Anyone have a miracle to share?

fireandrain
Sat, 06 Mar 2010 07:42:10 +0000

GPA is a huge factor – your transcript is the number one thing that admissions officers look at. And they look at it in context with your high school, so that if 4.0 is rare at your school, they know that. A 3.7 at one school = 4.0 at another school. They know this information because your high school provides it.

However, let’s say you offer something that Brown really wants – you’re a top-notch ice hockey goalie, Intel winner, parents gives millions, foster child who has attended 10 high schools, first-generation college from a farm in North Dakota, computer whiz, a woman who builds robots and will major in engineering. Brown views a 3.7 GPA from these students totally differently than a 3.7 GPA from an upper middle class kid from the suburbs. If Brown really wants that Intel winner with Cs in English, that kid will get in (and has). But if you’re not an Intel winner, then yes, those Bs in English could hurt you and be the reason you don’t get in. (But it depends on your HS – in some high schools, a B in English = A at other high schools.)

floatingriver, perhaps at your school the top academic kids lack strong ECs. That is one high school of thousands. You can’t make a rule from an anecdote. There are many high school where the kids with the tippy top grades also have the strongest ECs.