I am in fact entirely sure Emory does not simply take school-reported GPAs at face value for comparative purposes, which in fact was part of the background for the original point we were discussing above.
To the extent I understand what we are currently discussing (and it is possible I do not), it seems to have been triggered by my comment, “I think usually unhooked test optional admits to a college like Emory will have gotten high grades in advanced classes.”
I was intentionally not overly specific with what that would mean in any individual case, because I think it really does depend on the context of the high school.
And I would agree we should not take the CDS data I cited as being representative of each high school’s observable results. Instead, it is indeed only a partial sample, and then on top of that each individual high school could vary.
But as I would put it, I do think their CDS data is consistent with what I suggested, understanding that suggestion was intentionally flexible to begin with.