Do colleges compare you to the rest of your grade, or the whole pool of applicants?Answered
At the end of the school year this past year, I lost my 4.0 because the final exam in one of my classes was really difficult. I felt like I had blown my chances of getting into any good schools. But then we came back to school and I learned the most of the people ranked in the top 10 in my grade also lost their 4.0s and I'm still ranked 11th in my grade. Will colleges overlook my slightly lower GPA when it's clear that this final affected almost everyone? Or will they compare me the same to the rest of the nationwide/worldwide pool of applicants?
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2 answers
Colleges will consider both your application against your school and your application against the entire applicant pool. Besides, most colleges won't be very hard on you if your GPA dropped to, say, a 3.8 or 3.9. I think you'll be fine even with that final exam! Just make sure the rest of your application is up to par, and your chances will be just fine. Good luck! :D
TBH, after reading a bunch of books and listening to AO podcasts, I believe that having a GPA slightly less than a 4.0 is the best option. It shows colleges that you aren't prioritizing a 4.0 over rigor, since a lot of people take easier classes to maintain an A average, but this can actually be detrimental to their application.
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That is ALMOST correct, but has a major flaw. Because APs are reported to colleges by your school during the application process through your transcript, you can't really trick them into thinking you have taken rigorous classes. As such, striving for a GPA slightly LESS than a 4.0 does nothing. If they've taken APs, the college will know. If they haven't, the college will know. While a 4.0 wouldn't be as good as a 3.8 with many APs, a 4.0 without APs is still better than a 3.8 without APs.