I want to apply to several high ranking colleges that have acceptance rates of under 20%, but I am not sure if my GPA is sufficient enough. I have a 3.55 unweighted and a 3.83 weighted GPA while being in the top 95th percentile ranking. I have taken every rigorous course that my already rigorous college prep high school has offered. So will college admissions understand why my GPA is a bit bad? Will my high percentile ranking help me?
Do you mean you are in the top 5%? In any event your HS sends a school profile which details things like average grades, average standardized tests, course levels etc. so your GPA will be reviewed in the context of your HS grading system.
Being in the top 95% is not impressive at all. I hope you meant that you’re in the top 5%; that would be much better.
GPA is taken in the context of your high school. Your ACT/SAT should be in the same range.
If your high school has Naviance or some other method for tracking prior years’ application results identify similar seniors with the same GPA. If they were turned down by the same colleges you are interested in those denials may be predictive.