B-

Applying to College
1

<p>Do B- instead of solid B's affect your transcript? I know it does not affect the gpa, but does it look bad?</p>

2

<p>

That’s not universally true.</p>

3

<p>@halcyonheather‌ My bad, I meant to say that it does not affect my gpa for my high school. </p>

4

<p>There isn’t going to be one answer for all colleges. Have you read this article: <a href=“http://www.possibilityu.com/how-calculate-your-“real”-high-school-gpa”>http://www.possibilityu.com/how-calculate-your-“real”-high-school-gpa&lt;/a&gt;

[quote]
. . . the GPA you receive from your high school isn’t the one colleges consider when reviewing the application.</p>

<p>Colleges . . . start by stripping the weighting off of all classes. Then they remove non-academic courses from consideration. That means gym, music, theater, sports, vocational classes (shop, drafting) and health classes. </p>

<p>Admission officers calculate “real” GPA using the core academic courses. These are considered the best measure of a student’s academic abilities. (Math, English/Language Arts, Social Studies, Science, Foreign Language)</p>

5

<p>Gibby, do you have any sense as to how many colleges actually do this? It just seems like a tremendous amount of work to do for some of these places that get 30+ thousand applicants. They must put the apps thru some filters before they start really dissecting the course schedule. What I dont get is the assertion that B- doesn’t hurt the GPA. B- is 2.67 and B is 3.0, no?</p>

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<p>Colleges require an applicant to submit a transcript, as opposed to merely a GPA, for a reason. They will look at your individual grades, but how that will be done at each school is individual to the school and in most cases not publicly disclosed. I think you have to assume a B minus will have more negative impact on your application than a B, but how negative is not something you’ll ever know. </p>

7

<p>^^ what MamaJ said.</p>

<p>At colleges which receive 30,000 applications, I imagine transcripts are scanned and then looked over by a file room staff member for corrections before being run through an algorithm that makes those calculations. Then an applicants file and transcript is looked over by a regional admissions director who is responible for knowing your school and your school’s curriculum.</p>

8

<p>@gibby‌ that GPA calculation method sounds like a good way, but what about the schools that don’t have +/-? I know a few high schools who just put solid grades down. How is their real gpa calculated then?</p>

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<p>Every high school sends a “profile” to colleges, along with applications that explains in detail the school’s curriculum, grading system, AP’s, EC’s, etc. College’s use the high school profile as a rubric to de-code transcripts. In addition, many college reps visit high school’s to give presentations to students. In return, the high school’s guidance office or college office brings the college rep up to speed on their school. Ask your guidance counselor to see a copy of your high school’s profile. Below are three sample profiles to give you an idea of the information individual high school’s provide to college’s. The last one just references solid grades without plus or minuses for all grades except A+'s.
Boston Latin Profile: <a href=“http://www.bls.org/ourpages/auto/2013/5/24/55204166/2013-14%20BLS%20Profile.pdf”>http://www.bls.org/ourpages/auto/2013/5/24/55204166/2013-14%20BLS%20Profile.pdf&lt;/a&gt;
Stuyvesant Profile: <a href=“http://stuy.enschool.org/ourpages/auto/2013/3/7/37096823/Stuyvesant%20Profile%202013-2014.pdf”>http://stuy.enschool.org/ourpages/auto/2013/3/7/37096823/Stuyvesant%20Profile%202013-2014.pdf&lt;/a&gt;
NYC Lab School Profile: <a href=“https://sites.google.com/a/nyclabschool.org/college-office/profile”>https://sites.google.com/a/nyclabschool.org/college-office/profile&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

10

<p>Some schools don’t recalculate but view you in the context of your peers. This means viewing your accomplishments based on what is possible or has been done at your schools. Two that I know do this include Tufts and W&M, instead of recalculating/using an algorithm. Alternatively, some schools such as Northeastern state that they recalculate your GPA through their own weighting system.</p>