Does this disqualify me from admission?

gibby
Sun, 06 Dec 2015 23:51:24 +0000

Our school is quite difficult, in fact no one has graduated with a perfect GPA (4.00) with in the last decade. I have about a 3.75. Is my GPA the disqualifying factor?

As every high school has a different curriculum, different course rigor, different grading systems and different expectations for their students, it would be unfair for Yale – or any college really – to directly compare student’s from one high school to another. So they don’t!

All colleges, including Yale, compare you to your peers at YOUR high school. Your guidance counselor fills out the Secondary School Report (SSR) in which they rank you against your peers in terms of both your GPA and course rigor. See page 2: http://www.du.edu/apply/media/documents/2012CASSR.pdf. So long as your GC selects that you have taken the MOST RIGOROUS course load at your school, and that your GPA is somewhere near the highest GPA in your class, you’ll be fine.

FWIW: Most private colleges, including Yale, rates applicants on a 1-6 or 1-9 scale. It’s those numerical ratings that then get compared from one high school to another. Yale has not been as forthcoming about their process as Harvard, but I doubt the Admissions process differs that much. Here’s a great article to read to get an overview of the holistic process: http://www.bostonmagazine.com/2006/05/keys-to-the-kingdom/

admissions officers start by assessing each applicant in four areas (academics, extracurriculars, personal qualities, and athletics) on a scale of one (best) to six (worst). Those who pass this initial threshold move forward to a second and sometimes third reader for further appraisal;