPAs.</p>
<p>7% of the kids in the US go to private school while schools like Stanford have over 35% from private schools. GPAs are likely to be lower among those coming from strong privates.</p>