<p>I’m an I.B. student, so all my classes are weighted a little higher, but when colleges look at my unweighted GPA, will having below a 96 hurt me? I had heard this from some counselors and wanted everyones opinion!</p>
<p>Is it going to be worse to have a lower average? Yes, of course. But a 95 rather than a 96 won’t ruin your life forever.</p>
<p>The context in which your grading occurs is very important. A 96% would very likely make you the valedictorian where grades are not inflated (e.g. Alberta, Canada), or it might not make the cut into the top 10% in a grade inflated American school, in which case a 96% isn’t that great.</p>
<p>There are schools where one can be a valedictorian with less than a 96 (I believe someone here on CC was a salutatorian with a 93 average) but there are schools so inflated that a 95 is the cutoff for an A (some NYC schools); what schools are you aiming for?</p>