Intern
Joined: 24 Jun 2011
Affiliations: CPA
Posts: 39
Given Kudos: 0
Concentration: Other
GPA: 3.27
WE:Accounting (Consulting)
How to Approach Grade Deflation?
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24 Jun 2011, 08:29
Hi,
I graduated from undergrad with a 3.27 GPA. Not bad, but not great for someone who has aspirations to get into a top 10 program. The tricky part is that my schools average graduating GPA is a 2.96, whereas many schools average GPA's are closer to my 3.3. According to my school's dean, our latin honors are divided by class % (5, next 10, next 15) so having graduated Cum Laude, this means I graduated between 16-30% of my class. Given the GPA range for Cum Laude, It puts me well within the top quartile.
My question to you is, how do I articulate this?
Do I
1) Do nothing
2) Briefly mention how Cum Laude is defined on my resume where Cum Laude would be noted under education
3) Use my optional Essay to explain the grading system
I've emailed a few schools to ask and they seem split on the solution. One top 10 school said they're familiar with various grading scales and it's not an issue. Others have said to use the optional essay.
What say you?