GPA Question

I had a question about GPA and college admissions since I have been told I do not have a high enough GPA for my schools Currently, I have an 84% GPA. I am not sure about how colleges will look at this number. I attend a private college preparatory school, that has quite a prestigious reputation for reputation. It is ranked in the top 5 of my state. I have also taken quite a rigorous courseload over my high school career. Almost all of my classes have been considered honours classes, and I have been told that even the basic classes can be weighed. I took 5 AP’s over the past two years. So I was wondering if the college admissions officers would weigh my GPA higher, which would actually give me a chance.

What are your SAT or ACT scores? What year are you in?

How do your grades compare with others in your high school? Do you know approximately what your rank would be?

Where do you intend to apply?

What can you afford?

@DadTwoGirls I have a 28 highest composite, 29 if colleges superscore. I am a senior. The school does not offer class ranks or anything, I have applied to TCU, Syracuse, VA Tech, and Hillsdale. I think I can afford the schools.

“I have been told I do not have a high enough GPA for my schools”

I am not familiar with most of the schools that you are applying to.

Is the person who told you this someone who should know, such as a guidance counselor? Do you have Naviance at your school and can you compare your GPA and ACT scores with others who have applied to the same schools in the past?

If you are in a prestigious private college preparatory schools I would expect that you have excellent guidance counselors who will have a great deal of historical knowledge about where people with your GPA/ACT from your HS have been accepted to. Listen to their advice and experience.

Sorry to burst your bubble but I don’t see 5 AP’s over 2 years as a very competitive school, at my friends school, even though the school is ranked maybe 500th in the country and in a very poor state competitiveness wise (ranked 48th in the nation for math), the most competitive students at our rival school that take APs (I’m at an IB school) take a minimum of 6 AP’s per year from sophomore year. In senior year, that can extend to 8 AP’s. I’m talking about people that are competitive graduating with 20+ AP’s with scores of all 4’s-5’s

@derpdarklord You are the one that is wrong. Many of the most competitive HS highly limit the number of AP’s to a low number or have none. The AP designation only shows that it has met some standards established by the college board. They are not necessarily the most difficult. Your error is common in driving the AP arms race.

@seniorinmo Look at your School Profile. If the School Profile offers information about numbers or percentages of students’ GPAs falling within certain ranges, see where your GPA puts you compared to your classmates. Colleges will consider how you compare to your classmates. Colleges will also consider rigor.

This is important, because without considering the context of your school, an 84% would be roughly a 3.0 average on a scale where 80-90 = B = 3.0 or on a scale where 83-86 = B = 3.0.

TCU - median class rank top 13% (school website); average GPA 3.65 (source, Prepscholar)
Syracuse - average GPA 3.63 (fall 2015, school website)
VA Tech - average GPA 3.65 (source, Prepscholar)
Hillsdale - average GPA 3.87 (school website)

As you can see, a 3.0 would be a lot lower than those averages, which are closer to A- (= 3.67 = 90-93) than B. If you can find middle 50 percentile GPAs for these schools, that might be more revealing.