<p>
</p>
<p>No two high schools are sure to be on the same scale. That’s the whole point of using standardized test scores. But if a college has an arbitrary GPA or rank cut-off, then policy precludes it from considering the meaning of his grades in the context of course rigor, local competition, and other factors (including scores). Schools with holistic admissions (and better-staffed admissions offices) can and do make those distinctions. </p>
<p>Years ago, your state university was an easy safety school choice. That is less frequently the case today, even though top private schools continue to choose more highly qualified student bodies overall (even as measured only by grades, rank and test scores, but all the more so by other factors).</p>