Is my GPA bad?

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Hello,
I’m a rising junior and I’m not really sure how GPAs work. Sometimes, I see people with 4.0+ GPA when I thought that 4.0 is the max.

Several questions:

  1. I have a 95-96 average in numbers, and my AP and honor classes are not weighted in my school. I plan to maintain this average in my junior and senior years. How much is 95-96 in GPA?
  1. Also, I come from a notoriously competitive high school in NYC, where the average average of students is 91. Will colleges see my 95-96 average differently? I hope to enter competitive business programs like UC Berkeley, Columbia, MIT, CMU, or Northwestern.

Thank you for all insight.

2

95-96 is really good! GPAs work in the sense that each letter grade (look up a conversion table) equates to a number on a 4.0 scale when unweighted. You have to add up those numbers for each class and then divide the answer by the number of classes you are taking and you have your GPA. Also, for those schools, what is your ACT looking like (if taken yet)?

3

Colleges will see your GPA/Average in perspective with your school. Your 95-96 is excellent and if you are in the top of your class (even if your school doesn’t officially rank) it will come through on your application. Don’t worry about comparing yourself to GPAs to schools that weight AP and Honors class. You are fine. You are actually better than fine. Great job!

4

Hello! I’m not taking the ACT, but the SAT in three weeks actually. I hope to push through the SAT and score at least 1500.

5

Colleges are well aware of the difference between a 95 at Stuyvesant of Bronx Science and a 98 at some of the other schools. The adcoms know the schools and what they’re asking of their students.