I, like many, was recently deferred from EA to regular selection. I am trying to use this extra month to beef up my application. Last semester I pulled got all A's so my Unweighted GPA was a 4.0. I wanted to send these in because it would bring my overall GPA (unweighted) from a 3.92 to a 3.937. Sounds good, right? Except my class rank went down from 23 of 561 to 26 of 566. So which is better? A high GPA or class rank?
GPA Vs. Class Rank
- Thread starter tjdrive
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Christcorp
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They go hand in hand.
Example: If you have a class of 500, you're class rank is 100, and you're GPA is a 3.90, then that tells admissions that either your course load at that school isn't very difficult or you have a lot of geniuses. (If 20% of the class are "A" students"). In your case, with 560+ in your class, a 3.92-3.94 is in the 20-25 class rank position, that would show about 5-7% of the class is in the "A" (3.9-4.0) category. That's pretty good.
If you look at the link in my signature block at the academy brochure, you'll see that 55% of the cadets were in the TOP-10% of their high school class. Well, you fit right in there at around the top-5%. So again, no problem.
For those getting ready to apply, gpa is important, but it's more important that you are taking the most challenging classes that you can succeed at. E.g. IB Program, AP classes. Class rank is important too. However, if you have a 3.95 GPA and are ranked in the top 20%, then that means your school is weak and easy academically. (Or in the rare situation, it's a high end private school with only academic phenoms). Thus, the reason the academy requires that your school send a copy of the school's profile. So they can determine if your school is "NORMAL" and you are a standout, or if it's easy and everyone gets good grades.
Finally, the SAT/ACT is one of the "Great Equalizers". This is where a lot of your points come from. There are so many different schools, teachers, opportunities, restrictions, etc... but the SAT/ACT is the same nationally. So this is where you can make up for any short comings in your GPA or Class Rank. Best of luck. mike....
Example: If you have a class of 500, you're class rank is 100, and you're GPA is a 3.90, then that tells admissions that either your course load at that school isn't very difficult or you have a lot of geniuses. (If 20% of the class are "A" students"). In your case, with 560+ in your class, a 3.92-3.94 is in the 20-25 class rank position, that would show about 5-7% of the class is in the "A" (3.9-4.0) category. That's pretty good.
If you look at the link in my signature block at the academy brochure, you'll see that 55% of the cadets were in the TOP-10% of their high school class. Well, you fit right in there at around the top-5%. So again, no problem.
For those getting ready to apply, gpa is important, but it's more important that you are taking the most challenging classes that you can succeed at. E.g. IB Program, AP classes. Class rank is important too. However, if you have a 3.95 GPA and are ranked in the top 20%, then that means your school is weak and easy academically. (Or in the rare situation, it's a high end private school with only academic phenoms). Thus, the reason the academy requires that your school send a copy of the school's profile. So they can determine if your school is "NORMAL" and you are a standout, or if it's easy and everyone gets good grades.
Finally, the SAT/ACT is one of the "Great Equalizers". This is where a lot of your points come from. There are so many different schools, teachers, opportunities, restrictions, etc... but the SAT/ACT is the same nationally. So this is where you can make up for any short comings in your GPA or Class Rank. Best of luck. mike....
Thanks for the response. I am/have been taking AP/IB classes. So would it benefit me to update my GPA even though it will also pull down my class rank about .5%?
USCGA_2018
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Aren't you simply obligated to send your 7th semester grades/transcript anyways?
ca2midwestmom
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I don't know how USAFA shows gpa on a candidate's portal, but I know you can't see it on the USNA or USMA portal. On the AROTC portal, however, it is truncated to one decimal point (ie x.x) (and not rounded up). So while 3.937 is slightly better than 3.92, I don't think it's enough to make a huge difference. Remember that class rank is more important, along with everything else that makes up the WCS. Even the change in your class rank is not that significant (top 4% to 4.6%). I would worry more about your current classes and continuing to do well in them. Since you have to submit the final transcript with all your grades and class rank, I wouldn't think its a significant enough difference right now to make a huge difference, one way or the other. Both your gpa and class rank are very good!