Ah, but are the transcripts otherwise similar enough to comparable? That is, do those 4.0's represent rigorous coursework? Or fluff taken to maintain that pristine GPA?

That's the other thing that comes into play.

Interestingly-- the elite school that DD is in the process of applying to, they also want to know about parental educational attainment and employment.

That makes a great deal of sense to me as a harbinger of a student's likely potential for success at such an institution-- it's a proxy for the values that a student has re: education, for the student's likely native ability, etc.


Schrödinger's cat walks into a bar. And doesn't.