<p>GPA lacks any type of level standard, as each school has its own degree of grade inflation, deflation, etc. If one is ranked #1 in his or her school, GPA does not matter in terms of college admissions, correct? But that's just my logic. </p>
<p>A kid could have a 3.92 GPA in HS 1, but be valedictorian. Another kid could have a 4.00 but be only 75% in his class. Assuming a standard grade inflation/deflation for both schools, won't the first kid look much better?</p>
<p>It is looked at in the context of your school. If you’re number 1, with a 3.90, you did the best a that school and the grading there may be harder. My feeling is if 40 or 50 people get 4.0, then maybe we have a little grade inflation going on???</p>
<p>yes…</p>
<p>While this might often be true, it is not always true. Not every kid takes the same courses. In our school district there is no weighting for courses. An A in basket weaving (we don’t really have basket weaving, of course) is worth just as much as an A in AP Calculus. We regularly have multiple valedictorians, some of whom take few advanced courses.</p>
<p>This is why colleges and universities look at transcripts and amass information about individual high schools to the extent they can.</p>
<p>Instead of looking at grade inflation, do colleges consider “competition”?</p>
<p>I’ve always wondered this. At a neighbor school I know, a 3.8 will be one of the highest ranks (top 5 probably). Not because it is a tough school BY ANY MEANS, just that it is very very very uncompetitive (no one cares about school…). At my school however, a 3.98 will only be top 15 because it has the IB program thus everyone cares about school aka competition.</p>
<p>Milwdad - I wonder if that is true (look at transcripts and amass information about individual high schools) in the age of tens of thousands of applications. With some many schools getting thousands upon thousands of applications every year, I think it is more likely that the essays will be read and a cursory look at the transcript and scores to see if they are in the range. A Veldictorian will be noticed right off the bat.</p>
<p>They look at all three aspects of your transcript: rank, rigor, and gpa.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>GPA is definitely considered as well. For example, even if you’re a val with many AP’s, a gpa of 3.2 will raise eyebrows unless your school is very well known and reputed. A random public school may have hard grading, but let’s be honest, it’s not as tough as the grading at Cornell, for example, where that 3.2 may become a 2.2</p>
<p>A kid could have a 3.92 GPA in HS 1, but be valedictorian. Another kid could have a 4.00 but be only 75% in his class. Assuming a standard grade inflation/deflation for both schools, won’t the first kid look much better?</p>
<p>^As mentioned, the 3.92 GPA valedictorian might simply attend a less competitive high school. For example, a girl who was ranked 3 at her previous high school moved to our school this year and is now rank 60.</p>
<p>This is why many top private schools don’t rank their students. The student may be number 1 at their local public school, but barely top 10% at the high school I attend.</p>
<p>Ironically enough, our school still sends grade distributions. They even break down the grade distributions by teacher, since some teachers are FAR more difficult than other teachers.</p>