How important is a 3.9+ (Unweighted) GPA for admissions?

Applying to College
1

<p>Okay, I got one B in Spanish 1 my freshmen year. 3.86 GPA freshmen, 4.0 my sophomore.</p>

<p>So now I'm in my junior year. My schedule is as followed:</p>

<ol>
<li>AP Chemistry </li>
<li>Precal</li>
<li>AP US History</li>
<li>Spanish 3</li>
<li>AP English Comp.</li>
<li>Arts & Humanities</li>
<li>AP Biology</li>
</ol>

<p>This has been my first actually challenging year.. I'm pretty sure I'll have all A's EXCEPT for AP Chemistry... I never took Chemistry before AP Chemistry (nor did I take a Biology course) so it's been kind of difficult for our whole class (because they haven't either. But then again, It's AP friggen chemistry.</p>

<p>So If I get a B in Chemistry this year, that leaves me allowed NO B's for my Senior year, if I want a 3.9+ GPA (3.92).. My senior year I plan to only take 4 classes (AP Spanish, AP Calculus, and AP Lit for sure, and either AP EU History or AP Psychology)..</p>

<p>But my question to you is, how important is getting a 3.9+ GPA? I haven't taken the ACT yet. I'm taking it Dec. 11th and I've been taking practice tests in my McGraw book. I'll probably get "The real ACT" or whatever it's called booklet a few days before I take it. Just for more background information. The reason I'm wanting to score high on my first ACT is because I'm using that score for a program called "Governor's Scholar Program" and the application is due in January. The program would ensure me alot of scholarship money.</p>

<p>I'm not worried about "getting into" college. I know I'll be fine there... It's just I need to know how important a 3.9 is for scholarships. Like how different from a 3.8? I'll probably be getting a 30+ ACT before I graduate high school.. I'm wanting to go to Centre college in Kentucky, which is one of the nicest and most expensive schools in KY. Total costs are around 40k a year.. Which is alot... Thus why I'm worried about the GPA and scholarships.</p>

<p>So any advice on that? I'm going to try as hard as possible, but I just want a good perspective on the manner.. And AP Psychology or AP EU History? I've heard Psy is easy, but history intrigues me and the teacher that teaches it, I've had for two years now. He teaches all the higher level history classes at our school. AP World Civ, AP US, AP world.</p>

<p>So I feel like I've told you my life story.. Sorry about that. Any advice would be awesome. Any questions I'll readily answer!</p>

2

<p>for getting into centre college? near none and excuse me for saying it
but based on your credentials, your coarseload alone should be enough to qualify for “better,” brand-new liberal arts colleges that would suit your taste</p>

<p>and even for those a 3.9+ unweighted is certainly not mandatory since GPA is only one of the many factors in college admissions. instead of worrying so much about your high GPA you should be worrying about your community service hours or ECs. get going on the team captain spot!</p>

3

<p>some scholarship committees use cutoffs like 3.5 unweighted, or 3.7 unweighted. I’ve never read of a cutoff higher than that.</p>

<p>Weighted GPA is much more revealing than unweighted. </p>

<p>Neither matters for top 50 Unis and top 50 LACs… the adcoms and scholarship committees look at the whole transcript and evaluate each grade in each class according to the class’ difficulty. </p>

<p>GPA is a shorthand only used by mid-level public universities that can’t afford the time to carefully review each applicants full transcript. More selective colleges don’t need the shorthand, they have your entire transcript in front of them in your file, and the few minutes needed to properly review it.</p>