There definitely is someone you know who is obsessed with the GPA score. They are constantly calculating it and developing strategies on how to make it higher. Such strategies may include choosing more difficult classes to create the impression of a student who is not afraid of taking a risk. But is it all worth it? Does a high GPA have this tremendous impact on the final decision of an application committee? It is a difficult question as there too many variables to take into consideration.
The key factor is the educational institution you choose. Some of them pay close attention to your grades, others are more interested in you as a personality. The latter approach is also used by big companies like Google which do not care about an applicant’s work experience but look for the individuals passionate about what they do. That is why a renowned university may choose a candidate with lower GPA but better application essay and the one who was more engaged in extracurricular activities.
Will I get to the University I want?
If we consider the most common GPA scale, it would mean that for each A you get for a class you receive 4 points, 3 points for B, 2 points for C, 1 point for D, and 0 points for an F. It is obvious that the better grades you have, the higher your score will be. There is also such a things as a weighted GPA that takes into account the difficulty of a particular class you take. The harder it is to get an A for it the more valuable your score will be. But it is not always enough to add the points up and divide them by the number of classes you took. You can do it quickly with the help of online calculators. If you want to know whether your grades are in line with the requirements, you have to explore the scores of the applicants they usually accept. Be objective and choose the universities you have a high probability of getting into.