This may be a little off topic, but does the “reputation” of your high school factor into the admissions decision. Consider this example - two kids with the exact same GPA and SAT scores, with their high school using the same grading scale. Does the student at the “harder” high school have a better chance to get in?
I could see that for a school as large as PSU, they could develop profiles of high schools and track how admitted student from those schools do. Basically, during admissions, applying a weighting to GPAs (or students) from high school that rank more favorably in their internal profiles.
Also, related to this, besides weighted GPAs, what is the effect of Honors and AP classes. Basically, it would seem that for two students at the same high school, that both had the same weighted GPA, the one that had more Honors/AP classes should get ranked higher. A 4.0 will 10 AP/Honors would be better than a 4.0 with all college prep classes?
Well, in your premise, you have that two kids at differing schools but with the school using the same grading scale. In that case, their GPA’s will be the same and would be considered the same. Penn State has no way of knowing if Mr. Smith at AHS is a harder teacher than Mrs. Jones at FHS. They will look at grading scale and how difficult the weighting was. If two high schools are identical, then that would mean the student profiles are identical…meaning a 4.0 at one would equal a 4.0 at the other.
A bit different though with the honors courses. Penn State looks at your weighted GPA, but they also know your UW GPA. So a student that takes all honors classes and gets a 4.0 will have the same unweighted GPA as someone who gets a 4.0 with no honors classes. But the weighted GPA’s will be very different. If your GPA, with all honors or AP, ends up the same as someone without those classes, your profile would be ranked higher because Penn State…and all schools…consider the rigor of your course schedule.
Penn State does have profiles on schools that tell them the average GPA of the applicants from that school. Penn State will compare you to the grading scale and the performance of OTHER KIDS AT YOUR SCHOOL. They do not really compare BETWEEN schools because of things like weighting and grading scale.
I just found this site. A little over halfway down the page it lists the actual SAT score bands (broken down by 100’s) of students that were admitted. Interesting.
Yes, the common data set can really tell you a lot about the admissions. They have them for previous years as well so you look at trends. There is also a section telling you what is and isn’t considered on the application. For example, for Penn State, level of interest doesn’t matter. Meaning you can visit the school 10 times or none and you will be considered the same.
So even if your school is the top public/private/magnet in the state such as CT it wouldn’t matter? Do you get to mention it in your transcript? @jihpsu Also does penn state care if you complete more than their requirements such as 4 years of spanish,4 years of science, etc…
Each high school sends, along with a student’s transcript, a profile of the high school (graduation rate, percent of students going on to college, etc.). College admissions officers do take this information into account when assessing a student’s grades and class rank, though I doubt that the admission staff at huge schools like Penn State have the time to consider this factor as much as smaller private schools.
It seems like PSU has all the info they need - they know what HS kids went to and they know how those kids performed at PSU. With enough data, seems like a pretty easy way to compare same GPA’s from different schools.
@Kingly74 What PSU will want to know is how you performed against YOUR school’s grading scale and against your peers at that school. It is impossible to compare across schools because the grading and weighting is all so varied. When you apply, your HS sends a counseling form explaining the highest possible GPA available at your school and if your school ranks, where you rank in the class. They also have profiles on the students that have already applied and been accepted from your HS and they can see how you performed against others that were admitted. They can also tell how successful people from your high school were at PSU. So if you are from a top ranked HS in your state, the chances are that helps you because the students from that school likely performed well. However, if your GPA from that school is, for example, a 3.5 but that ranks you in the bottom half of the class, that can also hurt you. Similarly, if you have a 3.5 but that ranks you at the top of your class, that is looked at more favorably than a higher GPA that is ranked lower in the class, if that makes sense.