What's in a GPA?

Applying to College
1

<p>A professor of mine stated that college admissions are becoming reluctant to evaluate students' applications based on GPA and class rank because they vary so much between schools, so they are beginning to rely more on test scores. (See my thread on test scores if you'd like and tell me if you think it's a good solution to college admissions.)</p>

<p>That being said, what makes some people get higher GPA's than others? Now, a 2.0 used to be average, like when my parents were in school, but let's just say that for students entering college, a 3.0 is average. Now, compare that to a 4.0 of the same school. Now, let's say that hypothetically they had the same difficulty in course load, the same grading techniques, and the same amount of time spent on school work. Why did person B get the better GPA?</p>

<p>My mom was an "average" student in hs receiving B's and C's. She said she tried very much in high school and she wanted to become a nurse but she didn't think she was "smart enough." She continues to say that "some people are just smart." She isn't "book smart" and that does annoy me. I didn't have anyone to read my high school papers or college entrance essays.</p>

<p>Now, I always assumed that working hard was associated with a high GPA....but what about cases like my mom's? I'm sure there are many students out there who feel the same way. (She didn't go to a "difficult" hs either.)</p>

<p>Is GPA really a matter of "smarts?" (See my thread on "test taking" to see my list of which factors could contribute to "smarts")</p>

2

<p>I think there are a couple things with this. First, looking at any ones GPA with no other knowledge is risky. You can take a lot of simple classes out there and get a 4.0 but throw in some tougher classes and it could drop like a rock. I know that some colleges redo the GPA based on only core classes – English, History, Math, Science, and Language. This type of GPA is what I would consider “smarts”. </p>

<p>The other thing is how well the information is taught. Some of the more competitive high schools would have, I would think, better teachers that the less competitive schools. A teacher should be able to teach someone the material. Some students learn better than other. A really good teacher could get the “not as smart” students to pick up on it and the smart students to learn more. This is how you could have an A student move to a different school and become a B student. </p>

<p>This is why GPA is just one of the criteria that is looked at. I do think that one thing that most colleges agree on is that they want to see how tough the course load the student took compared to what was available.</p>