<p>First of all, I’d like to note that gpa is not that closely linked with success in college. If you go to an easy high school and difficult college your gpas could be very far apart. Or if you slacked in hs/had a bad year that affected your gpa, you college gpa could be way higher. Personally, my hs gpa around .3 below my college’s admitted average yet I currently have one of the highest gpas in my college year. </p>
<p>To answer your question, op, my guess would be that colleges work in a very different way in the US. Most European countries have “paths” you take, sort of like majors but you decide earlier. The first choice, which happens in high school, is whether you want a math/science or humanities course of study. From there you pick a few specific subjects to learn and at some countries you end up dropping one before you graduate. College in some European countries is including in the taxes you pay (eg Sweden) so college is “free”. This path you have decided to take has a lot to do with what school you go to. And while you still apply, it’s a very different process highly dependent on your success in that field of study. There are still private schools but the school system sets you up on a path through college that all tax payers fund. </p>
<p>The US, on the other hand, does not have public schooling through college and schools can offer monetary incentives to both professors and students (gov covers the paycheck at these European and other universities). Some schools can afford the better professors, making them more desirable and results in people willing to pay a higher cost for a better education. But professors can’t just teach anybody and the school needs good statistics to keep as many people interested in attending so it has to use a wide selection process that can cover different bases and make the school look “better” or “smarter”. Colleges use gpas and test scores because they are two forms of supposedly measuring intelligence (although if you go to a testing heavy school and tests are your weakness you could easily be a lot smarter than your gpa and test scores show). Extra curriculars (and to some point the racism you mentioned) add to the diversity of a school. </p>
<p>Does that make sense? This is just what I’ve observed/heard from my European friends.</p>