<p>If the person who is 12/300 has better essays and just comes off as generally more personable or whatever, than that person will always get in over a kid who's 2/300 but has mediocre essays. Really, GPA and class rank only count for so much. If you're qualified to succeed academically at the school, then it won't matter whether you're 2/300 or 12/300. It all comes down to subjective qualities. For example, one kid who had a 4.0 and is #1 in the class, and I, with a 3.82 and ranked 20ish/350 both applied ED to Princeton. I got in, he got deferred. Really, your essays and achievements outside the classroom are what will get you in once you pass the "can he graduate" test that someone else mentioned.</p>
<p>yep...
What a waste of a post...
Have u read Bart Kosko's FUZZY THINKING? This fits perfectly as an example he could use</p>
<p>foppishdandy, what if the person with the higher gpa comes off as a more interesting person? What if the two people are equally lame? Obviously the person with the higher gpa/scores has a higher chance of getting accepted.</p>
<p>this does not bode well...
at my school hordes of people take easy classes for the 4.0 while all of my classes that i've taken so far are honors or ap.
are you say that those people who have taken those easy classes will get it easier in admissions?
or is this considering weighted gpa?</p>
<p>I think other factors would be much more important than a 3.9 vs a 4.0. For example, who has better essays/recs/ECs...But, I do see one big difference between a 3.9 and a 4.0. It's the same as a 790 vs 800 on the SATII Math 2c. If you get an 800 the college does not know if you got every question right or 7 wrong. If you get a 790, they know you got around 8-9 wrong (whatever it is, don't know the exact curve). An 800 is much better because they do not see your flaws. GPA is the same because if you have a 4.0 for all they know you could have a 100% in all your classes. With a 3.9, they know your grades are not flawless.</p>
<p>antarius......this is not a waste of time......this is a good topic which is why its now a featured discussion!!</p>
<p>anything below 4 might be bad at MIT, Caltech or places like that.
Everywhere else, they are equally good. 3.9 and 4 both say that the applicant is academically excellent. And eventually two applicants with such a case would be in a tie, where other factors would be used to accept or reject.....
i believe a 3.9 is every bit of good as 4.
but it also matters in which school yu attend. if the teachers are generous and u still get a 3.9 then you're in trouble...whereas if teachers are supermisers when it comes to scoring......even a gpa as low as 3.75 wouldnt hurt!.....gpa alone does not determine academic qualification.....your rank matters too!!</p>
<p>when they see ur transcripts and course desc. they know.. if u take the scores blindly. If I establish the 'Antarius school of getting Antarius admitted' and give myself a 4.0... </p>
<p>The 4.0 blindly is not important. Its what courses u took and how each subject spanned out...</p>
<p>There is a difference between a 3.90 and a 4.0. But, there is not that much of a difference between a 3.95 and a 4.0. But, this all depends on what courses you took.</p>
<p>antarius......this is not a waste of time......this is a good topic which is why its now a featured discussion!!</p>
<p>I feel it is. As GPA gauges not anything but anxiety on the part of the applicant. Be confident, ull be fine</p>
<p>^ur right.</p>
<p>Yeah I got into Stanford with a 27/625. You can make up for it with essays, ECs, awards, and recs</p>
<p>The 3.9 is effectively the same as the 4.0 - at that level, the number of advanced courses are more important for the overall impression of being a brainiac. An unweighted 3.9 with 10 APs (9 As, 1 B) is far more impressive than a 4.0 (5 APs, 5 As).</p>
<p>don't worry -- 3.9 is great (esp. unweighted!). if you're taking APs and honors, it'll look a lot better than a kid who takes all regular courses and has a 4.0</p>
<p>=\ this discussion is making me anxious; I'll have taken 11 APs by the time I graduate but my GPA is a 3.6 weighted!</p>
<p>some kids are obsessed with having a 4.0. and some of them may take easier classes, but the whole idea of "perfection" is a little irritating. sometimes i wish we had an 11-point system so there would be few people with a 4.0 anyway...less stress :)</p>
<p>I had a 3.9 and was 7/321, and I got into Princeton. Don't stress about it. Take the hardest courses available, do your best, and work on portraying yourself accurately and completely in your application.</p>
<p>Along the same lines, do colleges taking weighting into consideration? I know my school is really frugal with weighted GPAs, but I know of others that hand them out like lollipops. What is the standard for comparison?</p>
<p>The elite schools recalculate it themselves, and almost always weight honors/APs</p>
<p>I don't think they usually consider weighted GPAs. My understanding is that they either have their own system of weighting grades (like the UCs) or they look at unweighted GPA but also consider difficulty of classes.</p>
<p>How much exact GPA counts for also depends on the university. I've heard that Princeton, Stanford, and Yale look a lot for "personal qualities", whereas Harvard, MIT, and especially Caltech, value strong numbers a lot.</p>
<p>A 3.9 is .1 less than a 4.0, so if .1 is a "major difference" for you, then your brutal truth is yes. (a 3.9 vs a 4.0 is not what is going to get you into (or keep you out of) a university)</p>