Certain majors have higher entry GPA averages than others, so they aren’t going to compare a liberal arts application to a Smeal application because they aren’t trying to get into the same place. Smeal applicants are compared against other Smeal applicants. That’s why the 3.6 Average GPA for admitted freshman isn’t actually all that accurate - because as you can see from the decision threads, people need A LOT more than that for Smeal, Engineering, Nursing, etc…