Hi,
I am a senior applying to colleges with somewhat high test scores and a sucky unweighted GPA. However, I’m scared as my core GPA is gonna be even more sucky.
I’m specifically interested in Vassar, Wesleyan, and William and Mary.
My profile:
Asian Male from TX (originally from NJ/NY)
SAT Subject: 3 above 700
SAT: 1480 single sitting, 1520 superscore
GPA: 4.23 Weighted, 3.73 UW (Core: 4.12 W, 3.66 UW :’( )
Good EC’s
Some Awards
Intended Major: IR or History
Bump. My question is if and how each of these schools recalculate GPA?
If it isn’t on the school website then it is doubtful anyone here will know the answer.
A Story:
My daughter moved schools after her sophomore year. The first high school was the US News #1 STEM public magnet school with a 0-100 grading system. We moved internationally for work, so the second was a German International School with an IB program that has a 1-7 grading system. We never knew what her 4.0 scale GPA was. Colleges admitted her anyway and gave her merit scholarships. The only glitch we had was our State Public U that had an automated system for scholarships based on self-reported data. An email to admissions cleared that up and she was also awarded merit.
My point is, don’t worry about it, the colleges figure it out.
And your GPA at this point is what it is.
I don’t think you have a “sucky” GPA like you think you do, especially since your test scores are awesome. That is well in the range of the schools you wan to apply to. I believe that schools use the SAT/ACT as a check against the GPA & grade inflation. So, maybe your GPA seems low for your test scores, but not by much. Also, if the high schools you attended are rigorous schools (colleges know which ones are better than others), that will be taken into consideration when they compute/crunch the GPA how they do it internally. If there was some reason your grades took a dip, the personal essay is time to write about that (colleges love “grit” & overcoming hardships). And yes, moving in the middle of HS, is a hardship for most teens, even if it was from one cushy spot to another. I imagine there was quite the culture shock moving from NY/NJ area to Texas!
Good luck to you!