Which is better? Most rigorous or higher GPA?

thibault
Sat, 21 Dec 2019 07:53:09 +0000

The reason IMO for discussing the UCs was simply that they alone among the selective universities have voluntarily provided us miserable parents with detailed, granular data that break out admissions rates across multiple dimensions. (So did Harvard, but only under a court order and in an embarrassing trial.)

See also the UCLA Admissions data dump (individual identities masked using brackets for SAT scores) from a few years back by whistleblower prof Tim Groseclose.

As Prof. Groseclose’s through analysis - and Data10’s astute extrapolations - indicate, the unhooked selective-college applicant is best advised to go for GPA first, rigor second.

Most universities will have a formal system of translating academic performance info into a single score on a scale running from 1 to at least 4, if not to 5 or 6.

An unhooked applicant to a highly selective college is extremely unlikely to be accepted without a GPA that will definitely win him or her an academic rating of ‘2’ or higher. It’s not impossible for the unhooked applicant with a ‘3’ or below rating to get accepted, but the odds are lower than average for the school.