No hooks: what is the lowest GPA to get into an Ivy in the past 5 years?

[Anonymous]

Brown with a 3.4 and serious upward trajectory

[Anonymous]

I take the schools at their word that their are no "minimums." But I think its fair to say that unless you are one of the top students in your grade by the time you graduate, you are not getting in "unhooked." And if being one of those top students you have an oddly low GPA, you need a great reason -- when on vacation to Panama in 10th grade, you were hospitalized for 7 months and you taught yourself with a 102 fever and no teacher, but took the tests by email; you lost a parent and the other had a nervous breakdown, so you raised your little sister alone while living with your grandma with dementia; you were homeless for 2 years, etc. The Brown 3.4 really surprises me unless there is a lot more to that story.

Also, even looking at the past 5 years is probably too wide a time period for these top schools. I would not be surprised if the number of applicants increased by almost 50% in that time period (you can verify by looking at published stats -- I have not done that). good luck.

[Anonymous]

A child I know got into Cornell with a less than perfect average (3.9 or so) at a competitive public high school. Her hook is she's a super athlete. Even then, they were concerned that she didn't have a 4.0!

I think it's almost a lottery to get into the Ivys! Without a hook, an above-average kid doesn't stand a chance!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Brown with a 3.4 and serious upward trajectory

There has to be Waaaaay more to this story!!

[Anonymous]

Chicago 3.5

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Brown with a 3.4 and serious upward trajectory

There has to be Waaaaay more to this story!!

Serious upward trajectory could mean something like straight Cs in non-honor classes from extenuating circumstances to straight As in a bunch of AP classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A child I know got into Cornell with a less than perfect average (3.9 or so) at a competitive public high school. Her hook is she's a super athlete. Even then, they were concerned that she didn't have a 4.0!

I think it's almost a lottery to get into the Ivys! Without a hook, an above-average kid doesn't stand a chance!

True, but who said these schools are for "above average" students? Seriously, it is a lottery for the unhooked A students with more than a year's worth of the hardest APs, near perfect SATs, great recs, outsidecof school academic pursuits, etc.

[Anonymous]

I think it would be tough from a public school because with rampant grade inflation the top GPAs are way above 4.

The best private schools (NCS, Holton, Landon, STA) don't have grade inflation so a GPA less than 4 might still be impressive. I know unhooked grads of each of those schools that were admitted to HYP with less than 4.0

[Anonymous]

OP, no one can truly answer this question for your DC. Odds are very strong he won't get in, but he can certainly apply.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And what Ivy? At our (public) school the kids getting in to HYP have 4.0s (hook or not). Kids getting into Cornell are a little more varied, might go down to a 3.9. Penn might be in between. Both groups would have taken 8-11 APs.

How on earth would you know this information?

Either you are a teen hanging out on a parenting site, or an actual mom who knows the PRECISE GPAs DOWN TO THE HUNDREDTH of a good-sized group of kids in a large school. Or (unlikely) a public high school college counselor.

All scenarios are kinda gross.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And what Ivy? At our (public) school the kids getting in to HYP have 4.0s (hook or not). Kids getting into Cornell are a little more varied, might go down to a 3.9. Penn might be in between. Both groups would have taken 8-11 APs.

How on earth would you know this information?

Either you are a teen hanging out on a parenting site, or an actual mom who knows the PRECISE GPAs DOWN TO THE HUNDREDTH of a good-sized group of kids in a large school. Or (unlikely) a public high school college counselor.

All scenarios are kinda gross.

I will take door number two, Bob.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it would be tough from a public school because with rampant grade inflation the top GPAs are way above 4.

The best private schools (NCS, Holton, Landon, STA) don't have grade inflation so a GPA less than 4 might still be impressive. I know unhooked grads of each of those schools that were admitted to HYP with less than 4.0

No, public school kids have to have 3.8-4.0 unweighted GPAs as well. You are confused about several things:
1. Even alleged "rampant grade inflation" won't take a kid above 4.0. The only way to get over 4.0 is with APs.
2. Colleges only look at unweighted GPAs (which are on a scale of 1.0-4.0). Colleges do not care about weighted GPAs. In fact, many colleges have their own, proprietary weighting systems that they run kids' transcripts through.
3. Why do you think the good publics have "rampant grade inflation"? Prove this.

Signed, mom of an unhooked public school kid who got into an Ivy with an unweighted GPA of 3.9 (which is useless for answering OP's question, but seems like it might be helpful to you)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, no one can truly answer this question for your DC. Odds are very strong he won't get in, but he can certainly apply.

OP was a trying to gather data points, not asking for a "chance me" response

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it would be tough from a public school because with rampant grade inflation the top GPAs are way above 4.

The best private schools (NCS, Holton, Landon, STA) don't have grade inflation so a GPA less than 4 might still be impressive. I know unhooked grads of each of those schools that were admitted to HYP with less than 4.0

No, public school kids have to have 3.8-4.0 unweighted GPAs as well. You are confused about several things:
1. Even alleged "rampant grade inflation" won't take a kid above 4.0. The only way to get over 4.0 is with APs.
2. Colleges only look at unweighted GPAs (which are on a scale of 1.0-4.0). Colleges do not care about weighted GPAs. In fact, many colleges have their own, proprietary weighting systems that they run kids' transcripts through.
3. Why do you think the good publics have "rampant grade inflation"? Prove this.

Signed, mom of an unhooked public school kid who got into an Ivy with an unweighted GPA of 3.9 (which is useless for answering OP's question, but seems like it might be helpful to you)

At Churchill 42% of the school has an unweighted GPA between 3.5 and 4.0. Sounds like grade inflation to me.

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/schools/churchillhs/counseling/15_profile%20final%20copy%20rev%20%20sunshine.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it would be tough from a public school because with rampant grade inflation the top GPAs are way above 4.

The best private schools (NCS, Holton, Landon, STA) don't have grade inflation so a GPA less than 4 might still be impressive. I know unhooked grads of each of those schools that were admitted to HYP with less than 4.0

No, public school kids have to have 3.8-4.0 unweighted GPAs as well. You are confused about several things:
1. Even alleged "rampant grade inflation" won't take a kid above 4.0. The only way to get over 4.0 is with APs.
2. Colleges only look at unweighted GPAs (which are on a scale of 1.0-4.0). Colleges do not care about weighted GPAs. In fact, many colleges have their own, proprietary weighting systems that they run kids' transcripts through.
3. Why do you think the good publics have "rampant grade inflation"? Prove this.

Signed, mom of an unhooked public school kid who got into an Ivy with an unweighted GPA of 3.9 (which is useless for answering OP's question, but seems like it might be helpful to you)

At Churchill 42% of the school has an unweighted GPA between 3.5 and 4.0. Sounds like grade inflation to me.

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/schools/churchillhs/counseling/15_profile%20final%20copy%20rev%20%20sunshine.pdf

A 3.5 is something like a B+ average.

Why don't you share the average GPAs for NCS, Holton, GDS and Sidwell. Since you're a private school parent talking about these schools, presumably you have access to GPA data for at least one of them, right? You wouldn't just make this stuff up, right? Thanks!

Anyway, if there is grade inflation at any area public or private school, you can rest assured that the colleges' regional reps know all about it. Second, this is why kids send in their AP test scores of 5--to prove they did well on a national test.

So I don't know exactly why you're worrying your pretty little head about hypothetical grade inflation at some public school your kid doesn't even attend. How many schools did you have to look up before you got to Churchill, anyway?