First of all, would a 3.76 (10-12) and 3.83 (9-12) UW and 35 ACT eliminate me without much consideration for the rest of my app? If not, then how much would my GPA relatively impact my chances assuming that my EC’s are solid (you can check my past thread if your interested) and my essay is rockin’ for, let’s say, the top 10 universities?
GPA is relative to context. What’s the GPA of the topmost students in your class? If near yours, then you’re OK. If not, then your chances at the ultra low admit rate schools is all the bleaker. Sorry but those are the numbers
@T26E4 Top 10% ish. My school doesn’t rank or do deciles and as strange as it may seem, my school’s profile that it sends out to colleges also doesn’t include the relativity of my class’s GPA. The only relative thing to GPA that it includes is “A = excellent, B = Good…”. Also, only about 3-4 people within my class have the same ACT score as me, and no one has a 36 that I know of (not sure if that makes any difference or so).
It really depends on your school. In our big suburban high school no one beyond the top 2 or 3% got into the colleges that USNWR ranks in the top 10. But kids in the top 5-10% did get into excellent colleges. (And my 6% son got into U of Chicago EA, but that was right before they shot up the rankings. They had a 25% acceptance rate EA that year.)