College Admissions Specialist Calls A Student With 4.8 GPA 'Average' & Reviews Her College Application
Despite this applicant's impressive stats and high GPA, many viewers felt discouraged that she was only considered an "average" student.
TikTok Many high school students worry and stress over the importance of maintaining a high GPA and impressive statistics to become stand-out applicants for college admissions boards and therefore get into the school of their dreams.
In a TikTok video, Limmy, who often makes videos on the platform sharing college application advice, shared a video in which he reviewed what he labeled an "average" student's application — though her GPA was definitely far from it.
A college admission specialist revealed the stats of an 'average student' who applied to college with a 4.8 GPA.
For the applicant who had shared her stats, she explained that she was a Latina immigrant from Tampa, Florida. Despite advertising this applicant as being "average" her stats were anything but. For her SAT, she scored a 670 for math and 650 for reading, making her total score 1320 out of 1600, which is rather impressive.
According to BestColleges, in 2022, the average total SAT score was 1050, which has actually been the lowest average score since the test changed its format in 2016.
For the high school student's GPA, she received a 3.8 unweighted, but a 4.8 weighted, and she listed herself as being in the top 10% of her graduating class of 700 students in total. "Good applicant," Limmy deduced, noting that her intended major for college was both political science and creative writing.
She was also given a few impressive awards, including being a Hispanic scholarship recipient. On top of that, she also managed to secure over 100 hours of community service by volunteering in hospitals, at the Botanical Garden, and the Boys & Girls Club.
For some of her other extracurricular activities, the applicant was a part of five different honor societies, founded a literary magazine, and participated in a creative writing club.
In total, she applied to six schools, Barnard College of Columbia, Flordia State University, Union College of Albany, Mount Holyoke, University of Georgia, and the University of Central Florida. Lemmy inferred that she had received acceptances from all of the schools except Barnard College.
In the comments section, viewers were astonished that an applicant with impressive stats was considered 'average.'
Many TikTok users were taken aback by what is considered an 'average' GPA. "The average? Yeah, I've got no chance," wrote one user. Another user argued, "That is not an average applicant. Regardless of their SAT scores everything else was pretty spot on."
According to Crimson Education, the average high school GPA in the United States is 3.0, which accounts for an estimated 35% of students who don't end up applying to college. For college applicants, the average GPA is between 3.5 and 4.0.
However, most selective colleges in the country prefer to look at applicants' weighted GPAs as that is more of an accurate representation of their achievements as high school students than an unweighted GPA.
A third user encouraged people not to be discouraged, pointing out that the high school stats shown by Limmy were definitely considered "above average," and students should "keep their heads up," as every college's requirements are different.
Nia Tipton is a writer living in Brooklyn. She covers pop culture, social justice issues, and trending topics.