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<p>Actually, GPA is not a factor in the US News college rankings. “Selectivity” counts for 15% of a school’s total score. Selectivity in turn has 3 components: acceptance rate (10% of selectivity score = 1.5% of total score), percentage of entering freshmen who were in the top 10% of their HS class (40% of selectivity score = 6% of total score), and SAT/ACT medians (50% of selectivity score = 7.5% of total score). For “regional” colleges and universities, they use percentage in the top 25% of HS class instead of top 10%.</p>
<p>Thus HS GPAs affect a college’s US News ranking only if, and to the extent that, GPA affects the applicant’s class rank. For applicants from schools that don’t rank, GPA matters not a whit for the admitting college’s US news ranking. And all GPAs that place the applicant in the top 10% of applicant’s HS class are just as good, and all GPAs that place the applicant outside the top 10% are just as bad, as far as US News is concerned.</p>
<p>If college adcoms are easily wowed by high GPAs, it’s not because they have an eye on their US News rankings.</p>