How does Harvard recalculate GPA?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

<p>How does harvard recalculate your uwgpa? Do they factor in +/-?</p>

2

<p>I highly doubt Harvard uses any recalculations of any sort, because doing so would disadvantage the candidates applying from extremely competitive schools (read: schools with classes that only distribute A’s in truly exceptional cases… think Andover/Exeter), and Harvard certainly takes MANY kids who apply from such schools. It is important to view the transcript in relation to the information that the admissions office has regarding the applicant’s background, so by recalculating everyone’s GPA’s, it would mean that all the grades they see are equal, which is definitely not the case.</p>

3

<p>No “recalculation,” but they give grades different weight depending on where they’re coming from. A 3.7 from a very competitive feeder school is not viewed in the same manner as a 3.7 from a huge rural public school.</p>

4

<p>Exactly; it all depends on context.</p>

5

<p>How does Harvard know what a “competitive” school is? Does the adcom look at some sort of statistic regarding the school or do they just happen to be familiar with the names of thousands of highschools?</p>

6

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<p>The regional admissions officers will know a lot about the main feeder schools in their area, and the school report that the counselors send has information about the high school to provide some context for the student’s accomplishments</p>

7

<p>Rank, too, provides a way of determining the significance of an applicants GPA, though many competitive schools have done away with ranking</p>