<p>Does the difference between A- and A matter much to colleges? This semester, I have 4 A- and 2 A. Will they think that I'm not motivated enough and am only aiming for the borderline? I understand that some colleges give 3.7 for A- and 4.0 for A either for their own students or for the applicants.</p>
<p>I’m so sorry. Community college wouldn’t even want you now.</p>
<p>;)</p>
<p>Is there something in the air? This is the third post about the same exact ridiculous subject.</p>
<p>ryanxing: you are seriously overthinking this.</p>
<p>I know that this sounds a bit ridiculous to you, but I can’t stop thinking about the time when I asked a Cornell admissions officer on this matter. When I asked him, he replied with something along the lines of “Well, that’s not the highest you can get, right?” That implies the top colleges will still take into account the difference.</p>
<p>I’m just wondering how much of an impact this will cause considering that I’m competing with some of the most qualified students of the world.</p>
<p>An A- is fine. If you had all As 1st semester and then dropped to all A minuses during the 2nd semester, that’s a red flag for senioritis and colleges won’t like that.</p>
<p>^ By the time, I would have already been enrolled and I don’t think even the likes of HYPSM would rescind a person for getting all A-. I’m worried my grades for 1st semester. At my school, it’s a 4.0 UW (4.83 W), but using the scale that takes into account the minuses, I would only have a 3.8 (4.63 W) last semester.</p>
<p>The difference between an A- and an A…</p>
<p>Are you sure you’re ready for college?</p>
<p>My questions for you:
a) You’ve talked to an Adcom or something from Cornell. Do you not know the answer already?
b) You have common sense. Do you not know the answer already?
c) Will knowing the answer make ANY difference?
d) Does it matter whether you know the answer or not?
e) How will knowing the answer change ANYTHING?
f) You have an A-? Why aren’t you studying?</p>
<p>Oh one more.
g) It seriously concerns me that you have 625 posts on this forum and are asking this question. What exactly have you been posting about for the past year?</p>
<p>Get excited for that first B+ at Cornell =D!</p>
<p>Depends on your course load, your schools rigor, grading scale, etc.</p>
<p>Is it me, or do I attend the only school at goes by the 7 point, no +/- scale? >.></p>
<p>I doubt adcoms have the patience to go through your transcript and recalculate your GPA according to their “rules”. Colleges know that not all high schools are the same, which is why they weigh class rank so heavily; they care more about how you compare to your classmates than they do some arbitrary numerical GPA that could potentially vary from school to school.</p>
<p>You really need to chill the hell out, man. Just be patient and wait for April 1st; you aren’t going to be rejected because you got a 92 instead of a 94 on your report card.</p>
<p>^^^I didn’t get into Cornell.</p>
<p>^My class rank is horrendous, hence why I’m focusing on my upward trend as my saving grace. It is also why that I’m worried to death.</p>
<p>@Pioneer: Unfortunately, “course rigor” sometimes is not weighted very much in class rank-- at my school AP is weighted as 4.48, honors is 4.40. I</p>
<p>92s vs 94’s add up… imagine if that’s what happened all 4 years. :P</p>
<p>If your class rank is already “horrendous” and you end up getting rejected from Highly Selective U., that one A- won’t be the reason you got rejected from HSU.</p>
<p>^ I have four A-, not one. I want to capitalize on my upward trend (2.5 freshman GPA, 3.8 sophomore GPA, 4.5 junior GPA, and so far 4.8 senior GPA) but I’m afraid those A- may not contribute to my goal. I got rejected from Cornell, but got deferred at U Michigan (the reason they gave for doing so is that they can review my mid-year report) and got invited to compete for the regents scholarship from UCLA. As you can tell from my U Michigan decision so far, my Senior year grades and upward trend are significant factors in my final admissions decision to pretty much all my non-UC schools. </p>
<p>Taken all that into account, I again ask how detrimental will those 4 A-'s be?</p>
<p>those 4 A-'s may not be much of a factor. but dont keep your hopes up. many people say that a significant upward trend is very beneficial to an application. but honestly, a consistently high performance in high school helps much more.</p>