<p>I have browsed around these forums and haven't seen anything related to this. But, how do colleges look at transcripts when different school systems use a different grading scale? For instance at my children's school a 90 is a B and at the neighboring school system a 90 is an A. So if my son or daughter had all 90-92 averages in all their classes they would have a 3.0 gpa. However, if they were attending the other school district and had a 90 average in every class they would have a 4.0 gpa. Numerical averages are not on the transcript so colleges have no way of knowing that the one actually had a higher overall numerical grade with a 3.0 versus the student with a lower numerical grade and a 4.0 average. How is this fair and how do admissions work around this? I have asked at a couple of colleges and they could never give a clear answer. Some of the other parent's were really arguing this point. Any feedback?</p>
<p>Make sure that your children’s high school includes their “school’s profile”, which should describe grading, when they send out transcripts. Also, does the high school rank? This is why standardized tests are somewhat important. Absolutely, all gpas are not equal!</p>
<p>Many colleges recompute the GPA using their OWN formula based on what the high school sends (they KNOW how a 100 scale grade base compares to a 4.0 or 5.0). These schools have varying ways of looking at the courses and grade…some use only core courses (math, English, history, science, foreign language) and no electives like music or art. Some toss the freshman year grades. Some use everything. Some don’t recompute at all…but DO look at the school profile to see how YOU stack up against the rest of your class. The class profile will give the range of GPAs in your class.</p>
<p>College admissions officers are skilled at studying the school profile which is a summary fact sheet of your school published each year. Ask your guidance counselor for a copy of yours. Your school profile will explain the weighting of classes, the number of APs, the average test scores, the college matriculation list, the number of national merit scholars, etc. —in other words–it translates the difficulty of the school for the admissions officer. Most admissions officers know how to decifer the rigor of a school. A 3.0 at one school may be the equivalent to a 3.5 at another school.
That is why they have regional admissions reps who are responsible for a small cluster of area schools. It is their job to understand the rigor of that region and each particular school in the region. In this age of grade inflation and multiple grading systems, the admissions officers have a keen eye on school rigor and real GPAs.</p>
<p>Thanks, all of that makes sense. I remember going to a couple of open houses with my daughter a couple of years ago and none of the schools could give a straight answer. The admissions counselors acted as if they were so clueless. Doesn’t say much about the colleges. I mean really, how easy would it have been to just say they check the school’s profile. I am definitely going to ask my child’s guidance counselor for that information. Thanks!</p>
<p>All profiles are not equal either! Some leave out crucial information and stats such as what is listed in the above posts. Look your HS profile over carefully. If important info/stats about the school are missing, try to get you kid’s GC to put it in the recommendation letter as background. Then ask the HS to fix their profile, but good luck if you are in a public school. Parents have been trying to upgrade our HS’s for several years with no success.</p>
<p>Also, your kids’ teachers grade on what THEIR scale is–if something is “A” level work, they’ll mark it in the A range, whatever that is.</p>
<p>What - Phd mom said!!</p>
<pre><code>Our local high school profile continued to list AP classes that had not been offered for 5 or 6 years! Also, it was not explained that access to AP classes was mostly limited to seniors. Further, the description of classes was so confusing it appeared that honors classes were non college prep level.
At our request the guidance counselor did explain some of these issues. But, the school refuses to change the guide.
</code></pre>
<p>A 90% at one school may be much easier than 90% at another school, and thus only deserve a B.</p>
<p>Now, in my school system, 70% was an A and 40% was a pass. An American wouldn’t even get out of bed for 40%.</p>
<p>I remember some math and physics classes where the course average was like 11%, just to frighten us before the public exams.</p>