<p>Arent GPA's just really inflated. I mean compare some kid at an 'easy' school where he easily get a 4. And a kid at another school which is 'hard' and gets lets say a 3.6 how will these two be viewed. Assume same SAT score.
I ask cuz in my school, no one gets an A. Firstly, assignments are not factored in. Imagine giving an exam every quarter and the grade on ur exam being ur report card. Secondly, the curriculum is so frickin hard, people jump up and down at B's</p>
<p>Your class rigor and your grades are the most important part of your app. So GPA matters a lot. Colleges usually assign adcoms to specific regions. This way the adcom dealing with your app is very familiar with your area and school, so they’ll know about any grade inflation/deflation. They take the competitiveness and rigor of your school into account.</p>
<p>That’s why gpa is not as important as class rank. If you have a 3.2 gpa, but are in the top 5%, you will look better than one with a 3.7 and top 15%.</p>
<p>If no one gets an ‘A’, how does one have a 3.6 gpa?</p>
<p>of course GPA matters. It is one of the top 3 things colleges look at on an application</p>
<p>^but gpa is taken in context if class rank.</p>
<p>Look at the Common Data Set for the school your are interested in. It will tell you. One of the schools my son is looking at does not use GPA.</p>
<p>My school doesnt rank. Or give GPA. My GPA isnt 3.6. That was a supposed example</p>
<p>Even if your school does not rank, they would have some idea by comparing you with other students from the same school. GPA alone has little meaning. They would have to look at the rigorous of classes taken and class rank altogether.</p>
<p>Grade inflation is certainly a BIG problem. My understanding is that in our local school district nearly half of the students graduate with Honors. I have read that at Universities like Harvard over 91% are graduating with honors. I have personally met many, many local students who have a 4.0 or higher. Additionally, a lot of student are thinking their 4.0 is out of 4.0 when honor and AP classed are out of 5.0 – so a 4.0 is really only a B average at a school that give an un-proportional amount of A’s.</p>
<p>Class rank is another thing that really should be taken with a grain of salt. Independent schools often accept only top students – so a student in the top half of an independent might be in the top 5% or 10% of her local public school.</p>
<p>As billcsho said even if your school does not rank the admin office will rank you in comparison with your class. They will use the school profile and GPAs to estimate a rank for you. Even if you have a 5.8 GPA that may only put you in the top 40% for your school. Some other student at a different school may have a 3.3 GPA and be in the top 12% of his school. Estimating is a way they can see where you stand among your peers. But since high school GPAs are all over the place you really can’t compare from one school to another.</p>
<p>After that they will use your rigor and ACT/SAT test scores to compare you to students from other schools along with ECs, essays, etc.</p>
<p>So basically GPA only matters for your school compared to your fellow students.</p>
<p>What if im the only kid applying? Then what? Im a US citizen living abroad. (I have checked, that doesnt make me int’l) now my record is inflated, rank cannot be determined, and gpa in my opinion is useless 
but my opinion doesnt matter compared to the admission office</p>
<p>kldat1</p>
<p>Agreed - however the Valedictorian at an academically poor school certainly did not get the same education (and probably is not the same caliber of student) as a top (but not 1st in her class) student who attended a prestigious boarding school or a top ranked public school. A clever person at an “easy” school might do as well on his ACT/SAT as hard working student at an academically rigorous school. Who is better / preferred student?</p>
<p>Your high school will send a profile of grade distributions along with your transcript. That is how the schools you apply to will be able to estimate your rank.</p>
<p>@LehighMH - that would be up to the adcoms and what the school is looking for. Some schools may favor the val and what is probably an under represented school while other schools may favor the kid from the more challenging school even though they were down the list in class rank. Comparing them on “equal” ground via test scores they come out the same. You could argue either way which is a better candidate.</p>
<p>The problem is there are too many students who go to “easy” grade inflated schools who are smart enough to do well on their SAT. No rigor and most likely an inferior High School education - yet in the eyes of an admission officer “equal”.</p>