Pennsylvania Colleges for a 3.9 GPA

What colleges can I get into with a 3.9 GPA?

Graduating with a high school GPA of 3.9 places you within of the academic range at Pennsylvania colleges like University of Pennsylvania, Villanova University and Carnegie Mellon University. Based on incoming freshman GPA data for pennsylvania schools, our analysis indicates that 16 colleges would consider your 3.9 GPA competitive. The most popular colleges, historically accepting students with GPAs within the range of 3.7 to 4.1 (3.9 +/- 0.2), are listed below. To view your chances of admission at each school, scroll down and explore the full list.

3.9 for Harvard and Ivy League

A 3.9 unweighted can definitely get you into Harvard or any Ivy League school. All of these universities have average GPA's in the 3.9 range. However you will need more than a perfect GPA to stand out. These elite colleges take a comprehensive look at at each applicant factoring in SAT, ACT, high school class load, extracurricular activities, volunteer work and essays. Competition is so extreme, even a 3.9 usually doesn't cut it.

Here are the average GPAs and estimated chances for admission with a 3.9 at Ivy League and other prestigious colleges and universities.

• Harvard - 4.0 average GPA / 2.4% chance
• Princeton - 3.93 average GPA / 5.6% chance
• Yale - 3.95 average GPA / 4.5% chance
• Penn - 3.95 average GPA / 6.3% chance
• Dartmouth - 3.9 average GPA / 6.0% chance
• Brown - 3.94 average GPA / 4.6% chance
• Cornell - 3.9 average GPA / 7.0% chance
• Columbia - 3.91 average GPA / 3.9% chance
• Stanford - 3.96 average GPA / 3.5% chance
• MIT - 3.96 average GPA / 3.5% chance
• Caltech - 3.97 average GPA / 2.6% chance

Summa Cum Laude

The Latin phrase "summa cum laude" means "with highest honors" and is a distinction awarded to class graduates with the highest academic performance. The exact range for summa cum laude varies by college or high school but is generally between a 3.8 and 4.0 GPA. Thus a 3.9 GPA is typically eligible for the summa cum laude distinction.

3.9 GPA honor roll

Many high schools have honor rolls which are published to recognize students with consistently high performance. The qualifications for getting on the honor roll vary from school to school. Frequently, a high and standard honor roll is established with different criteria, sometimes for students above 3.0, 3.5 or 3.75 GPAs. In most cases a 3.9 will get you on the honor roll.

Demographic Statistics

Let's examine how a 3.9 GPA stacks up to the national high school averages across various demographic groups

Gender

• Male: A 3.9 is 0.9 points (30%) higher than the average male student GPA of 3.0
• Female: A 3.9 is 0.7 points (21%) higher than the average female student GPA of 3.23

Race/ethnicity

• White: A 3.9 is 0.7 points (21%) higher than the average white student GPA of 3.23
• Black: A 3.9 is 1.1 points (38%) higher than the average black student GPA of 2.83
• Hispanic: A 3.9 is 0.9 points (32%) higher than the average Hispanic student GPA of 2.95
• Asian/Pacific Islander: A 3.9 is 0.5 points (15%) higher than the average Asian/Pacific Islander student GPA of 3.39

Statistics source: 2019 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) High School Transcript Study (HSTS)