I have very nice and helpful teachers for the most part in my school, and the majority of teachers give more extra credit than my previous school. My school’s cirriculum is more rigorous than my previous school, yet I still feel like students are getting slightly higher grades because of the kind teachers. Could be just me, but I don’t know.
Do the colleges ever ask for the transcripts of other students in the same school to not just check for top rank, but to check for grade inflation? My AP scores of 4s and 5s correspond to my As and A+s, but I fear that may not be the case for other students. In a class discussion, I could clearly see that a lot of students had no idea what they were talking about during AP Computer Science. Yet, they probably got an A+ because the substitute teacher barely knew how to code (facepalm) and probably gave everyone 100% because of that (he gave me 100% on every single coding assignment, even the one I rushed in a hurry and the code didn’t even work).
I don’t think they can ask. And aren’t you a freshman?
^ Sophomore, according to a previous post. The one I had read before that mentioned 8th grade GPA and seemed to imply freshman, but I think maybe that one was just unclear.
No they won’t. However, they can compare your transcript to whatever other students from your high school apply there. In addition, your guidance counselor will send the school report to them which includes details such as highest GPA in the class and distribution, and advanced coursework offered (and whatever restrictions may be on them), among other things).
Ummmm, no. Privacy laws.
Often the school will provide a school profile which lists AP/IB/advanced classes offered, GPA by decile, school policy, and other fun facts. [url=http://www.newton.k12.ma.us/cms/lib8/ma01907692/centricity/domain/28/counseling/nnhsprofile2014-2015.pdf]Here[/url] is an example.
As others have said, they can’t check grade inflation directly, but SAT/ACT scores can be indicators of grade inflation. If the top 10 students of your class can’t get an SAT/ACT score higher than a 2000/30, then there may be grade inflation at your school.
Your school’s report should provide information about how GPA is distributed and what the mean is. That should help colleges to interpret the extent of grade inflation, if any. As already mentioned, unusually low test scores as compared to grades distribution might also raise a red flag.
As a soph, you can’t have all your AP scores yet. And it’s usually to soon to assume your peers have peaked.
Adcoms can know the level of past and current applicants from your hs.
If your teachers think you’re a step ahead of those other kids, then you should get strong LoRs.