<p>I know one of the most important factors in applications is your GPA. But how do schools determine what a 4.0 in one school is to another? I've seen people post here about how they have a so and so GPA, and I just can't seem to comprehend how it's possible. I've seen many people here post they have like a 4.0 UW and then like a 4.7 W GPA, yet I doubt anyone in my school has scores near that. Like to be in the top 10% of my grade, you don't even need a 4.0 W. Yet, we normally send kids to top colleges every year (ie Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Georgetown, UChicago, etc).</p>
<p>So how do colleges take into consideration the whole GPA thing when in one school it could be extremely easy to get a 4.0 where in another school it's almost impossible if you take AP classes?</p>
<p>same situation at my school...we have about 90 kids per grade and send atleast 12 a year to ivy league and the rest pretty much all going to top tier schools, but I would say there are only about 4 kids with above 4.0's for their high school career with the highest being a 4.1, and yet kids with as low as 3.6's still get into ivy league schools, so I think colleges know the reputation of schools, especially in light of the fact that so many kids from your school have gone to so many good schools. I believe that colleges rank high schools or atleast rate them in their difficulty.</p>
<p>That's the whole reason I think discounting the SATs is stupid. They help to determine how you stack up in comparison to other schools. Your class rank helps with that too, I believe.</p>
<p>most school's have admissions reps for each region for this reason. So for example, one adcom will cover Southern California. This person is aware of the differences in school's academic quality, reputation, etc. and knows for example that a GPA from Harvard-Weslake, Brentwood School, etc. is completely different from a GPA at X public school. These adcoms also assess the quality of a school by the students that it has produced in the past. So if you're applying to Harvard but the last three kids from your h.s. that went to Harvard ended up doing terrible while there and have 2.5s while another person from your state is also applying and the last three kids from their school have 4.0s at Harvard...then the adcom will have an idea as to the quality of your school.</p>
<p>rank is a big part of it. if you have a 4.0 and are ranked in the top 25% then you probably go to a fairly easy school. If you are in the top 5% your school is probably relatively harder because not as many people have a 4.0.</p>
<p>but isn't class rank even the same thing in a way? like say i went to a bad school in california and was in the top 10%, that wouldn't necessarily be the same as being in one of the top schools in california and being in the top 10%</p>
<p>but thanks for the help everyone. was just kind of curious because i'm only in the top 10-15% of my grade, but i was afraid, based on some of the other people here, that i wouldn't have any chance. but since a relatively high percentage of students from my school go to top tier schools, i hopefully should be ok, right?</p>
<p>I'm sure that an unweighted 4.0 at my school doesn't mean as much as it would at a different school. I just show up to my classes and get a 4.0. My homework is usually less than 1 hour a night, including studying for tests. There are 2 others in my class of 55 that have an unweighted 4.0. Granted, there are no advanced classes of any sort, and teachers tend to cater more to the top students. When they have to teach failing students and brilliant students (not to brag...) in the same class, they tend to make some concessions for the upper 25%. Especially when you're consistent.</p>
<p>This makes me wonder why some schools have gone to test-optional admissions. I would think that there must be some standard way to assess students, since even ECs are different at every school. It's just one more thing to add to the list of subjective things that can make or break your future.</p>
<p>By the way, I have to make a note: MY 200TH POST! Glad I could get that out...</p>
<p>This is music to my ears. Honestly my school is pretty competive. I've read around on school forums how kids take 6 AP classes and get straight A's. But most of them do bad on AP tests, so I see the pattern that some of them have.</p>
<p>ses and Bern (Hi!) have pretty much covered it in that most schools send the colleges their school profile which usually gives information on </p>
<p>The grading system at your school including weighted grades, rank and how rank is determined</p>
<p>**Your School's **curriculum including APs (number given, requirement for taking APs) honors course.</p>
<p>What percentage of kids in your school graduate with in 4 years</p>
<p>the average SAT score at your school</p>
<p>the percentage of students at your school that get admitted to/ attend 2 or 4 year colleges</p>
<p>the colleges that your students are admitted to/ attend following graduation.</p>
<p>Now for Bern's part.</p>
<p>Regional admissions officers do have a good fix on the schools in their region. Some have established relationships with GCs from working with them for a number of years and some GC are starting out maintaining relationships with adcoms.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I've heard that colleges break down your grades and give you a new GPA, based on their own formula
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Most selective schools only look at major courses (english, math, science, history, etc). Art, band, religion, etc are not considered. Selective schools do not look at your weighted GPA because there is already an expection that you are taking the most rigerous courses that your school offers and you are doing well in those courses.</p>
<p>At my school, class rank and GPA tell you nothing. AP and honors classes are not weighted, music classes are automatic "A's," and music and PE are figured into GPAs and class rank. The kids with the highest class rank are not the ones taking challenging classes. And no Ivy admissions rep is familiar with the school's practices since no graduate has gone to an Ivy in at least 15 years.</p>
<p>hey ya, its the same at our school. Unweighted GPA so the people taking various cooking classes and home ec and music which are easy A+'s are the ones with the high class rank and the ones who become val and sal at our school.</p>
<p>what happens if you're in a new magnet program though? I've been in a program which started with my class. My public school isn't competitive, but the program that I'm in is. how would colleges see that i'm in a competitive environment when there is literally no history of it?</p>
<p>I dont necessarily think that if you have a 4.0 and are ranked in the top 25% that means u go to an easy school. I have a 3.9 and am 21%. By no means is my school easy. I go to an academic prep school. We have 10 kids with 4.0. I would rather my school rank by weighted GPA because then I would be top 10%.</p>
<p>Ours is done by weighted GPA, but it still doesn't help. But also, our AP classes weighted are not equal to our regular classes. Like a B+ in an AP class is equal to an A in a regular class, but getting a B+ in AP classes in my school is definitely a lot more work than getting an A in a regular class which pretty much is just show up to class and you get the A. So many of our "top" students are those who took mainly electives and all regular classes.</p>
<p>And why aren't AP scores a required thing to send? Like I barely pulled off a B- in my AP Chem class this year and barely anyone in our class got an A, yet I got a 4 on the AP exam. But I know some of my friends in other schools get easy A's in their AP class but get 1s and 2s on their exams. Shouldn't some emphasis be placed there to show that you actually learned the material and that the class wasn't just an easy A?</p>