do colleges care about the difference between +'s, -'s, etc.

<p>Like, is an A and an A- the same, and how is GPA calculated this way? And what's a good unweighted GPA?</p>

<p>A is like 4, A- = 3.8 or something
it's weird</p>

<p>there's no weighting in college, but a good GPA is 3.5+</p>

<p>At UC's, Michigan, and some other state schools, plusses and minuses are not considered. Ivies, etc. do consider them. As far as unweighted GPA goes, I'm assuming that (based on your previous chance threads) that you're taking your school's hardest classes and aiming for Ivies.</p>

<p>With that in mind, here are the normal "minimum" (not taking extra-spectacular EC's into account) GPA's for top colleges based on the type of HS you're coming from:</p>

<p>Top prep school (Horace Mann, Trinity School, Andover, Exeter, Stuyvesant, Hunter College High School, etc.): 3.6
Lower tier but still nationally regarded prep school (UChicago Lab, Chicago Latin, Boston Latin, Choate, Lawrenceville, etc.): 3.75-3.8
Top public/3rd tier private (top Chicago magnet schools, NYC magnets other than Stuy/Hunter, really good parochial day schools, top suburban public schools): 3.8
Other (mediocre public/parochial schools, private schools with non-academic reputation): 3.9-ish</p>

<p>And dmission, the fairly universal system goes in increments of .33, in which A=4.0. Hence, A- = 3.67, not 3.8.</p>

<p>And a good college GPA might be a 3.5, but that's not a very good high school GPA if one is applying to Ivies, etc.</p>

<p>There is a universal GPA calculation system but not all schools calculate GPA the same way. My school attempted to change the GPA scale 3 months into our senior year and a huge debacle occurred, so they got rid of the +'s and -'s in calculating the GPA (eg., A=4.0, B=3.0, etc). You should ask your GC what scale they use and if they factor the +'s and -'s into the calculations. Colleges generally do not recalculate an applicant's high school GPA unless there appears to be a mistake. A good unweighted GPA would be around 3.7+ (depending on where you apply). Obviously the most desirable unweighted GPA would be a 4.0</p>

<p>thanks wmmk and everyone else.. :)
i think my scool is a "top suburban public school"</p>

<p>yah i dont think that a- and a+'s really have a different. and like other posters have said, colleges usually have their own scales, but i would bet that would be 4=a and 3=b and so forth</p>

<p>Minuses and pluses really don't matter for some colleges. For example, I know that when recalculating your GPA, Stanford takes out the pluses and minuses from your grades (which would be great for an A-, but bad for a B+), so it shouldn't be a huge deal.</p>

<p>^REALLY?!?!?!?!?!!!?!?!? hahhahaha omg that makes me happy =D what about...places like Harvard, MIT? cuz i have straight "As" just a few A-s here and there ^^</p>

<p>i think you are just a tad too hung up on grades =]</p>

<p>yeah cuz its like my only (very) weak point >.></p>

<p>Do that many places use letter grades? I thought most high schools had numerical averages, like a 91 or 89 or whatever.</p>

<p>um most schools around here use letter grades</p>

<p>so would, say, a 3.6 UW GPA prevent me from getting into schools like Dartmouth and Tufts?</p>

<p>Definitely don't worry about A-s I think... but anyway, you did the best you could, right? Time to stop worrying about how schools are going to view the grades you already have (which I assume to be the best you were capable of getting) and focus on what you are interested in doing now! That's all you can do anyway, just do your best and let colleges look at you/your grades however they want to. If you're doing your best it will show...</p>

<p>if i actually studied i would get As ='[</p>