<p>how come the undergrad admissions show that incoming JHU freshmen only have a 3.72? Also, I saw that the average ACT is 30-34. I've been reading online that even a 32 is not enough for JHU. Can someone clarity please? Much appreciated</p>
<p>It is a lower gpa because some high schools are super competitive and tough, so a 3.7 there might be equivalent to a 4.0 at another school. Also, some people take tons of AP classes and their gpa suffers. It is a holistic admissions so even a 35 isn’t enough. Someone with a 30 might get in over someone with a 35. You need to have a well rounded application with includes gpa, Testscores, ECs, essay, and recommendations.</p>
<p>A 3.72 is still good, probably more than you’d see at ~98% of other universities. I see your point, though, and it must be that students from tougher high schools, schools that FutureDocSauve mentioned, tend to have higher test scores than their GPAs would suggest and are somehow more likely to apply to Johns Hopkins than students of equal academic caliber at easier schools. I suspect this is because JHU is a lesser-known top-tier school (aside from its medical school) and hard high schools are more likely to get the word out to their students about schools like this and Rice (which also has, as I recall, high average test scores and somewhat lower average GPAs). In contrast, at Princeton or Brown, which are much better known, you’ll often see students with almost perfect GPAs (~3.95) and comparatively weaker test scores (~31 ACT) - not that students like that aren’t likely qualified for those schools anyway.</p>