What is a good high school GPA for a top 50 university in the U.S.? Is a 4.0 GPA low? How many AP courses are required? Ms. Samantha Wang, the international education expert (American IECA Association education expert, Master of Education from Columbia University, Master of Linguistics from Peking University, deep experience in younger students studying abroad and international education for 14 years), will make a detailed interpretation in this article. You are welcome to give a like, collect，forward and share it with friends around you.
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The Grade Point Average (GPA) of a high school student is one of the main indicators of academic strength used by U.S. universities in their admissions process, and is one of the main indicators of a student’s academic strength in their decision to be admitted. GPAs for Grades 9-12 are required for application to U.S. universities. They are the accumulation of four years of hard work, and a good GPA shows that a student is dedicated to his or her studies, is well-rounded, and has demonstrated excellent performance in the classroom. Therefore, it is important that student choices and grades in all subjects are taken into account every year from 9th grade onwards. Competition for admission to the top 50 universities in the U.S. is fierce, especially at the eight Ivy League schools, where students are admitted to the top of the high school, with just about all of them having a GPA of 4.0 or above!
- What is GPA?
High school grade point average (GPA) is a grading. In the U.S., GPA usually uses an unweighted scale with a full score of 4.0. If students stake Honor, AP and other advanced courses in high school, they can use a weighted scale with a full score of 5.0 to reflect the academic performance of students in high school.
Academic performance makes up 40% of our application and has a direct impact on the success or failure of the application. Therefore, a good GPA is essential for applying to a highly ranked university, and if your high school grades are on a numerical scale such as ABCF, or on a percentage scale such as 100, 90, or 60, these will need to be converted into GPAs acceptable to US universities when applying.
- What is the GPA required for applying to a TOP 50 university?
According to the latest authoritative data released by The National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) in 2023, NACAC surveyed the enrollment and admissions data of more than 200 U.S. colleges and universities over a period of 11 years, from 2012 to 2023, and invited universities to honestly evaluate all the factors that influence their admissions, and 74% of them agreed that a high school GPA was the decisive factor in university admissions, ranking second out of all the important factors.
The number one factor was the College preparatory courses taken at the high school level, which 77% of the universities considered to be important in their assessment of admissions
In the aftermath of the epidemic and the widespread adoption of test-optional and test-free policies by universities in the U.S. and around the world, the impact of standardized test scores such as SAT/ACT on admissions has been relatively weakened, highlighting the importance of the GPA at the high school level!
01 TOP20: GPA 4.1 or above, 10 or more AP courses
Based on past experience, students who successfully apply to the top 20 schools in the U.S. generally have a high GPA of 4.1 or higher, and many of the top applicants to MIT and the eight Ivy League schools, in particular, have GPAs as high as 4.9 or even 4.95.
UC’s official website shows the median GPAs of students admitted to their high schools, ranging from 4.15-4.29 for UC Berkeley to 4.20-4.31 for UCLA. To achieve such a high GPA, it is common for high school top students to take 10-14 AP coueses credits in high school, i.e., 3-4 AP courses per school year, which is incredibly intense and requires absolute academic strength to get A’s.
02 TOP30: GPA 4.0 or above, 7-8 AP courses
Students aiming for the top 30 colleges in the U.S. generally have a GPA of 4.0 or higher. 2024 U.S. News ranked UCD and UCSD, which are tied for 28th and are in the second tier of the UC system, have very high median GPAs, with UC Santa Barbara at 4.13 – 4.29 and UCD at 4.03 – 4.27. UCI, ranked 33rd, admits students with a GPA of 4.07 – 4.28.
If students are aiming for these top 30 universities, they need to take 7-8 AP credit courses in their 4 years of high school, which is less of a burden than the top 20, but they need to excel in all the AP advanced courses in order to maintain a good GPA and increase their strength.
03 Top 50: GPA of 3.8 or above, 6-8 AP courses
Students aiming for the top 50 universities in the U.S. need to have GPA of at least 3.8 or above, and also take 6-8 AP courses.
- How to choose an AP course?
First of all, students have to choose according to the major of the university they are applying for, their own strengths, future career development directions and interests.
For example, if students want to apply to business schools in the future, such as International Business, Economics and Finance, Accounting, Marketing, Business Management, Financial Management, etc., it is recommended that they take courses such as AP Statistics, AP Principles of Computer Science, AP Macroeconomics and Microeconomics, AP Calculus, AP Psychology, and AP U.S. Government and Politics, etc., in the high school.
If students wish to pursue STEM in the future and apply to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics majors, it is recommended that they take AP Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Statistics, Computer, Science, Calculus, and Environmental Engineering at the high school level.
- How to improve GPA?
AP credit courses are scored out of 5, so the more AP courses you take and the higher grades you earn, the better chance you have of significantly increasing your GPA in a short period of time.
In addition to improving your GPA through AP credit classes, here’s a little secret to “save” your GPA: SMOA U.S. high school regular credit courses are graded at 4.33 out of 4.0, which is higher than any other regular credit course. Therefore, even if you don’t want to challenge yourself with the extremely difficult AP courses, taking regular US high school credit courses at SMOA will take the same amount of time and effort to earn the same grades, but you will have a better chance of earning a higher weighted GPA than taking a regular credit course with a perfect score of 4.0.
- SMOA U.S. High School Credit Courses
SMOA originates from St. Mary’s School, a century-old boarding school in the U.S. and ranked 98th in the U.S. for boarding high schools. The U.S. high school diploma, credits and transcripts of SMOA are recognized by Cognia, and comply with College Board AP and UC A-G official standards, and are recognized by universities in the U.S. and around the world. Whether you are applying online at UC Web Application or Common APP and other online applications, you can search for our school code CEEB Code, School Code to submit your U.S. high school credits and transcripts obtained at SMOA.
Highly valuable U.S. high school diplomas, credits and transcripts, recognized by top universities in the U.S. and around the world:
Regular course GPAs up to 4.33 and AP course GPAs up to 5.0, effectively improving high school GPAs:
Strong U.S. high school faculty, selected by St. Mary’s School, with more than 85% master’s or doctoral degrees:
In the spring and summer of 2024, SMOA will offer U.S. high school all-subject credit courses, as well as more than 30 AP credit courses, including common subjects such as AP Macroeconomics / Microeconomics / Psychology / Physics / Chemistry / U.S. History / English Literature and Composition, as well as uncommon special U.S. high school credit and AP credit courses such as 2D Art, 3D Art, Animation, Fashion Design, Programming, and Business, which can meet the needs of applicants to top universities in the U.S., as well as pre course selection for various majors.
Small size classes of 3-6 students are offered on a rolling basis throughout the year, and VIP 1 v 1 classes are flexible and can be started at any time, welcome to contact us.