Does my GPA screw me over?

Chance Me / Match Me
1

<p>I’m a Hispanic American/Czech male living overseas in Poland attending a private school. Out of around 260 students, only 4 got straight A’s, and I unfortunately am not one of those. My school is very rigorous in terms of grading (not like most US schools) and so my GPA does not reflect my sats</p>

<p>GPA 3.2 unweighted B+/A-
SAT I Math: 800
SAT II Math: 800
SAT I Crit reading: 760
SAT I Writing: 730
SAT II Physics: 780
SAT II German: 800</p>

<p>IB HL Math, Physics, Chemistry, and German SL English History</p>

<p>ECs + awards
Winner School Math competition 2007
2nd place inter-school Math competition London 2005
Varsity Softball (they don’t have baseball) 05-07
JV Soccer 05-06
JV Basketball 06
Knowledge Bowl Winners 2007
Habitat for Humanity 06-07</p>

<p>Has my GPA basically screwed up my admissions chances for the following?
Princeton
Amherst
University of Virginia
Duke
McGill
Columbia</p>

<p>Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.</p>

2

<p>Short answer, yeah; your GPA does really screw with you. Plus you’re going to be an international student which makes it harder.</p>

3

<p>Actually I’m a US resident so I count as living in Virginia, so I get that benefit.</p>

<p>I just wish my school didn’t grade as harshly as it did. (highest Math HL grade in school was a 90, and average grade is a C/C-)</p>

<p>BTW weighted GPA this last semester (I’m a junior) 3.94 and weighted total 3.82</p>

4

<p>Your rank is the more important stat. If you’re top 5% of your class, the GPA number doesn’t matter.</p>

5

<p>So is it just me then, or are universities much too focused on GPA?
The GPA of a girl in my class before she came to my school (she went to Virginia Public School) was 4.0. Here she is currently getting a 2.3 GPA. Judging by this, the gpa is not a representative sample of the student’s ability. The problem is, colleges might think that the public school is just as difficult as the private one I am currently attending.</p>

6

<p>Every college has a profile of each high school. So a quick trip to high school X’s folder will give the admissions officer exact information on how many APs are offered, average GPA, grading curves, graduation rate, etc. From these extremely detailed profiles, admissions officers can then compare applicants on a more or less level plane.</p>

<p>But I believe that even with these adjustments, GPAs are a terrible indicator of intelligence or ability.</p>

7

<p>Does class rank take difficulty of courses as a consideration though? I know I am ranked 7/60, however 4 of the 6 ranked above me have taken much lighter course loads. Does this put me in the top 10% or am I already in just the top quarter?</p>