<p>This year, I have gotten an A-, both semesters, in all 7 of my classes. My high school does not factor plus or minus into our GPA, so my GPA remains 4.85 (5 APs - count as 5 in GPA, 1 honors - count as 5, and 1 regular - counts as 4). I know that people always say that only the letter matters, but is it really true that had I gotten A+ both semesters in all my classes, this would not put me at an advantage at all?</p>
<p>Please don't insult me for asking this legitimate question. It's not as though I'm saying "I have straight A+ 2400 SAT 36 ACT 5.0 GPA international musician captain of 5 varsity sports teams but I got an A- in AP English will I get into community college." I just want to know if I should have tried harder to keep my grades at A's instead of A-.</p>
<p>It all depends on how your high school treats the pluses and minuses. If it ignores them in the transcript that it sends to colleges, in the way that it computes GPA and in the way that it ranks then they are not relevant. If it counts them in any of the above processes then they matter.</p>
<p>Some high schools with which I’m familiar count them in all three processes – transcript, overall GPA and rank.</p>
<p>There are lots of variations among high schools, and colleges realize this and accommodate the differences.</p>
<p>If your school doesn’t care about pluses and minuses, your transcript will probably only show colleges the letter grade you got. So no, a 92% vs. a 99% won’t make a difference. (If your transcript does show pluses and minuses, colleges will consider them.)</p>
<p>The official transcript does show them, but they are not computed in GPA or rank.</p>
<p>A few of my teachers made errors with my grades that I believe may have been the reason why I got an A- instead of A. Should I ask them to change the grades? This is a long and irritating process, so I’d rather not, but it depends on how much they matter.</p>
<p>I believe that a lot of colleges compute their own GPA from your transcript rather than use the GPA your high school provides - that way, they don’t have to mess around with all the weighted GPAs and unusual methods of calculation. That is to say, colleges will see your A minuses, and they will view them as a little worse than A’s.</p>
<p>Hmm. I emailed my school counselor and he seems to think that they are the same college-wise. My counselor is generally fairly knowledgeable. However, he probably also doesn’t have an inner knowledge of each college’s admissions system. So would you suggest that I do ask for a grade change? I have about 8 A minuses that were caused by teachers’ mistakes over my high school career.</p>