Anonymous wrote:Those of you citing average GPAs, where are you getting that data? I don't see it in the common data sets.
I use SCHEV (State Council for Higher Education for Virginia) stats.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Council_of_Higher_Education_for_Virginia/ SCHEV catalogues the data for all private and public universities in Virginia. All you need do is plug in the name of the college or university here and the stats (FIrst Time Freshman Profile) profile of the last incoming class pops up . SCHEV should be updating soon to include the data from fall 2020. So, for example, in the fall of 2019, of the first-year students on UVA's campus, the 75th percentile has a 4.49 GPA/ 34 ACT and/or a 1500 on the SAT. Medin is a 4.35 GPA/ACT of 33 and SAT of 1340. The bottom 25th percentile is a 4.21/ACT of 30 and a 1340 SAT.https://research.schev.edu//enrollment/B10_FreshmenProfile.asp.
Remember, though, that these are the STATs of the class which actually showed up. The stats for acceptance is higher because a number of students use UVA as a safety for the Ivies or top SLACs.
But if you want to find out where your child fits, all you need do is look at a comparison of the stats across the public and private universities of Virginia. The info is all there.
No, I don't know of a comparable system for any other state.
And before someone says it, yes, the universities know exactly where you child places even if your high school "doesn't rank". The college counselor has to sent in a profile of the high school class, including the most rigorous courses offered. That's the first thing that the readers check is approximately where your child is in comparison to the rest of his or her high school class. Also the counselor writes their own letter of recommendation and check off the "most rigorous" box if your student has taken the most rigorous courses that the high school offers.