<p>Hi all, I am applying SCEA to Harvard, and I am a bit worried about my cumulative GPA. This is probably a unique situation, because my school grades on a 7 point scale, and reports that a 6.5 is equal to a 4.0. While that is roughly accurate, many kids in each year's graduating class have GPAs way above that. My GPA has been 6.32/6.55/6.38, for a cumulative GPA of 6.41. However, this is only good enough to be about roughly in the top 15% of my class. Plus, there is the decrease from sophomore to junior year. In addition, I HAVE taken a very rigorous schedule, pretty much taking advantage of all AP and Honors opportunities offered to me in my areas of strength. </p>
<p>My first quarter senior year GPA is a 7.15 (probably top 4 or 5 in the class), so I am also wondering how much this drastic improvement will be rated (and if that is enough to offset my relatively disappointing junior year GPA). My test scores are fairly typical of a Harvard applicant (2230 sat superscore/34 ACT single sitting, I sent both). Is my GPA a legitimate worry?</p>
<p>Thanks for any answers that are forthcoming!</p>
<p>The question you have to answer is if kids in your school in years past with similar gpa’s have gotten into schools like Harvard. You should look at Naviance or whatever software your school uses and also consult your GC to determine this. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, we can’t answer your question other than generally you should be at least top 10%. Even being top 10%, I suspect that most of the kids they accept are closer to top 1% than 10%. Harvard says they don’t consider class rank but they are certainly looking for high gpa’s so a low rank just becomes a residual of the process.</p>
<p>I am not completely sure about my class rank, as the school does not report it. I am sure that I am currently (and have also done in the past) taking a harder schedule than most of the students that do rank above me. I solid handful of the students above me get >6.5 gpas taking soft classes, while I have taken more difficult classes and still managed to be in the 10-15%…I hope that will come through in the application. I do look on Naviance…we don’t have a table for Harvard, but I know that Ivy league acceptees from our school usually have a 6.7 or greater gpa. The thing is that I am on the higher end for testing tham many of those kids (so farther along on the x axis if I use Naviance). </p>
<p>I guess I phrased my question badly. I clearly AM worried about my GPA haha. But given the improvement to having a 7.15 this year, and given strong EC’s, strong essays and strong rec’s, the real concern is am I still a fairly competitive ap1plicant even though my GPA is only top 10-15%? I just want to know if I am competitive. Thanks a lot for your answer</p>
<p>Again, from my perspective, no one can really say at this point other than the admissions office itself. Your SAT is around the average for the admitted class, your gpa appears to be on the low side for your peer group as you have noted. Just for perspective, in a normal HS class of say 500, being at the 15th percentile means that the applicant is ranked 75th in the class. Does Harvard often take someone that has 74 kids ahead of them grades-wise? I suspect not, especially if they are unhooked. But again, no one knows the full extent of your circumstances, so all you can do is wait and hope for the best.</p>
<p>GPA is important- but I think if EVERYTHING ELSE is strong you can make up for it. Unfortunately one large flaw in your app can hurt you- so be sure to try and improve everything you possibly can if you want even a realistic chance.</p>
Harvard, and other selective colleges, are on record as saying, “We do not accept any student in the SCEA round that we wouldn’t accept in the RD round.” That’s Admissions-speak for “We take the best of the best in the early round.” Generally speaking, that means successful SCEA applicants are somewhere in the top 1% to 10% of their high school’s graduating class. (Harvard’s Common Data Set indicates that 95.4% of all accepted students are in the top 10% of their class.) All numbers aside, that doesn’t sound like you, but as Falcon1 said, we don’t know the rest of your story. Besides, as the above poster pointed out, why worry when you can’t do anything about it at this point in the process. All you can do is hope for the best.</p>
<p>Okay thanks a lot all! For the record, for me, being top 10-15% in my class means there are only about 11 or 12 kids ahead of me right now, and as I noted, I take a harder schedule than 2/3 of those kids, so I guess this discussion has made me feel reasonably better. You guys are most certainly right, I should just stop stressing and accept that whatever happens, happens. Thanks for the replies!</p>
<p>Thanks! That certainly is informative (if a bit scary xD). That’s 96% of all “ranked kids” though right? My school doesn’t report class rank, but they do give a breakdown of the distribution of the previous graduating class (that’s where I’m getting my rough estimate from).</p>
<p>That the very top students get almost all of the acceptances should not come as a surprise because teachers and GC’s know who the very top students are and they get the stellar recs (albeit deserved).</p>
<p>Top private or public magnet schools no doubt have more acceptances to top schools for kids ranked outside the top 10%</p>