<p>I attended a public high school for 9th and 10th grade, during which my GPA was 3.9 unweighted and 4.8 weighted.
I then applied to and transferred to (arguably) the top school in North Caroling, The North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, and I got about half B's because even out of that school, I took the top level classes offered there. My GPA dropped down to 3.48 unweighted and 4.63 weighted. </p>
<p>How do colleges look at a 3.48 unweighted in relation to 4.63 weighted? Also in relation to the course load. Also, does GPA matter that much compared to standardized tests? For example, my ACT score is 34, so does that make up for it?</p>
<p>Thanks for all your help haha I really want to get into Duke :(</p>
<p>Each admissions office handles grade differently, but generally speaking they do not look at GPA. Instead, they consider the rigor of the classes taken and individual grades in the core academic areas (math, english, science, social studies and foreign language). They don’t care about a 4.0 GPA if half the classes are fluff. They also never care about weighted GPA since every school does this differently.</p>
<p>They will also consider your grades in the context of your school. Depending on the level of your public school, it is probably better to have a 3.48 at NCSSM than a 3.9 there. The 34 validates that you are a solid student.</p>
<p>Colleges are likely to either recalculate GPA or look at the courses and grades holistically, rather than trusting the high school’s notion of weighting, since high schools have numerous different weighting systems.</p>
<p>My high school doesn’t rank students, because they want to keep competition down to a safe level for us haha, we’re “supposed” to be the “cream of the crop” of North Carolina.</p>
<p>And about the GPA, I had to calculate it myself, because the GPA from NCSSM is on a 5.0 scale, and it isn’t averaged with my previous school’s GPA automatically. And about the weighting issue, my school applied to become one of the University of North Carolina campuses, so it’s part of the university system. Does that resolve anything in weighted classes? Oh and also all the teachers at my school has their masters or phd. All my junior year classes were taught by phd’s, though I don’t think that matters in weighting.</p>
<p>OP, Based on your post #5 your #s don’t mean much (you interpolated and extrapolated). Your best bet is to look at your school’s Naviance to see how that matches up with Duke. The school profile makes it look like about 50+ get in annually. Where are you in that applying group?</p>
<p>Yeah, and the acceptance rate is usually around 50 precent from everyone that applied. As for within that group, I am taking classes more rigorous than the average, but that resulted in several B’s. All a’s are accomplished by only 5% of the students that attend NCSSM so within those statistics, I feel like I’m about average. I don’t know how extracurriculars at my school are for students, but I do know many students are generally very involved. Here are mine.</p>
<p>I have a total of 8 Science Olympiad medals, some from regionals, some from state
I have an academic and an athletic letter, for varsity tennis.
I was on the varsity tennis team for two years and junior varsity soccer for two years.
I have a total of more than 100 volunteer hours at my local hospital, in affiliation with Duke health systems.
I volunteered with kicking4hunger, habitat for humanity, and other non-profits.
I am a math TA at my school, meaning I help my teacher after school tutor kids in pre-cal, calc AB/BC, and multivariable, and I get graduating credit for it.
I was asked by the head of the Physics and Chemistry department at my local university to participate in reacher dealing with synthesizing biofuels, and I spent enough lab time to get two hours of college credit in organic chemistry.
I participated in summer ventures and did a “research” project in physics, and I won the catalyst award, meaning I was chosen out of all the research groups to represent UNCW at the science teachers’ convention and present my findings.
I am part of the election board committee at my school.
I co-founded a Hindi seminar, in which I will be educating other students in Hindi and they will receive grades for the class, which shows up on their transcript.
I was participated in state and nationals Technology Student Association and received third place in state for designing an animation displaying the behavior of catalysts in chemical reactions.
I am a boy scout, I go camping, and I am very close to my Eagle, and I plan on finishing that up.
I participate in three different dance groups at my school, with a wide variety of styles and many hours of commitment.
4 years orchestra
helped design webpage for UNCP
I have more… but this is all I can write up for now</p>
<p>and what do you mean by numbers don’t matter much? that from what I said, it seems like GPA doesn’t matter much?</p>
I mean the numbers you “made up” don’t mean much. Some schools will recalculate your GPA based on the data they receive from your HS while others will generally eyeball your grades with your difficulty of schedule. That’s one reason the Naviance data is more accurate and specific to your school.</p>
<p>I am sure that the colleges you apply to will be very familiar with your high school & know that your GPA will be relatively low & will adjust in accordance.</p>
<p>50 applicants each year from NCSSM get accepted to Duke? If this is the case, don’t ask us, ask your school guidance counselor. S/he will have a great perspective on who gets accepted and who doesn’t. </p>
<p>You can also contact you Regional Admissions Rep who will know your school very well. They will not be able to comment on other applicants but they can give you a great feel for how Duke evaulates the rigor of classes at your school.</p>