I obviously know that the further away you move from a 4.0 the lower your chances will be, but are kids with a 3.8/3.85 really at that much of a disadvantage at top 20 schools. My question is: If you have amazing EC’s, outstanding essays, killer letters of rec, 99th percentile test scores, is a 3.8 really going to hold you back? Do top 20 schools care that much about a few B’s if you are doing amazing things outside of the classroom?
Friend of D accepted to Stanford. 3.8ish, 32 ACT. Solid ECs. But a compelling personal story made him a standout.
3.8 is fine. I think class rank is also important – a 3.8 that lands you in the top 20% is probably not as impressive as a 3.8 that puts you in the top 10%, given equal rigor.
If those B’s occurred during Freshman year, then all else being equal, kids with 3.8 GPA’s have a fine chance at top 20 colleges.
Do you think that HYPSM really have a cutoff for things like gpa or test scores. Is it something low like a above a 3.3 so they can really analyze the whole application? Or is it high so they can make sure they are taking the most academically talented kids that are out there?
these days there are so many “what the hell” applications sent in from unqualified applicants that top colleges have cut off parameters to make it to the “first read”. Those that get moved to the “front of the line” , in bypassing this cut off # include faculty kids, alumni kids, DA’s, recruited athletes, famous kids and children of very famous, prominent people.
GPA calculation methods vary. A 3.8 doesn’t necessarily mean that there are 'B’s on the student’s record.
At our HS, you can have a 3.4 and never have gotten a B (below 90) (‘A-’ =3.33; ‘A’=3.67; ‘A+’=4.0).
Making any statement about what a “3.8” means in admissions is worthless without knowing the details of that HS’s grading system, the student’s rank, etc.
on an unweighted scale where A= 4.0, B=3.0, etc etc, a kid can have all B’s one year and still have a 3.75 overall GPA
. many Colleges place less emphasis on Freshman year grades.
nearly 50 %of applicants to top private colleges come from schools that dont rank students. and those colleges use their own system to reweight grades anyway.
so regardless of how the HS grades or ranks a student, the college uses its own system to evaluate applicants .
DS was accepted at 2 Ivys [ had no interest in apply to HYP], Chicago, Wash U, Carleton, Pomona, and some others whose names escape me, and landed a full tuition scholarship at USC with a 3.75 GPA[ all B’s his Freshman year] , 99% SAT’s, unusual EC’s and great LOR’s., and was a NMF and AP National Scholar. He is an incredible writer and his essay was funny, revealing and poignant.
so it can be done.
is the 3.8 weighted or unweighted? will it make a big difference?
Students we’ve known, who were smart/bright but not scary smart, who’ve been admitted to Stanford, Pomona, Princeton, etc. were amazing in extremely unusual ways. For instance, they devoted their childhood to working with a state legislator to pass an important bill, or they were invited to the White House to be commended for their work in their field, or significant media outlets like People magazine and The Today Show highlighted their non-profit because it was so incredible, or they created an organization that was so unique they were able to partner with royalty. Whatever your non-academic, amazing niche is - writing, athletics, wood carving - my experience is that it does have to really soar when talking about these schools. And, a respected college counseling service told us those amazing kids are then usually behind celebrities, A list celebrity children, children of top US government officials, children of top foreign government officials, and children of top state officials. My daughter had a 2000, 3.3/4.3, and every award in her field at the local, state, and national level. She had 2 C’s on her transcript, only taking honors and then APs every semester. Top schools she was accepted to included Berkeley, Smith, and USC.
I honestly don’t think that colleges care about weighted gpa’s anymore. It seems like they just look at your unweighted and compare that with your course rigor. Does anyone think that amazing essays or any other part of the essay except testing can offset a slightly lower gpa? Obviously outstanding EC’s as said above can make the difference, but im talking about more minor parts of the application ex: supplements, letters of rec, school. Do you think that it changes a lot when you go from a 3.8 to a 3.7? How much does each .1 change your chances?
One part of your application does not offset another. Each piece of information stands alone as part of the whole. To answer your question, 3.8 means different things at different schools. In most cases 3.8 means a mix of A/A- grades and is probably sufficient for top schools.
I think a 3.8 unweighted “can be” very competitive - but much more competitive if the student has a rigorous schedule. Admissions vary by school but rigor usually follows gpa and test scores in terms of importance. If your high school does not offer many AP/Honors classes that’s fine, but if it does there should be rigor in the schedule or the chances for a Top 20 admission go way down - just my opinion.
No