Hi all,
I was wondering if my school’s GPA scale will affect my admission odds to Harvard. My school takes your percentage average an divides it by 25. For example, a perfect 100 average would be a 4.0. I read on Harvard’s admission site that most applicants have a perfect 4, however, due to my school’s system, a perfect 4 is near unattainable, seeing as you would need a 100 average. Will this affect my Harvard admission odds? Thanks!!!
No. Harvard and other universities will look at your actual grades. The way that high schools in the US compute GPA is so variable that it is worthless for comparing students from different high schools.
At our local school you have a 4.0 if the lowest grade that you ever had in your life was a 98. I am surprised to learn that there is actually a school that is even more harsh in its computation of GPA.
However, you of course should also keep in mind that admission to Harvard is unlikely even for students with perfect grades in hard classes and perfect SATs.
Thanks so much for your feedback! And for the admissions, they have to admit someone, don’t they?! :))
Harvard will decline MANY MANY students with perfect GPAs and Test scores. Admission is about much more than that (ECs, Letter of Rec, class building of mega interesting students, etc.) Think of your test scores and GPA as being a benchmark for them to assess if you would be successful at Harvard (as in can you do the work). Sounds like you’ll be fine there. The rest of it is about choosing the “right” bunch of apples from a very talented bucket. Be interesting and memorable in your essays and interview. Demonstrate passion in your ECs.
Look at it this way…If you ever get an 89%, that is equal to a 3.56, not a 3.33 like it would otherwise be. While it pulls you down in the 90-100 range, it’ll raise your gpa in every other case!
Lol @ConcernedRabbit
I could never understand the rationale of the 4-point GPA Scale. Why not use the actual grade on the 100-point scale? Just adds up all the actual test scores and divided it by the number of tests, then use that number as the unweighted gpa.
Each HS sends a.school profile which, among other things, describes the grading system at the school so your GPA will be viewed in the proper context. Admissions officers handle all kinds of different grading systems.
@happy1 When we met with our headmaster to discuss our HS’ grading scale, (we r the only school in the whole greater metro area which still uses the 6-point grading scale. 95 is A- and 93 is B+, even our governor school has changed to the 10-point scale recently), our headmaster and college counselors used the same “college AO will receive a school profile explaining our grading scale” explanation. But tbh, for many AOs, they r reviewing so many applications in so little time, it is highly unlikely they will have the time or energy to read thru and remember each student’s “school profile”. Looking at the trend over the country, 10-point grading scale is becoming the norm, many states/school districts r changing to it enmass, for good reason.
Transcripts and gading scales.vary wildly from.school to school. Admissions officers must look at the school profile to understand the transcript (not just GPA calculation but also the level of.classes taken etc.). They can do this quickly and efficiently. Some.colleges actually recalculate GPA bason on their own criteria (ex. core subjects only, unweighted etc.) Your HS grading scale will not negatively imact your chance of admission to any college.
On another note the process is hard enough without stressing about things out of your control.