<p>The above q. Does an A- as opposed to a regular A make a difference to admissions officers in Ivys/Top 25?</p>
<p>Yeah, when the top schools recalculate gpa, they most likely do differentiate between an A and an A-. So while an A- isn’t “bad,” it’s not optimal. Try to gun for straight As.</p>
<p>That’s like asking is 4.0 > 3.99. Of course it is. </p>
<p>But will that difference really count for top school admissions? Unlikely. Debatable. If that person is admitted or rejected, it won’t be because of a few points here and there. I’d tell people to stop obsessing and be a great student.</p>
<p>No, not enough to lose sleep over. I had like 14 A-'s when I applied to Yale. Still got in.</p>
<p>Yes. An A-=automatic rejection.</p>
<p>Realistically if you look at the stats, there’s really barely any difference between a GPA of say, 3.85 and a GPA of a 4.0. They just look to see if you can hit a certain benchmark to see if you’re capable of getting good grades, and that’s it. Due to the inconsistency between schools, different grading policies between teachers, etc., it would be rather asinine for colleges to request that students get all A+'s.</p>
<p>So as long as you get mostly 90%'s and above (one or two B’s here and there is okay but no more), you’ll be competitive at just about every school. Even looking at average GPAs for top schools - these can range from about 3.8 to 3.9, rarely 4.0</p>
<p>Thanx guys</p>
<p>^An A- only matters if your school counts it as a 3.7(or less than an A). If your school counts an A- and an A as the same for your GPA, then it doesn’t matter, at all (i.e exactly 0 significance).</p>