Hi. Am in undergrad in India. Majored in IT for engineering and it was really hard to score anything beyond a 3.0/4. I'm taking even more quantitative subjects like econometrics/financial engineering. I know consequently my cumulative GPA is not going to be any greater than 3.1/4. I keep seeing class profiles at my target schools in the US and all of them have 3.5+ average GPAs, which really blows my mind as it is practically unheard of in my current uni for anyone to be casually scoring that much unless we're talking about the batch topper. I know for a fact that adcoms take a holistic view of your applications but GPA forms a large proportion of their consideration, surely?
Do they perceive a 3.0 in engineering differently than let's say a 3.5 in business administration? Does it make sense to apply to these schools, regardless and hope they consider your last 2 years of study or take into account the quantitative nature of your degree? I know that grade inflation in the US is a thing while its harder to score in India for engineers.
How do AdComs perceive Indian GPAs? In context of school tier? Or individual subjects?