@inordie do you go to Brandeis
I agree that school’s probably do take in acount the competitiveness of the current university, but only to help, not to hurt. For example, a 4.0 from an applicant at a CC is going to be viewed as a 4.0, but a 3.2 from a top 30 university is going to be approached with some leniency. So I wouldn’t heavily discount high GPA candidates from less competitive universities or low GPA candidates from more competitive universities. Maybe I’m just saying this because I go to a less competitive state school. 
But that’s just my two cents.
Also after a certain rank, I doubt Vandy (or any other prestigious school) would care what the actual ranking is of the school that you are coming from. I don’t think after maybe the top 50 they really care, maybe even earlier than that.
I do want to be clear. Your GPA will certainly be evaluated within the context of your college. If you go to an extremely rigorous college (like Swarthmore, known for its brutal academics), then a 3.4 GPA will be seen through a different lens than someone from a comparatively weaker school with a 3.4.
But don’t think you get brownie points for being in the same “T30 team” with Vanderbilt, just because your college is a few ranks below or above them on USNews Rankings.
Basically what @JSPHHAN stated.
Just a quick question… Is Vandy on par with Grinnell when it comes to prestige and education quality? I wonder if it will bring me some bonus point for transferring from a well regarded school due to its lack of major.
@ILR2020 Nah guess again m8. Our school is in bigger debt
@JSPHHAN well, put simple that’s impossible. If it explicitly helps one person, it implicitly hurts another.
@AGoodFloridian Well I think its reasonable to assume grading is more rigorous at t-30 school then compared with average state school. Reason isn’t due to brownie points, but because of grading difficulty, like you said.
@SunZhaoyu I’d say no, Grinnell is a liberal arts school while Vandy is a university. I’d also say that Vandy has a much bigger name recognization both in terms of actual educational quality and also prestige.
@inordie NYU or BC?
@Mastodon97
I guess I am not making a lateral then… I thought I may earn some bonus points for transferring from a similar ranked school lol
@ILR2020 nope, another hint is that, I go to a tech school, so one of my other reason, was that I don’t have any diversity or freedom of course selections in general. I think I just gave it away haha
@inordie Case Western or RPI
@HopefullyIGetIn Technically, yes; Fundamentally, no. I guess “help” isn’t quite the right word, because it’s not like all top 30 university applicants with low GPAs didn’t work as hard as 4.0 applicants at less competitive universities and vice versa. Rather, the GPA evaluation is holistic. In this case, the leniency on GPA for applicants from top 30 universities would “help” them.
@SunZhaoyu @Mastodon97 name recognition is different then how admission committee will view you. Just cause your college isn’t brand name, doesn’t mean its not on par with vandy in the academic world.
In other words, theirs a difference between how real world views a college to how admissions committee will view it.
@ILR2020 Yeap, RPI xD. we have 880 Mill debt cuz of our beloved president
@SunZhaoyu I’d say that it’d actually be a disadvantage making a lateral move because you would really have to make a serious and distinct argument as to why your current college is not the one but the other one is. Grinnell and Vandy are essentially nothing like each other, so I’d say that it actually helps you a lot because the college can see that your current environment for whatever reason (academic or social) is not working out for you.
@JSPHHAN actually just yes. Their is a limited amount of seats. So when an admission comitte gives an edge to a student from a top uni with lower GPA it may boot out kid from lower ranked uni with a higher GPA.
@SunZhaoyu , your performance at your college, given the context of its difficulty, will be used to your advantage. Not the college’s name, let alone its rank.
If you have a very strong performance at your current college [Which I know you do 
], then you have a -very- good chance of being admitted. I personally see it happening this Friday!
How much weight is put on high-school GPA if you’re transferring as a rising junior? Cause I had a lot going on then, and ended with a 3.4 GPA and 25+ missed class my senior year. I did not explain that to them in my application, but do you think it’ll be overlooked if my GPA/Extra I’m doing now is far better?
@inordie Dang, I went to a high school that was low-income and didn’t have much funding, but I never would have thought college would be the same for some unknown reason… If you don’t mind me asking, what’s it like to go to a school that is that far deep in debt?