@captamer Emory recalculates your GPA without freshman year grades so the GPA with not so great grades sophomore and junior year would be worrisome. Emory was big on GPA being more important than scores when we went to the information session and tour in September.
I have never seen or heard from any Emory admissions official that 9th grade grades aren’t counted.
@ljberkow this is what they are now telling all the applicants. My son was told by his AO and all the kids going to local high school visits were told this as well. Mark Butt also talks about in his information session at the school. They do not count 9th grade in your GPA.
@ljberkow when my child applied last year they specifically said they recalculate omitting 9th grade grades.
The Emory tour guides are also told to let people know as well. It’s not that they don’t look at them it’s that they aren’t included in the calculation of your GPA.
@collegemom9 : I suspect that this exclusion is made on a case by case basis and may be made for a huge chunk of the pool, but for a decent chunk, seeing frosh grades and contextualizing it versus the whole transcript would be helpful , so regardless of how they “calculate” them numerically, I suspect that they are viewed and considered in a myriad of cases. Ultimately, they have access to a 4 year GPA, and getting a 3 year is an additional step/algorithm needed.
It is what Emory admissions is now sharing with all incoming applicants at both high school visits and tours. I would ask admission directly if you’d like to know more. My son didn’t ask it was what the AO shared with him and all the applicants at our high school.
I can say that GPAs almost always need recalculating. Our HS only provides a withered GPA out of 6.
@collegemom9
True, but what admissions tells you, and what the whole truth is, is not the same thing. I think it’s relatively straightforward. They contextualize it meaning it can hurt you especially if there is a battle between two apps for 1 spot. However, for publishing purposes probably only use the last 3 years. Also too many students are in the top 10 percent of there class for freshman year grades to be completely irrelevant.
@emorynavy : That scenario of 2 applicants battling for one spot hardly ever happens I bet…And I suspect that in the case of top decile students, rigor may more so come into play in differentiating. I would think freshman grades would be a last resort for a bunch of folks with top ranked GPAs. Those GPAs and their meaning (unless say…actually valedictorian or salutatorian) is unlikely to be revealed by looking at what would likely be subtle differences in freshman grades. That is basically like saying: “Well, who was super perfect for the longest period of time, versus only being perfect one year and super perfect in other years”. It just wouldn’t be that informative. In some cases it could reveal resilience and improvement I guess, but if it can’t add to a story, it will be useless.
When the director of admisons explains how GPA is calculated I listen to that. It’s really neither here nor there. You either get in or you don’t and Emory wants a high GPA for the most part. Chance me posts are useless in my opinion. My son had 2 B+s freshman year so he was happy to not have them included. He’s in so whether they counted them or not really is of no importance to us now. But judging by the number of people who report admissions now saying they don’t count freshman grades in GPA, I’m thinking they are telling the truth. As far as the top 10% thing goes…my guess is most admitted Emory students have excellent grades all 4 years regardless.
It doesn’t even matter. These people already applied or are maybe a year from application. This information and a decisive stance on it can only contribute to the neuroticism in the wait process which is a waste. There will be a bunch of legitimate and random reasons folks are admitted or not to any selective school. I suppose this information can influence who applies in the first place, but the 20k+ app. numbers at Emory and elsewhere suggests that whether or not it counts doesn’t matter that much. Some of the folks sitting on here worrying about this (perhaps because it is the only part of the application whose reception and perception can be controlled because it is a “simple” number measuring “achievement”) were also clearly willing to apply to some stats whoring schools in addition to Emory. At this point, the chips will fall where they fall.
@bernie12 agreed. And the truth is none of us will ever know why “we” were accepted or rejected. Like I said it is what it is.
My last conversation with admissions was that “everything counts”. You can take that with a grain of salt and brush off freshman year, weight in less in your mind, or not at all. They actually go beyond the grades. They want to know if AP classes are offered and a kid is only taking honors. They want excellence at high levels. The quality of one kid’s 3.7 might be higher than another with a 3.9 or closer to 4.0.
They also don’t want to admit applicants who just go through school, excel, but merely just “pass through”. They are looking for kids who will be involved and those with the ability to do critical thinking beyond the four corners of the classroom. That can come from extra curricular activities, what you do in the summer, to part-time jobs, to just about anything. Some colleges and universities (state flagships and some privates not worth mentioning) are grades and scores focused. Emory isn’t one of those schools, which makes the chancing for total strangers on this site no more than a guessing game.
No one is saying that freshman year grades don’t count only that it is coming directly from admissions that Freshman grades are not used in the reweighted GPA. This is coming from the Director of Admissions, the AO’s that visit the schools and the tour guides are told to pass it along as well. Clearly it indicates that Emory wants to see your strongest performance from Sophomore and Junior year. Obviously, at Emory everything counts and my guess is that most admitted students have excellent grades all 4 years. My son’s “worst” year was freshman year with 2 B+'s so taking that year out didn’t make a whole lot of difference anyways. I’d say a record with lots of B’s and C’s sophomore and junior year wouldn’t fly at Emory regardless of a holistic review.
I haven’t been to an admissions event in a couple of years, but never heard in any information session, tour, or other event that freshmen grades weren’t included in the official Emory calculation of HS GPA. If they changed it this year and it helped your son, that’s great. Maybe Emory Admissions will update their website next year as not everyone who applies visits Emory or attends an information session.
Yes, again it’s something they are saying now and last year as well. Things do change. As I said I have no idea if it helped or not nor do I even particularly care at this point. I have a friend who got a tour guide job last year and it was part of their training. If it’s something you are doubting you are certainly able to call admissions to ask about it.
I never believe people should rely on things on the internet other than official websites of universities or other. Applicants should make their own calls or send their own emails. If there was a change last year during the past year of tours, etc., I wouldn’t know about it.
Since you haven’t been and the person telling you that this is the current policy why are you commenting? The Admissions Director made this statement and she was present for that.
I commented because I hadn’t heard it and people shouldn’t rely what they don’t read or hear from Emory. Don’t believe everything you read online.