<p>I go to one of the top public high schools in VA. Our school is extremely competitive. To be in top 10 percent, you must have at least a 4.8 if not higher. The valedictorian for both years (only 2 graduating classes) has had over a 5.1. We give .17 for honors and AP classes. Therefore, the top 36 students (top 10 percent) are between a 4.8 and 5.19. If you have a 4.6 or 4.7 and are still 50-60th in your class, will colleges focus more on your GPA or class rank.</p>
<p>i think its GPA, isnt it?</p>
<p>How about this? My school is so "competitive" that I get out at 6 and nothing is weighted; oh, and the top GPA is well below 100.</p>
<p>Class Rank > GPA</p>
<p>Of course, it's all in context. If you have a 4.0 unweighted but your school has so much GPA inflation that you still have a really low rank, it won't matter. However, if you're not in the top 10 or 20 percent, barring some phenomenal hook that you might have, it will be tough to get into the most competitive universities.</p>
<p>And I'm graduating with a 6.3, and I wouldn't be surprised if our top 10% cutoff wasn't near what you mentioned, so yeah.</p>
<p>Hey, do you go to thomas jefferson?</p>
<p>There have been well over two graduating classes from TJ. :)</p>
<p>My school's similar. Honors get one bonus point, APs two. Weighted GPA calculated by adding unweighted (on 4.0 scale) to (bonus points)/15.</p>
<p>My school simply doesnt send rank to colleges and most competitive schools shouldn't. Having a 94 average puts you only in the top 25%; a 97 is something like top 5%. Seriously, a 95 average is very respectable but the fact that it makes your rank around 100/700 makes you look like a slacker.</p>
<p>Lynxie, my school's like yours. No weighting, top GPA's 84/100. Sucks.</p>
<p>And the silly thing is that because your school has standards, and doesn't treat an 80 in an AP course like a freaking 100, you look bad when you don't have a lovely 4.0 GPA.</p>
<p>Our weight isn't that much. We do it out of 100, and they multiply Honors by 1.04 and APs by 1.06.</p>
<p>So what the hell do you want to hear? Applause?</p>
<p>It seems as if the school also has a lot of grade inflation, if such a high percentage of students are getting such stellar gpa's.</p>
<p>There is no straight answer to your question. While colleges will understand that you come from a competitive school, you still have to stack up well in relation to your class mates, which means that, just like everybody else who aspires to the most </p>
<p>Phooey. My previous post was eaten.</p>
<p>GPA's are difficult to compare because of the different scales. Some use a 4 point scale, some use 5, some use 6, some use 100, some use who knows what.</p>
<p>A bunch of people in your class with sky-high GPA's can mean one of two things:
1) Your school is really competitive
2) Your school is uncompetitive and hands out many easy A's, which leads to high GPA's.</p>
<p>GPA is like time - It is relative.</p>
<p>wow..deep.....</p>