Step 1 :Calculate the sample mean \( \bar{x} \) using the formula \( \bar{x} = \frac{\sum x_i}{n} \) where \( x_i \) are the data points and \( n \) is the sample size.
Step 2 :Calculate the sample standard deviation \( s \) using the formula \( s = \sqrt{\frac{\sum (x_i - \bar{x})^2}{n-1}} \).
Step 3 :Calculate the standard error of the mean (SEM) using the formula \( SEM = \frac{s}{\sqrt{n}} \).
Step 4 :Determine the degrees of freedom \( df \) which is \( n - 1 \).
Step 5 :Find the t-critical value \( t^* \) for a 99% confidence level and \( df \) degrees of freedom using the t-distribution.
Step 6 :Calculate the margin of error \( E \) using the formula \( E = t^* \times SEM \).
Step 7 :Calculate the confidence interval using the formula \( CI = (\bar{x} - E, \bar{x} + E) \).
Step 8 :Conclude the final answer: The 99% confidence interval for the true mean GPA of the 13 randomly selected college students is \( \boxed{(1.40, 3.28)} \).