<p>@halcyon:
Usually if there is a huge disparity between standardized tests and class grades, then it means the schools grades may be inflated or deflated.</p>
<p>For example, if about 90% of an AP course achieves As for class grades, but more than half of the class fails the AP exam and the rest gets 3s and a few 4s and 5s, then the grades at that class are likely inflated, and vice-versa. Though, a 3.98 at fourth does not seem to be inflated, especially if one or more of those three are not taking heavy schedules. Albeit I think you should have used percentages instead of a number, as there is a huge difference in being 4 of 80 and 4 of 800.</p>
<p>To tell the truth, itās sort of difficult to tell whether schools have grade inflation or not, which is why adcoms also look at your standardized tests and class rank (and since some schools are more competitive than others while some do not report rank, this is another can of worms.)</p>
<p>Harvard and the other Ivies definitely accept people that have a very low chance of succeeding. Read the book called The Price of Admission: How Americaās Ruling Class Buys Its Way into Elite Collegesāand Who Gets Left Outside the Gates. Basically, the book talks about kids from rich families that paid millions of dollars to be accepted. Often, these kids had criminal records, multiple DUIās, and thefts, yet they were still accepted, albeit reluctantly.</p>
<p>^Oh yea I read a piece from that. Very interesting. Since the most āprestigousā are also one of the most expensive. While they accepted the ābestā, they also accept the rich.</p>
<p>Well, for some reason, Iāve thought my GPA was in the 3.3 range for the past few months, but I just checked and found out that itās a 3.7 UW. I put 3.3 on all my chance threads and everything. This is exciting.</p>
<p>Congratulations! You have a better chance. Just donāt rely on URM. There are lots of smart black people applying to top schools these days.
T_T More competition, lol.</p>
<p>Lolololololol. Not at all. Iām glad more black people are applying (even if the majority of them arenāt actually African American). I guess weāre improving! :D</p>
<p>My weighted GPA is a 3.8 (probably why I thought my unweighted GPA was so low), but I asked that my counselor tell colleges that I took 5 would-be pre-AP courses in middle school. Those classes being graded on a 4.0 scale really deflated my GPA.</p>
<p>Nationally ranked athlete, competitive high school with major grade deflation, or a double legacy with donor parents that have moneyā¦lots of money.</p>