I don't understand this about the IVYs...

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I was on Collegeboard, looking at some of the IVY's "At a glance" profiles and i saw things like </p>

<pre><code>* 96% in top 10th of graduating class
* 99% in top quarter of graduating class
* 100% in top half of graduating class

  • 65% had h.s. GPA of 3.75 and higher
  • 16% had h.s. GPA between 3.5 and 3.74
  • 11% had h.s. GPA between 3.25 and 3.49
  • 5% had h.s. GPA between 3.0 and 3.24
  • 3% had h.s. GPA between 2.5 and 2.99 </code></pre>

<p>From UPenn</p>

<p>and </p>

<pre><code>* 91% in top 10th of graduating class

  • 62% had h.s. GPA of 3.75 and higher
  • 18% had h.s. GPA between 3.5 and 3.74
  • 10% had h.s. GPA between 3.25 and 3.49
  • 6% had h.s. GPA between 3.0 and 3.24
  • 2% had h.s. GPA between 2.5 and 2.99
  • 1% had h.s. GPA between 2.0 and 2.49
  • 1% had h.s. GPA between 1.0 and 1.99 </code></pre>

<p>From Dartmouth</p>

<p>and i don't understand why there is a margin of students with relatively bad (in terms of CC) gpas (below > 3.5 ), but all the ranks are still high... can someone explain?</p>

<p>i hope that made sense...</p>

2

<p>About 35% of the kids at these schools come from private high schools, most of which don’t rank. A lot of public schools don’t rank too. At many of the privates, no one ever gets a 4.0.</p>

<p>A 3.5 at some schools is nearly top of class while at others it is not even top 30%. GPA’s are meaningless out of context.</p>

<p>Then add in that 17% of the class are recruited athletes, 20% URMs, and about 10% legacies and development. The colleges bend a lot for those groups.</p>

<p>You need to look at other stats too. For example, in Dartmouth’s freshmen class, 40% of those who were ranked were top 2 in their class. I don’t have ready facts for the others but they all publish very high numbers of vals and sals and so on.</p>

3

<p>hmom has it right. Those stats can be very misleading.</p>

<p>There are many private schools where a 3.5 is uncommonly good.</p>

<p>Fun facts about Brown:</p>

<p>[Brown</a> Admission: Facts & Figures](<a href=“Undergraduate Admission | Brown University”>Undergraduate Admission | Brown University)</p>

4

<p>Thanks for the quick responses guys…!</p>

5

<p>And a lot of Ivy kids have crazy good hooks.</p>

6

<p>The Brown facts and figures are a must read for anyone who believes you have a great chance if you’re a val with a 2200.</p>

7

<p>The beauty of these statistics is that they show that it’s not all about the numbers. As one who is known to post a number or two, I also know that there are lots of terrific kids who have special talents that don’t show up in a GPA or class rank. Fortunately, some of the Ivy admissions folks recognize this as well and offer admission.</p>