'Non-credit' classes

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

Hi
I am a rising Junior from New York. My GPA is so far 3.77 (around that, at best its 3.8). I have plenty of honors and AP classes but I haven’t seen my UW GPA. My GPA has risen, in freshmen year my GPA was prob around 3.7, not 3.77 (again these are not exact, point is my GPA has risen since start of HS, and will prob be higher by end of high school).

My transcript has also a lot of classes that are half credit or quarter credit, most of which I got really high grades on. Will the admission people care about those, my school doesn’t factor them into the GPA? Also will Harvard appreciate the fact that my GPA has been rising since Freshmen year???
thank you

2

Two things:

  1. When you apply to college, your high school sends along their "high school profile" which is like a rubric that helps college's decode your school's curriculum and grading system. The profile, which is a combination of words, charts and graphs, should allow colleges to understand your GPA relative to your peers and those half-credit, quarter-credit and non-credit classes. Some high school profile's are on-line. If your high school's is not, ask your guidance counselor for a copy. Here are two examples;

Boston Latin High School Profile: http://www.bls.org/ourpages/auto/2013/5/24/55204166/2014-15%20BLS%20Profile.pdf
Stuyvesant High School Profile: http://stuy.enschool.org/ourpages/auto/2013/3/7/37096823/Stuyvesant_Profile%202014-15.pdf

  1. If your **weighted** GPA is a 3.7, please speak with your guidance counselor and ask them three questions: a) What is your unweighted GPA? b) What is your approximate ranking? Does your GPA place you in the top 10% of your class? c) How many other students from your high school have been admitted to Harvard with your GPA?

The answers to those questions will help you determine if Harvard is an appropriate choice for you, as according to the Harvard’s Common Data set, 87% of accepted students had an unweighted 3.75 GPA or greater. FWIW: I suspect the 13% of accepted students who had below a 3.75 might be recruited athletes. See C9 data points: http://oir.harvard.edu/files/huoir/files/harvard_cds_2013-14.pdf

3

Thank you for that prompt reply @gibby I didn’t know at all that the Counselor sends a rubric to the admissions office.
Thabk you also for providing that link to Harvard’s common data set.

People like u on college confidential are honestly very helpful.