It's pretty common to hear students say "I don't want to be a number." However, a lot of people cite a GPA when they approach admission officers and expect us to gauge a student's chances of admission. This is why we try to explain why the numbers don't drive our decision. Let's go over two major points to remember...
GPAs aren't standardized.
Most schools these days have weighted GPA methodologies. They'll explain how they calculate the statistic at their school on a document called a high school profile that the school counselor submits along with the transcript. If you've never seen a high school profile, you can usually find it on your school's website or in the counseling office. It goes over the curriculum offered, restrictions when it comes to registration, how grading works, and how any statistics like GPA and rank are calculated there.
Methodologies for calculating GPAs varies by district/school. Here are some snippets from school profiles I read
This GPA distribution chart shows the high school data on the left and the county on the right.
Some profiles aren't super precise.
GPAs don't convey coursework or trends.
Details are impactful in a highly selective admission process. We look at all of the courses and grades on the transcript to understand a student's academic preparation. GPAs can't give that level of detail and they don't convey trends in course rigor or grades.If you have questions, feel free to put them in the comments or join me for my next live q&a, this Thursday at 3 PM on Instagram.