<p>So I just got off the phone with a few college admissions offices and learned that they all do UW gpa's based on A+ A A-... scales. I was calculating my GPA before based on an A= 4 B=3... scale, so this news has pretty much shocked me. I'm sure my GPA is nowhere near the 3.85 that I had calculated before so my chances for all my prospective colleges have pretty much slipped by. I've had 25 As and 5 Bs so far and am probably going to have 32 As and 5 Bs by applicaton time, but it just doesn't seem good enough now. NYU iwas my ideal school, but it turns out they use an 97-100= 4.0, 94-96= something scale. What do I do?</p>
<p>Which colleges did you specifically call? </p>
<p>I think I read a post by a mom here on CC a while ago. She claimed that she called the Stanford admissions office, and they told her that they did their recalculated GPA’s by the A=4.0, B=3.0 scale. Either way, whether you get an A- versus a regular A or a B+ versus a regular B in any particular class isn’t going to make a HUGE difference – at least, it’s definitely not going to be the make-or-break factor of your application. Just make sure you don’t have too many A-minuses (as in, all your A’s are actually low A’s).</p>
<p>That’s the thing. A majority of my A’s are either A’s or A-'s.</p>
<p>I don’t think it should be too big a deal if your rank is good. After all, GPA is a meaningless number if its context is not taken into account. A student who attends Andover and has a 3.5 GPA there is completely different from a student who attends a mediocre public school with the same GPA.</p>
<p>Er well, I’m 9/118. My SAT scores and rank are up to par. I thought it was only my ec’s that were weak, but finding out about GPA today has been like a kick to the nads.</p>
<p>^ You’re still within the top 10% – that’s not bad! 
Which schools are you specifically looking at (besides NYU)?</p>
<p>The schools are mainly Marshall in USC, Emory, Carnegie Mellon, Notre Dame, Umich, UC Berkeley, UCLA, and Georgetown. My SAT is a 2250 (composite of 1560) and like I said, I’m in the top 8% with somewhat passable ec’s. What I’ve found about GPAs today has been pretty stressful though.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yeah, I know what you mean. But I doubt that it’s going to be the thing that’ll get you rejected. Think about it – many high schools don’t even have +/- grades (i.e. anything 90 or above is automatically considered a solid A), so if they assigned fewer GPA points to A-minuses, wouldn’t that be to the disadvantage of applicants whose high schools do use the plus and minus system? Ultimately, this is a pretty insignificant detail in the grand scheme of everything else.</p>
<p>You will be fine. Don’t you realize everyone else is put on that scale too?? Its not like YOURE the only one</p>
<p>Are you a junior? </p>
<p>Is money no object? If so, then great! :)</p>
<p>But, if money is a concern, what is your financial safety? UT?</p>
<p>Yeah, I’m a junior, and money isn’t a big concern. UT is my financial safety thought, but as things are now, we’re probably going to be able to finance most of NYU. Another thing guys, I’m applying to Stern, and I hear the kids who apply there have great grades. Are lots of A-s’s going to hamper me for Stern?</p>
<p>Bump guys !</p>
<p>anyone else have anything else to say</p>
<p>So I worked it out and when I app, I should have 5 B’s, 13 A-'s (90-93) and 18 A’s and A+s (94-100s). How badly does this hurt me for schools like NYU and Carnegie Mellon? I’m not really aiming for ivies.</p>
<p>YOOOO MAYNE don’t worry about it. You will go into a great college.</p>
<p>so i have a 4.0 through high school but if i have high enough grades near the end of the quarter i’ll just slack off and get by with what would be considered an A-</p>
<p>however, my school only gives letter grades (A,B,C,D or E) so on my transcript it just says straight A’s… is there anyway a college could go back and see my percentage grades and recalculate my gpa with the A-'s factored in? or will it stay perfect?</p>
<p>I had 1 B, 1 B+, 12 A-'s, 7 A’s, and 3 A+'s and still got into NYU.</p>
<p>I don’t understand…do some schools actually give A+s on transcripts? Or do they look up your percentages…is that possible?</p>
<p>csokane - just continue to do well. Mostly As is what’s important. How each college determines what to count shouldn’t matter (and you have no control over that). </p>
<p>Your college choices, USC, Emory, Carnegie Mellon, Notre Dame, Umich, UC Berkeley, UCLA, and Georgetown are quite intense. My son has your same SAT score, plus 800s in his three SAT IIs, and still got accepted from some of those schools you’ve listed, but denied from some too. And he has amazing awards and ECs.</p>
<p>My suggestion: make a point to visit each school. Speak to your admissions rep. and continue that dialogue. Get to know what makes each school special and different, well beyond a few facts and figures that you learn from the internet. But look through their websites too.</p>
<p>And in the end, it’s not just the gpa. Not just the scores. Not just the ECs. It’s how you jive with the school.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Of course, but scores and GPA play a big part in determining whether your less tangible qualities even have the right to be debated around that oak table. I think it’s helpful to know how GPA is recalculated–ie, do they only use academic grades? weight AP/IB more? And the +/- debate brought up here is interesting…my school is on a 93-100 A, 85-92 B scale with no pluses and minuses, so I don’t understand how colleges even have the option of reweighting my GPA with no idea of what my percent grades are.</p>