GPA - What does it really mean?

[MichaelB]

Hi and thanks for reading!

I am still trying to figure out what this GPA business means to admission committees.

The key piece of information that I would like is:
What proportion of students graduating from US undergraduate degrees have a GPA of 4.0, a GPA of 3.5 and a GPA of 3.0.

Worded another way, if John graduates from Boston College with a GPA of 4.0, is he in the top 1% of his class, the top 5%, the top 10%?

The reason I ask is because it is not possible to have a 4.0 GPA at my institution and I am trying to compare my grades.

If I graduate with an Honours Degree in the top 5% of my class, is that the equivalent of a certain GPA? I know that I will write that sort of information on my application, I would like this sort of feedback for the purpose of evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of my application.

If it is relevant, I am studying Law and Commerce (majoring in Finance) at an Australian Group of 8 (highly ranked) University.

Thanks again.

[Paxton Helms - Kaplan]

You have put your finger on a question that is, all at once, tricky, enraging, confusing, baffling, and supremely annoying.

GPAs vary widely among schools and among majors / specializations in schools. There are a number of reasons:

- Some schools have "grade inflation" in which the average GPA has crept up over time. After a while, EVERYBODY graduates with an A average.

- Some majors / specializations are harder or have stricter grading requirements. In other words, engineering professors are known to be tough graders; English and ethnic studies profesors are known for being rather less so. The social sciences are probably somewhere in the middle.

- Who graduates with honors (cum laude, magna cum laude, etc.), who is on the Dean's List, who graduates with distinction, is no longer a great indicator of who is doing well academically. Call it "adulation inflation."

- The BEST way to evaluate a student's academic performance is probably some combination of class rank (Phi Beta Kappa and departmental honors are often a good way of identifying the very top students in terms of class rank), specialization, and recommendations.

Your graduating in the top 5% of your class puts you in elite company and --while not comparable to any single GPA (except, in general terms, to a very high one)-- and should mean that your grades will be an asset in your application to even elite universities.

Good Luck and please let me know how else I can help you--

Paxton