How low of a GPA would pose a significant obstacle to entrance at Ivy League/Tier One schools?

Applying to College
21

Depends on the college and it’s not just gpa. They look at the transcript. For elites, thousands of kids are straight A, with rigor. If someone’s gpa is dragged down by, say, a B in phys ed, no big deal. But a B in a core, especially one that relates to your possible major, not so good. Similarly, for a highly competitive college, getting an A’s in a rigorous course load can trump A’s in a less demanding load. Plus, elite adcoms know so many hs across the country.

When you say your friend is 50 pts lower on the SAT and “slightly less EC’s (w/ no leadership),” you have to think like an adcom about what leadership really is, to them. It’s not just titles. It’s not just busy-busy and it’s not just in school. And then you add what your essays reveal about how you think, etc.

Best is not to have one dream school, have several where you can see yourself thriving. Adcoms don’t tend to make overly emotional decisions (“but we’re his dream school.”) Kids can be rational, too.

22

@JustOneDad, I figure if the class size is 100 and two kids are applying SCEA, they won’t take both (Princeton).

23

Will Princeton pass up another competitive applicant just because they are in the same school? We know they take multiple students from some schools already.

24

I know of a school this year that had only two SCEA applicants to Princeton. Class size was around 80 and they took both. One was a recruited athlete though, so maybe that doesn’t count.