<p>Hi all,</p>
<p>I might get an A- this year in a regular class (there are only 3 A-/A's in the entire class of 30 because the teacher is crazy). I was told that some colleges consider A-'s as 3.7's. I'm aiming for HYPS, so will it really matter? Should I even care?</p>
<p>They’re all the same if they count the same in GPA point value. A lot of schools don’t give +s or -s, so HYPS and other schools can’t count it against you, or else they’d be favoring those schools.</p>
<p>It doesn’t matter as long as you get Straight As</p>
<p>My school only ranks by decile and ignores the + and -. Will they still not care?</p>
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<p>Those schools generally have smaller ranges for an A, B, etc, so colleges hardly favor those kids. At my school, the OP’s grade would be a B.</p>
<p>Some schools work on a 7 point scale, some on 10 point, some with +'s and -'s other with just straight letters, some weight GPAs others don’t, and when they weight some offer different values for regular classes vs honors classes vs Advanced placement classes, while others bunch honors and AP together…</p>
<p>Schools are very different across the nation and colleges have a hell of a time calculating the value of some grades over others. Luckily the admissions process doesn’t collapse every year, people seem to get in who deserve it and rejected who don’t. Something that does seem to help the process along is the cover letter type attachment that goes along with your transcript where the high school is supposed to explain their system of evaluating and so on.</p>
<p>I personally take solace in the fact that its not my job to make sense of it all, but it is someone else’s. I just trust that they do make sense of it in a fair and dignified manner.</p>
<p>A-'s matter. I got plenty, I know.</p>
<p>For the schools you’re targeting, what matters is this: do your teachers and administrators (yes, even the principal) consider you one of the top handful of scholars in your class? If yes, then you’re viable. If not, then not.</p>
<p>I got a handful of Bs yet still was admitted at all schools applied – eventually matriculating at an HYP (and no, my scores weren’t crazy good either). But I was certainly one of the academically most aggressive kids my year, period. That’s what stood out for me – not a peppering of Bs or A minuses.</p>