<p>What do the top colleges prefer? I have a 3.5 gpa from a top 25 college and I'm looking to transfer to a similar college but I know there are plenty of kids who have a 3.8 gpa at easy state schools..do colleges factor this in with grade deflation? Because they dont seem to mention it on their transfer information.</p>
<p>I have never had this question answered to my satisfaction, so curious to hear any hard facts about this.</p>
<p>My sense is that there might be a slight discounting, but not anything necessarily as extreme as even a .3 difference (3.5 vs 3.8). But who knows. My thought is that the student who manages a 3.8 at say a community college is doing well in spite of all the distractions that happen at a CC… disinterested classmates, perhaps lower income student, often a student that <em>has</em> to work part-time, perhaps less support from the parents themselves, worse libraries, having to commute 20 - 45 minutes each way (vs. living in a dorm on campus), even just shaking off the stigma attached to state or CCs, etc. A student at a CC who, in spite of any or all of these challenges who manages a 3.8 or even higher semester after semester–is no puff-ball student. They have certain character traits that will make them very successful at a transfer school and most admins recognize that.</p>
<p>So, I think most admins are “aware”–but don’t make sweeping assumptions. Also, I have taken courses at both a top 50 LAC and at a CC… and some of my CC courses were better organized AND harder than my LAC courses. It is false to assume that across the board that LACs are harder, and again, I think admins have a sense of this as well.</p>
<p>I second annikasorrensen. I have took Microeconomics at UC and CC, the latter one was harder and requires more reading. So I wouldn’t assume that all classes in top notch schools are harder, but in general they should.</p>