<p>I compared my stats to the seniors last year who applied to UVA. The average accepted GPA was 4.2. I have a 4.1 and I might barely get a 4.2 from my senior year grades (i didn't do very well). My SAT score is higher than the average, but I don't have much of anything else in EC's, recs, and essays. Is UVA too GPA focused? I have a good GPA, but I'm pretty sure I don't have the best in my school, I'm only in top 20%. I also live in Northern VA which is pretty competitive and UVA gets almost 2/3 of their instates from Northern Virginians. </p>
<p>Do you guys think UVA is very GPA focused? Do you think having a GPA lower than the average will hurt my chances?</p>
<p>My S, now a first-year at UVA, was in the same situation–SAT score was 2250 or thereabouts, but he was in the 2nd 20% of his class (his weighted GPA was still 4.6). I think it must have helped that his course schedule was very rigorous, and that his school is full of strivers with high GPAs. </p>
<p>At my S’s high school, some of the most advanced kids don’t have tippy-top GPAs because they are accelerated a couple of years in math and one year in foreign language, and their middle-school grades in algebra, geometry, and French/Spanish/German are averaged into their high school GPAs. Many kids, including both of mine, really didn’t start to focus on school until they were high school students, so they come in lugging a lot of Bs (or worse). Also, AP and honors classes are weighted equally although APs are generally more demanding. Different schools have wildly different weighting schemes, so a 3.8 one place might be a 4.7 another! But I assume that the Admissions officers understand and compensate for these local variations. UVA accepts over half of the kids from Thomas Jefferson HS of Science and Tech in northern Virginia–obviously, they can’t all be in the top 10% of the class.</p>
<p>what is the 4.1 out of? do uk how your grades are weighted? I’m from NY and a 4.1 is the very top of the class…diff weighting scales i guess.
anyway ik uva uses a wholistic approach but the mopst important part is course rigor and how you handle the more difficult classes</p>
<p>“UVA accepts over half of the kids from Thomas Jefferson HS of Science and Tech in northern Virginia–obviously, they can’t all be in the top 10% of the class”</p>
<p>TJ doesn’t rank their students. Out of the students UVA accepts, I believe 88-93% (I remember seeing these statistics on different pages, they may not be 100% exact but are very close) are in the top 10% of their class, which puts those students from schools that rank at a disadvantage. I figure this statistic applies to those accepted students from schools that rank.</p>
<p>For the very competitive magnet and similar high schools that send many students to UVa, the admissions staff understands the competitiveness. Therefore, I don’t think ranking or non-ranking really matters. I don’t know the situation for some schools that the admissions staff rarely deals with. </p>
<p>However, I’m a little tired of certain rich suburban schools insisting that everyone of their students is way above average.</p>