About to Complain to my School...

<p>I'm a senior at a school in NYC.</p>

<p>History:
My school gives letter grades ranging from E, G, S, N, F, all meaning tings like "Excellent" "Good" etc. However, when entering grades on our transcripts, they put in numbers based on what we got (can be an E+, E, E-, etc).</p>

<p>Basic summary:
E+ (which is really a range from 97-100) always goes on the transcript as 100.
E (93-96) goes on as 95.
E- (90-92) goes on as 92.</p>

<p>As you can see, there's already something fishy going on, and has been since I came to the school. But today's scandal comes as this:</p>

<p>I looked at my transcript online today and they have changed everything. Now:</p>

<p>E+ goes in as a 98
E as 95
E- as 93
G+ as 88 (instead of the 89 it used to be).</p>

<p>I can tell this is going to really mess up my average which has already been reported to colleges that I've gotten into (Georgetown) and colleges I'm applying to. The worst of which is SUNY Binghamton which allowed me to self report my grades (which I did before they made this magical change) so now it appears as if I fashioned them out of thin air.</p>

<p>I plan to go to school tomorrow and go crazy on everyone that works there. Does it look like I have a case? Doesn't seem fair that my school can change my grades that have been there for up to three years already. If they can get away with that, why bother giving grades at all?</p>

<p>Note, I've had MANYYYYYY problems with my school before, such as them refusing to take credit that was already on my transcript (I'm retaking economics now because they decided to not count the college economics credit I got two years ago that they said would count).</p>

<p>I totally agree with you. What they did later on shouldn’t have changed what you already had on your records. Maybe you should discuss this with them and explain from your point of view why its messing up your chances to get into a good school</p>

<p>I don’t see this as a “scandal” or something to “go crazy on”. If I were you I would stop in your college/guidance counselor’s office and ask if they can put a comment in the mid-year report about the change in the GPA calculation this year, and explain that is why whatever transcript they are getting does not exactly match what you put in your application. Grow up… the world is going to change around you more than once in your life. It isn’t all about you and how it impacts you.</p>

<p>I plan to get over these things when I graduate but my school is just run so terribly. The fact that this was done behind our backs with no notice makes it worse. </p>

<p>I suppose they did it to try and add legitimacy (because I had a lot of 100s) but this will do exactly the opposite.</p>

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<p>It won’t if you walk in and “go crazy on everyone.” Seriously, try to be a tad more mature and act like a true college bound young adult.</p>

<p>It’s not a “scandal,” though I certainly understand your concern. Take your concern calmly to the administration and you will have far better luck than if you act like a histrionic two year old.</p>

<p>If its not possible to get a 100, then they have invalidated the scale. </p>

<p>At a minimum they should prepare some sort of explanatory letter for colleges, although its really unfair on the colleges to have to figure out how what is now a ■■■■■■■■ 0-98 point system compares to everyone else.</p>

<p>Perhaps hyperbole doesn’t translate well to the internet. I’m not going to walk in and start flipping tables.</p>

<p>Since your school doesn’t report on a 4.0 scale it doesn’t really matter, except in terms of how they calculate class rank. Colleges will clearly see that your grades can be converted to the standard ABCDF grade system, and then a GPA assigned for admission purposes.</p>

<p>Regarding the Economics course, did you follow the guidelines they set forth to have that credit counted - ahead of time. Our HS will only count college classes if you request approval ahead of time, and will only count a certain number toward graduation. They don’t count them toward the GPA, so unless you need credits to graduate (which doesn’t happen unless you fail several classes) there’s no real purpose to listing them on the HS transcript. instead you have a transcript sent from the college as well as your HS (many colleges want this anyway).</p>

<p>I took the economics class in sophomore year specifically because they told me (and the 30 other students that took it) that it would fulfill our economics requirement for graduation. And for all of sophomore and junior years it did, but this year they decided to take back what they said.</p>

<p>Not a good time to threaten to “go crazy” at a school.</p>

<p>The economics class “should” have been grandfathered - but it’s a little late for that.</p>

<p>What they are doing with the grades sounds more or less equivalent to what colleges do, so I don’t see an issue there.</p>

<p>* Perhaps hyperbole doesn’t translate well to the internet. I’m not going to walk in and start flipping tables.*</p>

<p>Im so relieved. After reading this, I was a little concerned.</p>

<p>It’s happened many times, and I usually settle it by immediate confrontation and if not I go extreme and get my mom to come to school - and my mom is vicious.</p>

<p>That doesn’t look very different from a normal conversion to a 4.0 scale: for example a B+ is an 87 -89 in your case a G+ would be a B+… or a 95-100 would be an A and in your case an E or E+ would be an A…maybe I’m missing something? If you calculate your Es, Gs, Ss into As, Bs, Cs and calculate your GPA on a 4.0 scale it probably didn’t change much. There are minor differences from school to school about where the breaks are, but your profile that goes with your transcript should explain any slight difference (e.g. some schools don’t have minuses and pluses, some schools have higher (or lower) cut-offs for an A etc.)</p>

<p>So just ask them to send a note to everyone explaining?</p>

<p>High schools already have dealt with this before unless you are the first person to apply to colleges.
Colleges have their own conversion standards as well.
[How</a> to Convert Your GPA to a 4.0 Scale](<a href=“College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools”>How to Convert (Calculate) Your GPA to a 4.0 Scale – BigFuture)</p>

<p>I know you are fed up with your HS, but you are almost done. If you’ve already gotten into Georgetown, the difference between an 88 and an 89 is not going to change your admissions decision.</p>

<p>Approach it in a calm fashion and explain that their changes has an impact on your (and every other senior’s) applications. Request they provide a written statement to you and also to the schools you have applied to explaining the change in converting grades.</p>

<p>Don’t sweat the small stuff. Next year at this time you won’t even remember how annoyed you were over this situation.</p>

<p>Congratulations on your admissions.</p>

<p>If they changed the grades, they probably also changes the school profile that is sent with the grades. That profile puts the grades into context. You have several top grades - it doesn’t matter whether the top is 98 or 100 - it’s still the top grade possible. Unless it caused a drop in your class rank, they haven’t taken anything away from you!</p>

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<p>Besides for the obvious reasons, the midterm report will be going to any remaining colleges on your list and Gtown as well. You don’t want to act like a big jerk right before that, as there is a component of that report filled out by the guidance counselor. Agree that since everyone in your school is in the same boat, it probably doesn’t matter.</p>

<p>Congrats on Georgetown. </p>

<p>Others are bound to be upset as well. Let someone else do the dirty work - Stay on good terms with your GC…Worth more at this point. It’s in the school’s interest to defend your self reporting if the colleges call about a discrepancy.</p>

<p>I’m not worried about the GC - we have a college one who I’m on GREAT terms with and then the regular GC who handles grades and such with whom my relationship sucks anyway.</p>

<p>And people seem to be mistaking the changes - I can tell you my school is not changing it to a 98 point scale. It is still a 100 pt scale and the highest you can get is a 98, so it’s not 98/98, it’s 98/100.</p>

<p>And why are you freaking out…98 or 100 it’s still an A and it’s still worth 4 points on your GPA? Can you explain better, perhaps we’ll have different ideas.</p>