GPA Based on School Difficulty

[dasher44]

Hello!

This question might be obvious, but I'm still a little unsure. When applying to grad school, do admission officers look to see where you received your bachelor's from? I ended up attending my "reach" school for undergrad instead of my safety schools. I was challenged every day by my school work and professors. My GPA didn't end up being great (3.15). I'm unsure if I had attended an easier-to-get-in-to, my GPA may have been higher. Basically, I'm asking, if Suzie when to an easy college and left with a 3.8 GPA, and Sandra went to a difficult college and left with a 3.1 GPA, will the admissions board understand the difference? 

My apologies if this comes off as pretentious, I'm just looking to justify the past four years of work that was challenging to me!

[njslp2019]

This is a really great question and I am not sure of the answer but I think mentioning your success of getting into such a good school and mentioning your determination while in that difficult school would help a lot 

[Southwestspeechie]

I don't think that a school's name holds much weight for admissions committees. In my program we have students from all types of schools but we all have similar GPAs. One of my classmates is from a very high ranked and big name undergrad with a higher GPA and she still got rejected from some programs. Another thing is, where you were as a student in high school is different from where you are now as a college student, so they have to look at your performance from college, not what got you there. 

I recommend highlighting your abilities and not the school's name, as they can see that from other parts of your application. You are so much more than your GPA, show them those other parts! 

Sorry if this was tough, that's just how I see it. 

Best of luck to you  

[Rezzy S.]

The person who ran the grad info session at my school who has been a part of decision committees gave an example of when grade inflation was taken into account in the opposite sense. He said there was a local university that produced an outrageous amount of 4.0 students so they always took a harder look at applicants from those schools. So hopefully the opposite, attending a more difficult school, would also be considered. 

[thespeechblog.com]

It depends. I have heard of schools getting a reputation for grade-inflation, and I'm sure schools can get a reputation for being tough. This is usually a regional thing though where XYZ Univ gets sooooo many applications from neighboring ABC college that they get to know their students fairly well. Does that make sense?