The Scoop On GPA

We all know that Haas expects the very best students to apply. And by best students I mean those with stellar grades and those exceptional few who may be much more experienced in the way of the world or have hardships which can makeup for a bad GPA (i.e. amazing work experience, life experience, etc), assuming their overall grade trend is improving. I know many Haas students and it's fair to say that most fall in either one or both of these categories. It's true that most Haas students have amazing GPAs, but just because you don't doesn't mean you won't get in. If you have something else outstanding that can prove you are truly a provocative individual, you may be surprised. And to further give you some encouragement, grade inflation is accounted for in admissions as well. If you look at the Haas admission statistics for both continuing Cal students and transfer students, you will see that the GPAs of the transfers are higher than those of the continung students. This isn't because transfer students are smarter (which I will comment on in a later post); this is because the schools that students transfer from tend to inflate grades whereas Cal, and Haas especially, have nearly no grade inflation. In fact, Haas might actually have grade DEFLATION. I digress... So the morale of this tangent is: cheer up students with low GPAs and amazing other qualities and experiences, because you may just be lucky enough to get into Haas and destroyed by me and my curve making posse. Just kidding. See my previous post to get the humor ingrained in my ridiculously brutish remark.

As always, take my advice with an objective and critical ear. I'm not trying to raise your hopes and stir you up. I'm just sharing what I've come to learn and experience. And good luck to those of you applying for Fall 2009.