<p>Does it really make a difference in college admissions whether a student has mostly A's or mostly A-minuses? Is it significantly more difficult to get into the ivies and top schools with mostly A minuses instead of A's or A-pluses?</p>
<p>Nope. Most schools disregard the + and - because not all schools give them.</p>
<p>An A+ is an A is an A-. My school disregards the "+"s and "-"s on your transcript.</p>
<p>Some teachers are *******s and give out A- but not A+</p>
<p>It doesn't affect your GPA and I doubt colleges even care about A-s.</p>
<p>Letter grades are only representations of your GPA on a 100 pt scale. Getting all As is obviously going to give you a slightly higher GPA as opposed to all A-s.</p>
<p>In the end, it's your GPA that counts.</p>
<p>If my school does not do GPAs out of 4.0, and only reports them out of 100, then would a 97 really be very much more competitive than say a 93, which is the cut off for an A at my school?</p>
<p>I think the only things the "+"s and "-"s do is help with ranking, or that is how it is at our school.</p>
<p>^ Not very much more, but more competitive nonetheless. Other factors (such as rank) would help determine.</p>
<p>After all, being 3 points away from academic perfection is harder to maintain then being 7 points away.</p>
<p>How good is a 3.86 considered at Ivies? Because that's what my unweighted average is, using a calculator I found online.</p>
<p>+s do nothing to your GPA, but -s affect it. Also, a 93 is marginally better than a 97, but colleges honestly don't have time to be this nit-picky.</p>
<p>A 3.86 is decent, but you can bet that there will be a lot of kids with 3.9s and 4.0s so your SATs, ECs, and AP scores better be stellar.</p>
<p>My school doesn't even use minuses in grades. Pluses are used, but they only count for your weighted GPA. I think many colleges readjust your GPA to fit their scale anyway, so I wouldn't fret over a plus or minus. It all boils down to the fact that an A is an A.</p>
<p>And what about weighting? Is it true that top colleges will only look at your unweighted average, or is that just a rumor? Because if they do use your weighted, then mine would be higher than 3.86.</p>
<p>That's not true. They look at your GPAs separately though.</p>
<p>Both your unweighted and weighted GPA will appear on your transcript.</p>
<p>Do most schools go by a 4.0 A/3.0 B etc. scale or do they factor in +/-? </p>
<p>i.e. A = 4.0, A- = 3.7, B+ = 3.4, etc.</p>
<p>I have a question. Is there a difference between a college GPA and your high school GPA, meaning that a college calculates a GPA different from the one you receive for your high school transcripts? My school is pretty basic in comparison to the weird scales of others: A- to A+ is a 4, unless it is Honors/AP (then it is a 5). I couldn't bear trying to keep up with the crazy stuff that other high schools do. Anyway, back to my previous question. I've heard that the UC system (and private schools like the IVY's as well?) calculate a grand GPA based on a myriad of factors that determines entrance into the school. Obviously a private school does not have a cutoff list like the one described, but do they still calculate a different GPA?</p>
<p>I don't know much about college admissions, but I can assure you that an A- as opposed to an A here and there will not be the deciding factor in an ad com's decision.</p>
<p>"I think many colleges readjust your GPA to fit their scale anyway, so I wouldn't fret over a plus or minus. It all boils down to the fact that an A is an A."
No, an A is not an A. Colleges will look at both your UW GPA and Weighted GPA, but minuses are less than a 4.0, they are a 3.7. A+s won't matter. Colleges also will look at the percentages you got, thus a 97 is marginally better than a 93, etc. Also, colleges will likely take out classes like band, gym, etc. to calculate your UW GPA, so your grades in your core classes should be rock solid.</p>
<p>It kind of baffles me that people are so general with their grades here. :O I have seen kids at my school cry because they got a 93 instead of a 97. True story.</p>