marginal benefit of additional GPA points Forum

[Dany]

You guys honestly think 0.02 would make a difference? I find this ridiculously hard to believe. It would be extremely unlikely that another applicant would fall between the two hypothetical applications of the person in question (the x gpa and the x+.02 gpa). And I highly doubt the medians business makes sense either because the median is based on that years class, so they would have to be constantly calculating it to see where it fell relative to each person's gpa. This all seems very speculative. Also, if you pick the wrong easy A class or get sick during a test, you may get worse than an A which could do some actual gpa damage. The extra class is almost definitely not worth the risk. Like i said above, spend the time at a bar and enjoy the fact that you are not yet in the real world.

It absolutely can make a difference near the median. There was a TLS poster who got rejected from UVA with a 3.84/upper-160s and was told it was due to her GPA dropping below the median of 3.85 after fall grades were updated.

As another example, Harvard's median and 75th are 3.89 and 3.96 for a class of 559 students, which means they have an average of at least 17 students for each of the 8 possible GPAs between 3.89 and 3.96. Every 0.01 GPA point moves you up above dozens of other applicants.

Ouch.. that just made me really sad

No kidding; thanks for reminding me how ridiculous my Harvard pipe dream is...

[r6_philly]

No kidding; thanks for reminding me how ridiculous my Harvard pipe dream is...

So I went from just under median to above median and possibly skipped over like 100 applicants? You sir are prolonging my pipe dream.

[OrdinarilySkilled]

You guys honestly think 0.02 would make a difference? I find this ridiculously hard to believe. It would be extremely unlikely that another applicant would fall between the two hypothetical applications of the person in question (the x gpa and the x+.02 gpa). And I highly doubt the medians business makes sense either because the median is based on that years class, so they would have to be constantly calculating it to see where it fell relative to each person's gpa. This all seems very speculative. Also, if you pick the wrong easy A class or get sick during a test, you may get worse than an A which could do some actual gpa damage. The extra class is almost definitely not worth the risk. Like i said above, spend the time at a bar and enjoy the fact that you are not yet in the real world.

It absolutely can make a difference near the median. There was a TLS poster who got rejected from UVA with a 3.84/upper-160s and was told it was due to her GPA dropping below the median of 3.85 after fall grades were updated.

As another example, Harvard's median and 75th are 3.89 and 3.96 for a class of 559 students, which means they have an average of at least 17 students for each of the 8 possible GPAs between 3.89 and 3.96. Every 0.01 GPA point moves you up above dozens of other applicants.

I was talking about a gpa bump from 1 class, which clearly would not be in the range of any schools medians.
Also your harvard example is dumb. All of those people got in to harvard, so your not isolating the difference between jumping over them. Obviously you would jump over people, but it's very unlikely you would jump the line from out/in or vice versa.

[KibblesAndVick]

May Toby Stock rest in peace

[xyzzzzzzzz]

what about the difference between a 3.47/8 and 3.5?

[dabbadon8]

what about the difference between a 3.47/8 and 3.5?

I am interested in this as well.

[Dany]

what about the difference between a 3.47/8 and 3.5?

I am interested in this as well.

Exactly what several of us said earlier about bumping up another "tenth" of a point. Even though the move is small, it looks like a move from 3.4 to 3.5. Also, it's conceivable that a school could have a GPA floor of 3.5, in which case it would be a valuable change.

I'll also say that it depends on which schools you're applying to. To Chicago (just a random example) a 3.47 and a 3.5 probably look EXACTLY the same (read: well below median.) In that case, I doubt it matters at all.

Finally, nobody on this board can answer your question, honestly. None of us are adcomm members* so it's all speculation. My bottom line? This nitpicking about hundredths of GPA points is all pretty insignificant, so just try and get the highest GPA possible without killing yourself with ridiculous courseloads.

*No offense to Peter North, if the theories are true...

[xyzzzzzzzz]

what about the difference between a 3.47/8 and 3.5?

I am interested in this as well.

Exactly what several of us said earlier about bumping up another "tenth" of a point. Even though the move is small, it looks like a move from 3.4 to 3.5. Also, it's conceivable that a school could have a GPA floor of 3.5, in which case it would be a valuable change.

I'll also say that it depends on which schools you're applying to. To Chicago (just a random example) a 3.47 and a 3.5 probably look EXACTLY the same (read: well below median.) In that case, I doubt it matters at all.

Finally, nobody on this board can answer your question, honestly. None of us are adcomm members* so it's all speculation. My bottom line? This nitpicking about hundredths of GPA points is all pretty insignificant, so just try and get the highest GPA possible without killing yourself with ridiculous courseloads.

*No offense to Peter North, if the theories are true...

this is exactly what I needed to hear. thanks x a billion.