Wouldn’t the reach schools for a 3.5 kid be different than for a 3.75 one and those would be different for a 4.0 student
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Half B’s at our private high school would be about a 3.8, maybe higher.
Two of my daughters had one B freshman year, final gpa was 3.9.
Unweighted? How?
The only way for this to happen is for it to be weighted, or for the grading system to credit +/- and have all grades be A+ and B+.
If B=3 and A=4, then half A’s and half B’s is 3.5. I don’t know how it can possibly be 3.8.
My D got into her reach with a 3.7w, uw around 3, and a 31 ACT. She came this close to deans list both semesters so clearly was up for the work. Actually performed better there than hs. U was in the top 30 when she was accepted though it’s fallen a few points. They bait and switched us and dropped her almost half tuition FA after first year so she transferred out. She was devastated of course but ultimately it worked out. She is a big fish in a small pond now and thriving. Wouldn’t have had the same opportunities at her old school because it was so competitive.
It was a top choice because it was an open curriculum school. As someone who was homeschooled until hs it fit well with her curiosity and love of learning a wide variety of subjects. She wrote her essay on that, which I think helped with admission. I think it also helped that she went in as a humanities major (to a research uni) though she changed to a double stem major second semester. Lastly, though we didn’t realize it at the time, she went to a very rigorous parochial high school. Lots of good acceptances in her graduating class and she had the highest rigor box checked. She was very well prepared for college level work.
All this to say that even though she got the reach admit, she realizes she got the better experience at a safety.
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90+ 4.0 (considered an A)
89 3.9
88 3.8
87 3.7
86 3.5
and so on… So if student gets a mix of 86’s and 87’s as half his grades then 90 or higher for the other half, then his GPA would be around a 3.8.
For weighted it is Plus 2 for AP, 1.6 for Adv, 1.2 for Honors.
That is a bit surprising. I generally thought 93+ is A, 90+ is A- and 87+ is B+. As usual, B+ is a 3.33. Maybe even a 3.3 A- is a 3.7. And I thought that was well accepted.
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My son had one B soph year and his GPA is 3.9942. Kills me.
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We are a large boys Catholic high school and other privates in the area are similar. I did run my son’s grades through another local private school’s grading system. They give a 4.33 for 97-100; 4.0 for 93-96; 3.7 for 90-92; 3.3 for 86-89 and interestingly his GPA was to the 1000th the same with their system.
So how does 89 square with a 3.9 in your previous post? Oh sorry. I get it. That’s a different school.
I had same. Both kids one B. At u of Arizona it cost $5k a year in merit although neither chose it.
I think with all the grading systems people mention is why the schools recalculate using their method.
I’ve seen tens of ways on the cc. Some numerical out of 100. Most by letter with an extra .5 for honors and extra 1 for ap. Ultimately the college will determine your gpa for their school. Many schools even eliminate classes so your As in those classes don’t help.
My opinion is anyone who is applying widely…ie they aren’t just fixated on the one in state or out of state safety they plan to attend attend…that kid who is applying widely should get turned down somewhere. If status, prestige or rank is one of your components, then you should get turned down somewhere or you didn’t reach enough. Just my opinion. One kid got WL at one reach and not pulled in. The other rejected at two and WL at two…one of which she stayed on and didn’t get in.
She did get into one we did not expect.
I’m glad they both fell short somewhere.
So rather than guess should you bother, as long as you have the bandwidth to do the app, then heck yeah you should. And if you get in, then you didn’t go high enough !!
My kiddo has a 3.65 UW and 4.1 W. That included a few Bs but most grades were A. He only applied to one true reach ( a school in the 30s) and I’ll be very surprised if he is admitted. There is a big difference between a 3.5 and a 3.9. Someone with the latter gpa has most likely only gotten one B or perhaps a A-or two. Students with a 3.9 will be competitive everywhere if their total application is strong.
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Here’s the grading scale at the school where I work. I copied it directly from the handbook:
| Letter Grade | Numerical Equivalent | Percent Equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| A | 4.0 | 95-100 |
| A- | 3.6 | 92-94 |
| B+ | 3.4 | 89-91 |
| B | 3.0 | 86-88 |
| B - | 2.6 | 83-85 |
| C+ | 2.4 | 80-82 |
| C | 2.0 | 77-79 |
| C- | 1.6 | 74-76 |
| D+ | 1.4 | 71-73 |
| D | 1.0 | 68-70 |
| D- | .6 | 65-67 |
| F | 0 | 0-64 |
| INC – Incomplete EX - Excused |
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All this conversation leads me to the same question, do schools actually use the reported GPA to make their decisions or do they have their own GPA calculation. It makes no sense when all schools have different cut offs and some use pluses and minuses and others don’t.
That is why most colleges recalculate your GPA no pluses/minuses and use their own waiting systems. usually 1 point extra AP, IB, DE, AICE and .5 point for Honors. Also many schools only use Core classes in figuring GPA
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This is the grading scale at my daughter’s school as well.
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Thx for sharing. Others go .33 for + or .67 for minus. Most don’t seem to have +-.
That’s y it’s never apples to apples and schools likely recalc to what matters do them. At least many do bcuz they tell u.
Good too see a real life example. Thanks for sharing.
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removed, realized that may give away too much, basically our school is very different