<p>I know this is an EXTREME hypothetical question, but please try to anwer as best as you can!</p>
<p>Would a 4.0 or close to a 4.0, like a 3.85+ somehow mean more at a school from the Top 15 of USNEWS Rankings than a public school! </p>
<p>Like let me give you an example would a 4.0 at Northwestern University or Johns Hopkins University [which actually has half-grades (eg. A+/A-/B+/B-, etc) O_O] mean MORE than a 4.0 at at state school like University of Maryland or University of Virginia, etc. etc.</p>
<p>How much of an "added bonus" [if any] does a "high" GPA carry when compared to other schools? </p>
<p>Oh, and base your responses with respect to Graduate or Professional [Med/Law] School admissions!</p>
<p>Thanks!!</p>
<p>p.s. LOL, I didn't know you could underline!</p>
<p>Not necessarily. For instance, yes, a 4.0 chemical engineering major at Caltech means more than a 4.0 English major University of Maryland. But for instance no, a 4.0 chemical engineering major Georgia Tech means more than a 4.0 English major Northwestern. It really depends on the difficulty of the school, major of choice, etc. It also matters in what context. Grad school, Professional School, Job? But all things being equal, a 4.0 would mean more at a top school.</p>
<p>^Thanks for the response, btw congrats on getting admitted to Stanford! Good Luck!</p>
<p>But yeah, I mean if the majors were held constant, like for example Electrical Engineering at JHU vs. Electrical Engineering at UMD? Granted that JHU is ranked higher than UMD in both National Rankings AND for EE, will that "prestige" play any role for grad school? Or similarly if you applied to med-school [but I guess JHU is a bad example for that, a 4.0 at JHU is gold for med-school, lol...]</p>
<p>Thanks again!
-Vader</p>
<p>College Park doesn't have engineering right?
I though UMBC was the engineering school in Maryland? </p>
<p>No,From what I hear it doesn't matter where you went for premed, GPA and MCAT are all that matter.
For grad school in general prestige is more helpful,but it still comes after GPA,Program,GRE,Research,Statement...etc.</p>
<p>If a school is public doesn't matter.
I believe UVA is ranked higher then Northwestern/
And UCal is ranked higher then NW,JHU,and UVA.</p>
<p>No, Northwestern is ranked #14 and UVA is ranked #23, although the difference is negligible.</p>
<p>Some studies have concluded that on average, grades are significantly higher at private schools than at publics. Some top privates may justify this by saying, "Look, we only admit top students, and we shouldn't punish the bottom two-thirds of our class by grading them on the same curve as an average public school." </p>
<p>But admissions committees at leading grad schools know this. Bottom line, they're not going to be terribly impressed by a 3.5 from Northwestern if 3.5 is somewhere close to the middle of the grading scale at Northwestern. They'll be impressed that byou got into Northwestern, but not that you got a 3.5. Will they be impressed by a 4.0 at Northwestern? Sure; but they may be equally impressed by a 4.0 from UMD, if they know that statistically speaking a 4.0 from UMD is a much rarer occurrence. Bottom line, I don't think you can assume grad schools are going to give added "weight" to your GPA because you attended a top private school.</p>
<p>Some people argue that for law schools in particular, it's a straight numbers game: what matter is your (unweighted) GPA and your LSAT score. Based on talking to a lot of people who have done law school admissions over the years, I think it's more complicated than that. They do consider your school, at least at the margins. And more than the school, they look at what you've studied, whether it evidences a serious work ethic and real academic achievement. There's more to that than the name of the school you attended. Yoiu can slide by in Northwestern taking a bunch of (comparatively) easy classes, or you can take on a challenging curriculum. They'll be able to tell. They'll reward candidates who did well. But they'll look especially favorably upon candidates who took on a challenging curriculum and did well.</p>
<p>^thanks for all the explanations guys, it really helps out!! I guess what I can gather is that doing well [high gpa] at a top school may or may not help THAT much, but it def. will NEVER hurt ;)</p>
<p>Just in case someone thinks Northwestern is easy, it has probably the toughest orgo sequence in the nation. ;)</p>
<p>TriForces, offtopic. Maryland has an engineering program. It's actually the 22nd best undergrad program in the country among doctoral universities. UMBC is the non-flagship public that specializes in science/tech like Missouri-Rolla's role in Missouri's higher education system.</p>
<p>^yea college park engineering is actually pretty good...UMBC isn't all that good for engineering esp. having college park [UMD] over-shadowing it constantly!!</p>