<p>My GPA from all of high school is a 4.17 -- I've taken the most rigorous courses at my high school (3 APs, 3 Honors classes, and 3 more APs senior year for a total of 6). </p>
<p>My school also has a dual curriculum (Talmudic studies + Secular), so I've taken 5 Jewish studies classes every semester as well (usually get out at 5:15pm, sometimes even 6pm).
Anyway, the Talmudic studies is a separate GPA on the transcript...just wanted to mention that. </p>
<p>Back to my question --- My school doesn't offer any weighted courses in 9th grade, and my first semester I got a 3.97/4.00 and second semester I got a 3.78/4.0. With this factored in I have a 4.17 GPA, without it I have a 4.28GPA.</p>
<p>Is the 4.17 going to kill me?</p>
<p>It is frustrating when one sees all these posts about gpa, or other posters writing someone does not have a good chance for admission based on their gpa.
High schools across the country grade differently and college admission officers know this.
Two applicants can go to two schools in the same county, one private and one public and they could have identical grades and take the same classes with the same rigor of curriculum, and one can find they have a 93 average and the other has a 5.5. Even the 93 unweighted average the other has might become a weighted 99, which is still considerably less than a 4.0. College admission officers do not look and see that applicant 1 has a 4.0 and applicant 2 has a 5.5. They realize they may be the same gpas. So college admission officers look at two things: what did you get as the base grade in the class? Applicant 1 might have gotten a 93, applicant 2 might have gotten a 93 but that became a 4.0 and it was an AP course and it then became transferred to a 5.0 ect. They care only about how you did in the class before any weights were added on and before it was transferred to any other weighted grade. They realize that schools grade differently and ones gpa is not an accurate reflection of how they did versus other students who apply from other high schools in the country.
The second thing they look at is whether you took the most rigorous curriculum your school offered.
This is why standardized test scores have become so important in college admissions. There is difficult to judge students on their academic records when there are students applying who come from schools that do not weight grades, some grade on a 100 point scale, some on a 4.0 scale, some on a 5.0 scale. Some who weight grades and some that do not. Some that convert the score to a grade and then weight them</p>
<p>agreed, collegebound5.</p>
<p>we cannot answer the question, philolexian1, when we don’t know your context.</p>
<p>got it…but what happens to your answer collegebound when you apply and you’re up against people in your school?</p>
<p>well then they can directly compare you guys and both of your GPAs.</p>
<p>dude, a 4.17 is amazing. calm down.</p>
<p>Philolexian, grades are just one component of the application. When others are applying from your high school, college admission officers won’t say, we should take this one because he or she has a 4.3, but not that one because he only has a 4.1. They are not looking to accept those who have the highest gpa and SAT scores from particular schools.
Most applicants who apply to Columbia have Standardized test scores in the range of those that Columbia accepts and have a high level of academic achievement and have taken the most rigorous curriculum their schools offer. Once this is evident college admission officers then look at what else the applicant has to bring to the college or university. This is where evidence of passion in extra curriculars,often developed over years comes in. There will be applicants who are from under represented minorities, or low income areas, who may have slightly lower standardized test scores or gpas who had to overcome great obstacles and their records will be considered outstanding in the face of these obstacles.
Most who apply to schools like Columbia are outstanding and have exceptional high school records and scores. The reality though is that with 20,000 applicants, many exceptional applicants are really ordinary in this applicant pool. It is harder to stand out.</p>
<p>well, i definitely think you (cbound5) should be right, I just hope you are…going up against a 4.46 ED.</p>
<p>Is the 4.17 going to kill you, seriously? SERIOUSLY?? God, calm down. The Ivy Leages not only recalculate your grades COMPLETELY in order to get a true sense of your academic portfolio, personality and ambition factors in greatly. You need the personality and the brains to get into the Ivy League. It’s not a clear cut answer every time, they want diversity. I knew a guy who got in with a 3.1, but he had an amazing essay and amazing social skills. It is all relative.</p>
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<p>Columbia doesn’t mathematically recalculate anything. They look at your profile, of course.</p>
<p>I’m curious what school you go to because you mentioned you take Talmudic classes. I have a similar situation to yours because I also have a double curriculum (due to Jewish studies).</p>