That’s a pretty generalized assumption - and, again, not entirely supported by posters on CC, reddit and other forums who respond with their own stats.
And yet… it happens. If one reviews enough of the specific college threads on admissions - you will see there are a lot more posters who post what I consider to be very high GPA attainment with attention attracting low(er) scores, than there are posters who post ‘mid’ to high (but not very high grades) but have perfect 1600 or 36s.
-or- perhaps their GPA is what they have earned based on being an absolute workhorse, spending significantly more hours on homework and studying, doing all assignments and obsessing over each detail, going for all extra credit all the time etc etc. There are plenty of students who will self report HS (UW)GPA of 3.8-4.0 or even WGPA of 4.4+ who will have scores below your 1450 bar. I’m not suggesting these students shouldn’t be admitted - I’m suggesting that all available data be evaluated for admissions, and then consistently reviewed against that cohorts intra-college performance as well as their post college performance / happiness etc.
Not to single out NC State here - I just happen to be rather familiar with them because (1) they are almost literally in my backyard and (2) all three of my kids applied to both UNC and NCSU…
Look at the class profile for Poole College of Management - and notice the AVG test scores against their Avg WGPA;
Incoming freshmen come from 23 states
Countries include India, Switzerland, Peru, China, India and Kuwait.
Average SAT: 1,290.
Average ACT: 26.
Average weighted GPA: 4.3.
Again, there are students that feel a standardized test is irrelevant and actual don’t take it. These are top of their class students that push their drive elsewhere, including ECs. If Top tier schools thought scores were that important, they’d have gpa optional. This isn’t snarky, just pointing out the scores can aid an application, however in UNCs case, it’s optional. Duke as well are only “considered”, no quantitative value placed on them. On a side note UNC incorporates AI in reviewing essays, and Duke places essays as “ considered” due to AI . In summary, the application process has and will be very opaque. You do your best, submit an app if in range and hope for the best.
Just jumping in here to share my own experience. My D25 had great grades and rigor, but lousy SAT scores (1250) until she finally put some effort into studying and got a 1460. She didn’t get into UNC OOS and all the kids who got in from her school had a 1520 or better even though her grades/rigor and ECs were better. My D26 is a naturally better test taker (1560), slightly better grades (4.0 vs 3.97 UW), ECs are good but not as good as her sister’s. We know UNC is a reach for her too, but we’re interested to see if test scores do make a difference at UNC. D25 is in-state at UVA and doing great.
This is just one take: 1560 and 1460 are great scores. UVA and UNC in so many respects are one and the same- rigor, campus beauty, sports, nationally recognized. UNC is very aware of courses from NC schools and in fact have course equivalents with every single CC in NC. OOS, UNC seeks test scores. It bumps up their averages, and ensures a standardized method for OOS courses/ schools. The minimal slots available vs applications also allows for an application that really needs to stand out, as would the addition of a 1560. Having said that, there’s many a student in an Ivy League that was denied at UNC. Gl
Not my daughter, she didn’t submit scores and had a good GPA and rigor, she got admitted to UNC but chose to go to Berkeley instead. Many California kids don’t take the tests.
I’m not sure that’s true. Some, yes, but not the majority. My daughter knows at least 10 kids in the top 10% of her class that didn’t submit scores (so 25% of the kids). Only a few of them got in, even though their GPAs were higher than my kid. One girl was top 4% of class, 11 AP courses, three sport athlete, student government. Denied.
FWIW, UNC only uses AI to give a grammar/writing score, but the content is read by and commented on by the reviewers. My kid was able to look at her admissions file at UNC and both had notes on her essay and LORs.
So r u saying that a kid with a 4.5 gpa who chose more rigorous courses and did well but is not maybe a great test taker shouldn’t be more highly considered than a kid with a 3.8/4.3 gpa and a 1450 sat? I think that the kid with a 4.5 gpa with rigor plus major commitments like work, internships and other activities are showing balance and emotional maturity. They have actual interests and can lay aside social media as needed. My daughter is the former type of student who also reads actual books (long narratives) by choice and not the much smaller passages within the reading comprehension parts of the sat. There are so many kids accepted to high ranking schools who score well but who can’t seem to handle long and deep texts so prevalent in higher education. So yeah - I do think the kids with a 4.5 gpa and not so a high sat score but with great ecs showing versatility and emotional maturity would easily outrank someone with a 3.8/4.3 gpa and a sat of 1450 but too involved with social media. Hands down!
I saw where they had substantially higher number of applicants to first year management than before.
The graphic I posted is from their website - but I think it is the one for students admitted in Fall 2024 (rather than 2025). I will be curious to see where their ACT/SAT and WGPA numbers stack up and whether we see US News, Forbes or Niche alter their ranking significantly.
My point in using this graphic was to refute the idea that a relatively high GPAs (4.3 avg for NCSU Poole) always highly correlate with high testing scores or inherent grade inflation. With a WGPA average of 4.3, there are undoubtedly some WGPA 4.5s and 4.2s, but probably not too many WGPA of < 3.8s… but with an ACT Average of 26, there simply can’t be 1/4 of that group with ACT 33+ or SAT Avg of 1290, there can’t be a substantial number of 1500+.
And if we are arguing it must be ‘grade inflation’, we can look to UNC-CH with average admitted student at WGPA of 4.4x and ACT of 31 as a comparitor.
As these are the two major flagship schools for NC, their students are approximately 80/20 INState/OOS, and there is likely a pretty good (not perfect) overlap in their candidate pools - maybe not for all individual students (applying engineering to NCSU per se) - but based on school peer cohorts there’s overlapping ‘classes’ applying to NCSU and UNC.
I also heard they do not consider 9th grade. In other words with great 10 and 11th grades, Excellent ECs, recomendation letters and essays applicants have better shot.
I just don’t think there’s always an exact direct relationship between GPA and SAT scores. There may be a general correlation from an aggregate standpoint but in particular student cases, not as much.