gpa cutoff talk

taken directly from the admissions 2006 book:

Three years full-time university studies leading to a Bachelor’s degree is required.

The minimum acceptable grade point average is 3.40 on a 4.00 scale. The mean grade point average of successful applicants in 2004/2005 was 3.73 on a 4.00 scale.

people on here always talk about how gpa cutoffs are 3.83 ip and 3.87-3.92 for oop... so why's the average gpa for matriculants 3.73?? is it because the gpa's of french matriculants balance it out?