How Do Colleges View GPAs from Different High Schools?

I've heard that some high schools grade harder than others. How do colleges take this into account when they're looking at my GPA? Do they look at school profiles, or is my GPA just taken at face value?

When colleges review your application, they certainly take into account the context of your high school. Admissions committees know that grading scales, course rigor, and class rank can vary widely from school to school. For this reason, your high school usually sends a school profile along with your transcript, which provides information about the school's curriculum, grading scale, average GPA, and other relevant factors.

With this in hand, colleges can interpret your GPA in the context of your particular school. If your school is known to have rigorous grading policies, for example, a lower GPA might hold more weight than a higher GPA at a school with more lenient grading policies. This process, known as "recalculating GPA," allows admissions committees to make fair comparisons between students from different schools.

In addition, the courses you take are also very important. If you're pushing yourself by taking the most challenging courses available at your high school — such as AP or IB courses — colleges will take that into account as well.

So, while your GPA is certainly an important factor, it's far from the only thing colleges look at when they're considering your academic record. They're looking to see that you've made significant efforts and demonstrated consistent growth throughout your high school career, in the context of what has been available to you.