GPA question

[JulianCrane]

So I know med schools like to see upward trends in your GPA, but I am the opposit case. My GPA has gone from near 4.0 in freshman year to 3.86 and now to 3.8. According to Kaplan, this means that I am sorta screwed? What does it really mean? How does the school I go to factor in? Thanks for the help, guys.

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[Optimistic]

Hey,I have a similar downward trend.I hope there is nothig wrong with it. 3.8 is good GPA .

 

[CaliMed]

3.8 is a great gpa, don't worry. Keep up the good work!

 

[megkudos]

3.8 is great. When they speak about downturn they mean downturn to Cs and Ds not A's and B+s!! Besides, statistically it is really freakin hard to keep a 4.0. You'll be fine.

 

[A. Caveman]

hey, those people at kaplan are fools. you need to slap them in the face for spreading BS like that.

the above poster is right, downward trend refers to bad grades. going from excellent grades to excellent grades is not going down. but you're probably going to a community college or no-rep college, so i would make sure that my gpa stays above 3.85. it shouldn't be THAT hard. classes might get tougher for you, so you need to study more.

PS. if you want to get into a real good school, you'll need close to 4.0 (~3.9X) average gpa by the time you apply, because schools don't give you much respect otherwise (coming from a CC or no rep school).

 

[JulianCrane]

A. Cavemen, but I don't go to a community college or no-rep school. What would make you say that?

 

[A. Caveman]

oh, i'm sorry. well you asked "how does the school i go to factor in?" and mentioned that people at Kaplan told you that stuff about your gpa going from 4.0 to 3.8 was a bad thing. since nobody in their right mind would say that if you went to harvard, i figured you went to an "easy" school. asking how the school factors in solidified that assumption in my head. my bad..usually i'm pretty perceptive.

PS. it'd be pretty funny if you went to Harvard and the freaks you spoke with at Kaplan were all overachieving Harvard alumni (which would explain why they made the comment...but it wouldn't make sense that overachievers from Harvard worked at Kaplan).

 

[SMW]

Julian, you are more than fine. Don't worry, if the rest of your app is at the same level as your GPA, you can just relax and wait for the acceptances to pour in!!

Oh, I forgot to answer your question about how the school you go to factors in. Well, basically, although no one likes to admit it, you can have a lower GPA coming from a more elite school. I've even heard that some schools have formulas that they apply (one I've heard is multiply your GPA from an elite school by 1.1) to GPAs from top-ranked schools. All things being equal, the applicant from the more competitive undergrad institution has a better chance, and even sometimes if all things aren't equal.