Elite colleges place the greatest importance on an applicant’s academic performance above all other factors. While they are not the sole determinant for admission, good grades and AP scores are a pre-requisite for an application to move forward in the consideration process for acceptance.

These days, many colleges have made the submission of SAT/ACT test scores optional, but these colleges have not lowered their admissions standards. This means that for those who do not submit test scores, grades, AP scores, class rigor and class rank together with the essay and recommendation letters will take on greater significance in the overall evaluation of their applications.

GPA

While most colleges require applicants to have good GPAs, the GPA is not the most significant factor in the evaluation of academic performance. A good GPA is an indicator of an applicant’s work ethic in high school rather than a strong indicator of whether an applicant can succeed in rigorous and challenging academic environment in college.

Applicants should always present strong GPAs of 3.8 or better on an unweighted basis as a bare minimum to demonstrate that they possess the chops to handle academic work at the college level.

That said, many highly selective colleges no longer publish the average GPAs of their incoming freshman classes. There is no consistent standard for how grades are awarded across high schools, which means that an average GPA statistic is not as meaningful.

Rumors abound that students with a GPA of 4.5 failed to gain admission to a selective school. But that is only one part of the story. While grades matter, there are other factors in the evaluation, like activities and the essay that can tilt the balance for or against the student. And an applicant must still stand out in other meaningful ways to gain admission.

Class Rigor and AP Classes

Colleges will take into account the academic rigor of the subjects taken by an applicant in high school when evaluating GPA. Selective colleges value an applicant’s willingness to rise to the academic challenge in taking academically tougher subjects.

An “A” grade in a non-academic subject will be discounted while an applicant with a B+ in an academically challenging subject like Calculus will be viewed favorably. Subjects taken at the honors or AP level will be viewed more favorably than subjects taken at the standard level.

Because curriculums in high schools vary, for example, Algebra 1 in one high school is not the same as Algebra 1 at another high school since each may teach the subject at different levels of difficulty making “like for like” comparison more difficult.

There is also no consistent standard in how grades are awarded in high schools across the country leading selective colleges to use the number of APs taken and the AP scores achieved as better indicators of an applicant’s ability to manage academic rigor and to succeed in college.

For example, a student with an unweighted GPA of 4.0 and 2 APs with official scores of 3 for both will be evaluated less favorably than a student with an unweighted GPA of 3.8 and 4 APs with official scores of 4 and 5. By doing well in more AP subjects, the latter student has better demonstrated an ability to succeed in academically demanding subjects.

Since high schools do not all offer the same number of AP classes, colleges will take into account what AP classes an applicant had access to in high school. Applicants who attend high schools in less affluent neighborhoods generally have less access to a range of AP classes, and colleges will adjust for this disadvantage accordingly.

On the other hand, an applicant from a high school that offers a wide range of AP classes is expected to maximize their opportunity and take more AP classes unless the applicant has a reasonable excuse, like working a part time job to help out the family or balancing a hectic international competition schedule for an outstanding athlete.

An applicant who takes 3 APs when their high school offered a choice of 12 AP subjects is likely to be evaluated somewhat less favorably than an applicant who maximized their opportunity and took 7 AP classes. Selective colleges want to see applicants challenge themselves academically, they are not in favor of those who “cruise” through high school.

Selective colleges view the International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma very favorably too. The IB program is famed for its academic rigor, and applicants with strong IB diplomas are also given favorable consideration.

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Relative Class Rank

Colleges will also compare the academic performance of applicants from the same high school, and rank them based on number of rigorous subjects taken and the grades achieved. Since colleges want diversity on their campuses, they will never admit every applicant from the same high school, no matter how high performing those applicants are. The admissions office will implement a cut-off and reject those who are not within the top 10% to 15% of applicants from the same high school.

For students who attend competitive private schools where large numbers of their high performing peers intend to apply to the elite colleges, they need to keep in mind that the admissions office will rank the applicants from the same high school, and only select the top performers for admission. This practice makes it very tough on a student who is an average performer from an elite private school, their chances of admission will be lower than a student from a public high school with less stellar academic performance. The only way to overcome this advantage is to have outstanding extracurricular activities and a brilliant essay..

Class rank matters. At nearly all the highly selective colleges, 90% or more of the incoming class were ranked in the top 10% of their high school class.

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