Will colleges consider the ranking of my high school and its grading scale?

Applying to College
1

<p>My school is the best in my state, and it's in the top fifties in the country. It has a seven point grading scale. 93-100 is an A, 92-85 is a B. Will colleges look at just my GPA or the percentages I got in my classes? This last semester I got a 3.4 cumulative GPA, but I had two 90s so with a 10 point scale my GPA would have been a 3.8 and therefore much better because I would only have one B. Will colleges consider this? Will colleges that aren't in my state recognize that I go to a great and extremely difficult school?</p>

2

<p>College will evaluate your transcript based upon your school as a total. If your HS is indeed a top 50 school in the nation, they have a school profile such as the below like that they will send with the recs that explain your school’s grading system. The admissions officers are also probably aware of your school’s system already.</p>

<p><a href=“http://professionals.collegeboard.com/guidance/counseling/profile/sample”>http://professionals.collegeboard.com/guidance/counseling/profile/sample&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

3

<p>^Exactly. Top HS are known by most of the colleges, so there’s no need to explain anything. You do this once, they see thousands of applications every year, so there’s little they haven’t seen before. If they don’t understand something, they’ll contact your school to get a better explanation.</p>

4

<p>Yes, not only are the top HS known by most schools, but each HS sends a school profile along with every transcript. The school profile explains the grading system etc. My kids went to a very strong/competitive HS and the student’s college admissions reflected this.</p>

5

<p>

Yes, they will by taking one look at your high school profile, which will be sent to them along with your transcript by your guidance counselor. If you haven’t seen a copy of your high school profile, ask your GC for a copy. </p>

<p>Many high school profiles are available on-line. You can learn an awful lot about a student and the student body by looking at a profile. For example, here’s a profile from Boston Latin High School – another “top 50 in the country” high school. <a href=“http://www.bls.org/ourpages/auto/2013/5/24/55204166/2013-14%20BLS%20Profile.pdf”>http://www.bls.org/ourpages/auto/2013/5/24/55204166/2013-14%20BLS%20Profile.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Several things to notice:

  1. The grading scale is clearly explained, so when a college looks at a student’s transcript they understand where that student stands in the pecking order.
  2. The distribution of cumulative GPAs is clearly explained so even if rank is not provided, colleges understands how that student is doing relative to their peers.
  3. The average SAT/ACT scores are given, as well as SAT Subject Test scores.
  4. The awards and honors the class has received are noted, so colleges know if you have not received an award that others at your school have.
  5. The number of AP courses is listed as well as the fact that students are limited to taking 3 AP courses per year in their junior and senior years. So if a student applies to a college with 3 AP’s on their transcript and their senior year course schedule has 3 AP courses, a college knows that student is taking the maximum amount of AP’s allowed at that school – in other words, they are taking one of the “Most Demanding” course loads at their school.</p>
6

<p>Yes and no. Yes, they will see that your school is successful, but no, they will not translate your 90s to As. The scale is the scale, and you earned Bs. There is no difference between a B on your scale and a B on a ten point scale.</p>

7

<p>If you have a B average, but other students at your school have A averages, colleges will notice that you did “okay” but other student’s at your school did better. There’s no way around that – you are going to be compared to all other students from your school, or at least all other student’s who are applying to a college from your high school.</p>