College Admissions: The GPA Game
Student Descriptors
2.3 GPA
You are a legacy at the college at which you are applying.
You did not write the optional essay for your college application.
You’ve participated in some community service.
You made a “D” junior year in English.
Your last name is Bush and the college library is named after your grandfather.
2.5 GPA
You direct the gospel choir at your church.
You are quite and don’t know your teachers well enough to ask for a recommendation.
You have participated in community service.
You’ve taken a strong academic program.
You are from a single-parent household and you must work to help with expenses.
2.8 GPA
Your intended major is biology.
You wrote an admissions essay that was so good everyone passed it around the office.
You are the first in your family to attend college.
You’re a varsity athlete.
You made a “D” in your junior year but wrote to the college explaining the extenuating circumstances.
You've taken a strong academic program.
3.0 GPA
You applied “early decision” to your first college choice.
Your intended major is psychology.
You have not performed any community service.
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College Admissions: The GPA Game
You plagiarized an American History paper and got caught.
3.3 GPA
Your intended major is Greek.
You participated in NO extracurricular activities.
You work with Habitat for Humanity every summer, a significant community service project.
You attended an enriching summer program between your junior and senior years.
3.5 GPA
The topic of your admissions essay was “Sports as a Metaphor for Life”.
You’re an Eagle Scout and so you have done significant community service.
You’re an “all-region” in basketball.
3.7 GPA
You attended an enriching summer program between your junior and senior years.
You decided not to take AP classes (even though your school offered them) because you wanted to protect your grade
point average.
The topic of your admissions essay was “Sports as a Metaphor for Life”.
4.0 GPA
You took a strong academic program.
You participated in NO extracurricular activities.
You forgot to change the name of the college when word processing the essay that was sent to several different schools.
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College Admissions: The GPA Game
Activity Directions:
Ask for volunteers to be each student, and ask them to line up in order of GPA (from highest to lowest). They are to hold
up the card with the GPA side facing the audience. Then, read the following instructions:
1. If you have taken an exceptionally strong academic program, move up 2 spaces.
2. If you direct the gospel choir at your church, move up 1 space.
3. If you clearly stated that this college is your first choice by making an early decision application and
commitment, move up 2 spaces.
4. If your intended major is Biology or Psychology, move down 1 space.
5. If your intended major is Greek, move up 1 space.
6. If you don’t know any of your teachers well enough to feel comfortable asking for a recommendation, move
down 2 spaces.
7. If, when you word processed your college essay, you forgot to change the name of the college you were
applying to, move down 3 spaces.
8. If you have performed community service, move up 2 spaces.
9. If you have not performed any community service, move down 2 spaces.
10. If you are a legacy, move up 2 spaces.
11. If you did not write the optional college essay, move down 1 space.
12. If the topic of your admissions essay was “sports as a metaphor for life”, move down 1 space.
13. If you wrote “the essay of the year”, the one everyone passed around the admissions office, move up 2 spaces.
14. If you plagiarized an American History paper and got caught, sit down. You are out of the competition entirely!
15. If you will be the first in your family to attend college, move up 2 spaces.
16. If you attended an enriching summer college program between your junior and senior years, move up 2 spaces.
17. If you have participated in NO extracurricular activities, move down 3 spaces.
18. If you have participated in a significant community service project, move up 1 space.
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College Admissions: The GPA Game
19. If you are an eagle scout, move up 1 space.
20. If you are a varsity athlete, move up 1 space. If you are “all-region” in a sport move up another space.
21. If you got a “D” in a course at the end of your junior year, move down 3 spaces.
22. If you wrote a letter to the college admissions officer and explained the extenuating circumstances surrounding
a grade of “D”, move up 1 space.
23. If you decided to protect your GPA by not taking Advanced Placement classed offered at your school, move
down 2 spaces.
24. If you come from a single parent household and must work part-time to help with expenses, move up spaces.
25. If your last name is Bush, and the name of the college library is Bush, and it’s not a coincidence, move all the
way to the front of the line and stay there.
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