Undergraduate level
GPA serves as one of the initial benchmarks a students must meet in order to be considered for a university. First and foremost, admissions officers want to see that an applicant has the academic background to help them be successful at their institution.
Beyond this, however, assessing GPA can be tricky. For example, how can you accurately compare the 3.64 GPA of a student attending a wealthy, private secondary school to the 3.64 GPA of a student attending a local, underfunded secondary school? Not only will these students’ access to quality education be different, but their teachers’ backgrounds and grading methods will be different, the competitiveness of the student body will be different, and even the ways the schools calculate GPA may be different.
Then, there’s the problem of determining how “deserved” this 3.64 GPA is. If one student takes a majority of elective classes, like tennis or sculpting, while the other takes advanced math, science, and language classes, how can you compare these two students honestly and accurately? Obviously the rigor of their course load is completely different.
One thing that universities do to tackle this problem is educate themselves on different schools and regions. I have mentioned this in other Zhihu posts, but the first stop your application makes as it is assessed by university admissions officers is with a regional officer. This person is considered the expert on your school or region, and they will better understand what your specific GPA means.
Moreover, universities consider the quality of students’ course loads over their GPAs. In other words, they are more impressed by a rigorous education than a high GPA.
Finally, some universities consider class rank when assessing their applicants. Because class rank is less straightforward than it seems on the surface (individual secondary schools use different criteria when determining class rank), its popularity is decreasing. However, some institutions continue to use class rank an assessment measure.
In sum, GPA is of course important, but it isn’t the only criteria you need to be concerned with. Course load, ranking, and the “soft” elements are also important factors in university admissions.
Graduate level
Like undergraduate admissions, GPA is used as the initial screening for graduate admissions. And also like undergraduate admissions, the courses you take as an undergraduate student will be a factor. Admissions committees are looking for applicants who show they are capable of performing well at the graduate level - and maintaining strong undergrad grades with a rigorous course load shows just that.
But there is more to it. Advising faculty want to work with students who are passionate. If a professor is excited about you, your interests, and/or your research background, they will advocate for you. And this advocacy will help you get admitted over a student with a higher GPA.
In sum, GPA is very important. But so is your course load, research/work/internship experience, and networking.
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I am an independent college counselor from the United States. You can find out more about me on my website: www.worldawaits.net. Let me know how I can help you!
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