<p>My daughter is a junior in a highly challenging boarding school in New England with a 3.5 GPA. At her home town high school, she was a straight A student, but was bored and unchallenged so chose to attend boarding school after 9th grade, looking for more challenge and a better education, which she definately found. Had she remained at her old high school, her GPA would probably have been in the 5.0 range, but because of the added difficulty of the curriculum at boarding school, she is now a 3.5 GPA student. How does this weigh into her college applications? Will colleges recognize the difference in the curriculums of different schools? I can't help but wonder if her chances of getting into more selective colleges haven't been hurt by attending boarding school and bringing her GPA down. The point of attending boarding school was to better prepare her for college and open more opportunities for her. She is certainly better prepared than she would have been if she had stayed in her old high school, but on paper this does not show.</p>
<p>Yes, most colleges do. Where sometimes top private schools get hurt is at state schools which tend to be formulaic and with scholarships that attach GPA minimums.</p>
<p>Even when schools don’t rank as most privates don’t colleges know where the student stands in her class.</p>
<p>Yes, colleges generally take the rigor of the student’s school and curriculum into account.</p>
<p>My school (single-gender, college preparatory) sends a school profile and GPA weighting info to colleges to give a better picture of its academic environment. Your daughter’s school probably has a similar policy. </p>
<p>Granted, a C is a C whether you’re in public school or boarding school. But I do think that colleges will recognize that it is harder to maintain a high GPA/grades in a competitive school.</p>
<p>Do they use class rank, in these situations that tends to be helpful.</p>
<p>No, this school does not rank students.</p>
<p>Competitive private schools often don’t rank students. Also, even large public schools will often adjust cut-offs for students from competitive private schools. I was awarded scholarships that, according to the minimum GPA cut-offs, I didn’t qualify for, but the schools adjusted my GPA to reflect the relative difficulty of my high school. I know I’m not the only person who has had this happen.</p>
<p>Hi. my daughter goes to a very comp. public hs in the philly suburburbs. Our hs places many in the ivys because of our rigors. This year our seniors have many attending Harvard and Yale according to may daughter. Just think what your daughter would have done if she were bored. Kudos to you for keeping her busy and engaged!!</p>