Does distribution of grades matter?

[Bethany555]

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Just out of curiosity, does it matter how your grades are distributed or just overall GPA (save any ultra low grades).

For example, say the following are both 3.8's (the first is 3.8 and the 2nd is 3.82, but let's just pretend they are the same)

A A A A B
A- A- A- A A

Is one viewed as better? The first one shows a greater understanding in 4 subjects and maybe an outlier grade in a class (maybe due to difficult grading, not being good at w/e that subject is, etc.) The second shows strength in all subjects, but not 'mastery'.

Thoughts?

 

[pfaction]

It would also help to know the subjects but for the most part those grades, no.

 

[theseeker4]

Just out of curiosity, does it matter how your grades are distributed or just overall GPA (save any ultra low grades).

For example, say the following are both 3.8's (the first is 3.8 and the 2nd is 3.82, but let's just pretend they are the same)

A A A A B
A- A- A- A A

Is one viewed as better? The first one shows a greater understanding in 4 subjects and maybe an outlier grade in a class (maybe due to difficult grading, not being good at w/e that subject is, etc.) The second shows strength in all subjects, but not 'mastery'.

Thoughts?

I highly doubt anywhere near a significant portion of adcoms scrutinize your grades that closely. Anything C or below might raise a flag, but other than that, the cGPA and sGPA numbers are the important part, not the breakdown of A's vs. B's that got you there.

 

[gettheleadout]

I agree that the difference here is so minimal that it's unlikely anyone would care either way.

 

[Narmerguy]

I can only see that mattering if one of them was a prereq (and even then it'd still be not that much).

 

[pfaction]

People may get a B in a pre-req and then ace a higher level because of a bad teacher/good teacher scenario or whatever the situation is. So we absolutely need to know the courses.

 

[gettheleadout]

With a track record of mostly A's (so assuming the record continued and an applicant had a 3.8+ at time of application) who cares if one of the B's was in a prereq? A B isn't a bad grade...

 

[Narmerguy]

With a track record of mostly A's (so assuming the record continued and an applicant had a 3.8+ at time of application) who cares if one of the B's was in a prereq? A B isn't a bad grade...

I'd generally agree. But if this was a nonscience major, for example, and most of the B's/A-'s were in his science/prereq courses and the A's were in his nonscience courses, I could see that mattering.

 

[theseeker4]

I'd generally agree. But if this was a nonscience major, for example, and most of the B's/A-'s were in his science/prereq courses and the A's were in his nonscience courses, I could see that mattering.

I would be very surprised if a B in a pre-req were at all an issue if the overall science GPA was still high. Overall GPA makes any particular class's grade irrelevant as long as we are talking about the ~3.0+ range (and would probably be true for anything above a 2.0)

 

[Narmerguy]

I would be very surprised if a B in a pre-req were at all an issue if the overall science GPA was still high. Overall GPA makes any particular class's grade irrelevant as long as we are talking about the ~3.0+ range (and would probably be true for anything above a 2.0)

Well, obviously in my scenario the overall science GPA would not be high if this were a nonscience major and the majority of their B's and A-'s were all in their science coursework.

Additionally, this also depends on the type of school we're talking about here. My assumption reading this was that we were considering a student applying to higher tier schools.

 

[theseeker4]

Well, obviously in my scenario the overall science GPA would not be high if this were a nonscience major and the majority of their B's and A-'s were all in their science coursework.

Additionally, this also depends on the type of school we're talking about here. My assumption reading this was that we were considering a student applying to higher tier schools.

I was basing the numbers off those provided in the OP. If the sGPA is lower, it absolutely matters.