<p>So, the other day we had our annual guidance meeting. While there, a bunch of kids asked about their chances at certain colleges, UVa being a prevalent pick. Many kids with a 3.83 GPA W were given the go-ahead to apply without any "worries." Maybe I'm mistaken, but I've always thought that anything below a 4 W is considered on the low end for UVa. Perhaps, I'm the one that's mistaken. Also, most of these students had SAT/ACT scores of 1500-1800/24-29, it just really surprised me. Am I wrong for thinking this? Are the standards that I've always thought UVa had, not as austere?</p>
<p>You’re talking out of context here, so it’s going to be hard for anyone to really answer back about the GPA. The scales and weighting vary dramatically from county to county and state to state. A “good” GPA at one school could be a mediocre GPA at a school just a few miles down the road.</p>
<p>What’s more, program is a huge piece of the puzzle. There are schools giving equal weight to AP, IB, DE, and Honors courses. Someone who hasn’t challenged themselves with top level courses while collecting As isn’t going to be as attractive as a student who has mixed grades in top level courses.</p>
<p>There are no formulas, rubrics, charts, or graphs in our review. Obviously, many point to scattergrams to spot trends, but those charts show the end result of a holistic review. They aren’t showing you a standard or cut off that admission officers have in their heads when reviewing applications, which I fear is how many interpret scattergrams. </p>
<p>This may be helpful:
[Notes</a> from Peabody: The UVA Application Process: Let’s talk about GPAs](<a href=“http://uvaapplication.blogspot.com/2010/01/lets-talk-about-gpas.html]Notes”>Notes from Peabody: The UVA Application Process: Let's talk about GPAs)</p>
<p>Dean J, another related question. My school sends weighted GPA’s to colleges, does that mean that UVA will NOT recalculate to the Unwieghted form of my GPA?</p>
<p>Thank you for your input!</p>
<p>I’m no Dean J, but I’m pretty sure his blog mentions that UVa does NOT recalculate GPAs. The admissions officers use the data that is sent to them and evaluate it based on the context of your school. Also, even if GPAs were recalculated, in most situations, an A at one school would not be the same A a student from another school received, due to the varying degree of difficulty in courses, and because different schools have different reputations in respect to grade inflation and grade deflation; therefore, recalculating GPAs for the sake of putting students on the same playing field would be a waste of the admissions office time. If you are a strong applicant from your school, UVa’s and other college’s admissions officers will be able to recognize that. I really hope this helped you out, and good luck come April 1. :)</p>
<p>Silly is right. :)</p>
<p>I definitely addressed a question about recalculation in the comments on my blog post.</p>