<p>At Chicago, rigor of coursework is much more important than GPA. GPA is not even reported on their student profile website. They take a careful look at the transcript and match it against what they know about the school to see if the student has really challenged him or her self. If a school does not offer AP courses, that is okay as long as the student took the most challenging courses available. This is also where teacher recommendations make a difference. A teacher is free to say, “Whereas my course was not listed as either honors or AP, it is recognized as one of the most challenging courses offered at our high school…”</p>