<p>Note: Repost (Didn't see which forum this post properly fit under)</p>
<p>A quick question...</p>
<p>Just wondering how GPA and SAT scores of other schools are compared to one another during the application process. For example, consider the UCLA or UCB 2012 freshman profile. Both average around a 4.35 GPA and a broad SAT score range of 2000-2200. Yet when I check my school's Naviance, the averages of those who were accepted the last few years were around a way lower GPA of about 3.8-4.0 but SATs around 2250+. Now my HS is very competitive (top 100 according to US News), but I don't get to see how this big gap is met during college admissions. Logically shouldn't the SAT scores be the ultimate comparison, because it standardizes all applicants throughout the nation?</p>
<p>Also how does it affect my chances to such top tier UCs if I have a lower GPA than the freshman profile, but a higher SAT?</p>
<p>The GPAs reported on UC sites are probably UC admissions GPA unless otherwise stated, calculated from 10th and 11th grade a-g course grades, with up to 8 semesters’ worth of +1 points for honors courses (as listed at <a href=“http://doorways.ucop.edu%5B/url%5D”>http://doorways.ucop.edu</a> ). Maximum UC admissions GPA is likely around 4.4, though it does somewhat depend on how many a-g courses you take per semester at your high school.</p>
<p>If the Naviance-reported GPAs are unweighted, or weighted in a different manner, then they should not be compared to GPAs reported on UC sites. However, a reasonable guess would be that, if a student were loading up on honors courses and 9th grade and non-a-g course grades were not unusually better or worse than 10th and 11th grade, UC admissions GPA will be about 0.3 to 0.4 higher than unweighted GPA.</p>
<p>UC admissions tends to give somewhat stronger weighting to courses and grades over test scores.</p>
<p>I think I may not have written my question properly. What I meant to say is “How are grades compared amongst other schools?”. Like for example there are some very easy schools where a 3.8+ UW GPA is very common, where in harder schools a 3.5+ UW is looked as good.</p>
<p>Sometimes I also see people get a high GPA and a low SAT score that doesn’t seem to match up accurately. This is what I meant by the “grade inflation”. Are the GPA/difficulties of some schools reflected properly in the admissions process? Because if they aren’t it doesn’t feel right that UCs give precedence to such grades over a standardizing SAT score.</p>
<p>I think this comes under the broad category of “life is not fair”.
In our area, 4.0s UW are quite prevalent at public high schools, and much less so at privates, where there is no grading on the curve, and an A is 93 and above. Schools also can differ as to how many honors and AP classes students are allowed to take.
The colleges may say that all of this is figured into their calculations, but I do wonder…
You’re right about mismatching grades and test scores, too. I see it all the time.</p>
<p>The point above still stands – make sure that the GPAs you see in Naviance are calculated the same way as those you see on the UC freshman class profiles. Otherwise, you may be getting concerned about nothing.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies guys … and yea that article definitely gives validity to your point. Also the Naviance grade shown on my school’s portal is indeed, 9-11 unweighted GPA including courses like PE etc. </p>
<p>Also my school doesn’t rank… but it has this thing called decile ranking that is submitted with the school’s profile to colleges. According to that it shows my 3.72 GPA as the top 30-40% on the unweighted scale. </p>
<p>Should I be worried about this for the top tier UC schools? Or is it not accurately describing the well known “10%” I have been seeing throughout the forums?</p>
<p>If it helps… my weighted is a 4.18 and my school does not report this decile ranking through the weighted scale.</p>
<p>UC admissions GPAs will typically be 0.3 to 0.4 higher than unweighted GPA for most UC applicants (assuming 8 semesters’ worth of honors points out of 20 to 24 semesters’ worth of grades in 10th and 11th grade – average number of courses that would get honors points is significantly greater than 8 for applicants at most UCs). So the 3.8 to 4.0 GPAs you see in Naviance probably correspond to 4.1 to 4.4 UC admissions GPAs reported on UC freshman profile sites.</p>
<p>Rank is not considered per se by UC admissions, except for ELC eligibility, although it can indirectly factor into evaluations made on the basis of seeing what you achieved in the context of your high school. And for ELC eligibility, rank is determined by comparing your UC admissions GPA to a top 9% benchmark UC admissions GPA set by previous classes at your high school, not by your high school’s calculation of class rank.</p>