<p>Two students with a 3.8 gpa would not be compared in the way you suggest. The schools want to assemble a diverse class of excellent students who will contribute in many different ways. Assuming the stellar test scores suggested by bessie, admissions committees would then look for different passions, for some students who are leaders, some students who are joiners (those leaders need someone to lead), athletes, musicians, poets, mathematicians, liberals, conservatives, etc… </p>
<p>They will not disregard all those other factors and simply say “Based on the 0.1 difference in gpa Junior year, we are accepting the one with the ____ trend”</p>