Please post 9th grade GPA of your top 1% or Ivy League student, if you have one.
I only know the average weighted 9th grade GPA of the types of people you are asking about: 3.98.
I can also tell you that the average weighted GPA of students at my school who are admitted into what are considered good schools (in particular, Princeton, Harvard, Northwestern, Cornell, University of Chicago, Williams, Stanford, University of Pennsylvania, MIT, and Tufts) is a 4.02.
I’m a freshman so obviously I don’t know if I fit into either of these categories yet, but my GPA is a 4.0 unweighted.
Well, I should have added this bit to my earlier post, but I’ll say it now. The answers you will get on this forum will likely vary greatly, for not all schools have courses at the same difficulty level. I am sure there are kids who keep a perfect 4.0 unweighted GPA all year and still don’t get accepted to top tier schools.
The school I go to weights classes a little, so the unweighted average freshman GPA for the types of people you talk about is probably closer to 3.85-3.90.
In our school 12 people tied for rank 1 in 9th grade and the highest GPA non weighted was 4.0 and weighted was 4.6. Thats from this year’s semester 1 grades. I’m pretty sure the people that were admitted into ivy league schools from my school had a 4.0 in their freshmen year.
Data of people accepted to Top 20 USNWR
Public; all in top5% rank. Excluded athletes. One URM in set. Rest are unhooked.
AVG Acceptee:
n=9
SAT 2356
ACT 35
cGPA 3.99
SAT II #1: 800
#2: 790
two other applicants were shutout with 99%ile scores/ 4.0
All took 8+ AP Classes total.
Aim for a GPA that is top 5% in the context of your school, and 75th percentile test scores of top schools, if you’re unhooked. It’s tough out there. When gauging chance, don’t listen to people who say, “oh, he’s a shoo-in” or “Match/low reach, regarding top schools”…etc. Truth is great applicants are shut out every year from ivies/others and it’s only going to get more competitive. Solid statistics, activities, essays, recommendations are all needed. A deficiency in one area needs to be made up by in another area.
I’m number 21 and I have a 4.6 weighted (6.0 scale), and 4.0 unweighted (I would’ve been in the top ten if I didn’t take my health class online that’s a 4.0 class [-( )
Most people who make the Ivies have a 4.0 at the end of both freshman and sophomore. Our school is an IB school with pretty hard classes, and I believe I have a 4.76 W with a 4.0 UW.
Friend who is attending harvard now and got into standford, mit, caltech, Columbia freshman year took:
PE (required)
English 9 (no accelerated/ap/honors)
Honors Biology
Honors Algebra 2
Spanish 5/6
Geography (no accelerated/ap/honors)
GPA: 4.17
The valedictorian of this years HS class- highest GPA in the school, NMF, did not get in to Princeton. The people who were ranked #12 and #18 (NMSF) in the class did. Their 9th grade GPAs didn’t count, but b/c of your question I asked the parents of all 3 what they were, and the #12 had had the highest in 9th grade (4.0). The other two were a hair behind with 3.9something
But: the school doesn’t do weighting, so it is not possible to have a GPA of more than 4.0, and in known memory no student has graduated with a 4.0.
Many top students at my school graduate with straight A’s. The few currently fighting for Val had around 5.4 at the end of freshman year I believe.
My school only calculates weighted GPA and the do so like this:
Regular level CP class:
A+: 4.67
A: 4.33
A-: 4.00
B+: 3.67 etc
Honors level classes are +1.00 and AP’s are +2.00, so a student who scored straight A+'s taking all AP’s for 4 years would have a 6.67 GPA.
This years Val had a record setting 6.19 at graduation and will be attending Harvard. The Sal had a 5.9+. The Naviance averages for all Ivy’s are(with the number of acceptances over the last 5 years in parentheses):
Harvard: 5.75 (4)
Yale: 5.56 (14)
Princeton: 5.59 (12)
Columbia: 5.52 (19)
Penn: 5.52 (22)
Brown: 5.37 (10)
Dartmouth: 5.64 (15)
Cornell: 5.29 (22)
I currently have a 5.58 after just finishing 11th grade and should be around 5.65 after first semester senior year.
In other, words: your fixation on 9th grade GPA is really not going to help you see if you are going to get into a top school. Note that at @jackrabbit14’s school, the Princeton acceptance average is 5.59. At our school the Princeton acceptance average is 3.86. You don’t even have to be 1st in your class. What will matter is that you are in the top group in your school, and also have an “and”: This student has great test scores, a great GPA AND…
Don’t forget that the grades will get you to the doorway, but it’s the “and” that will get you inside.