Do those few grade points really matter? Like the difference between a 3.8 and 3.9?

<p>Dumbly, freshman year of high school I got a large amount of A minuses, not thinking anything of it. I then realized I had a 3.7, which is not to my personal standards. Thereafter, I worked very hard to keep my grades at all As to raise my grade point average. At the end of first semester junior year, I had a 3.87. However, last semester I had a B in physics and somehow a B+ in jewelry, lowering my gpa about a whopping .5 points! I have a different physics teacher now so it may change things, however the class is still very difficult for me. My high school goal was all A minuses or above,which was clearly tainted by those classes. I dont know if my 3.9 goal is attainable at this point either without tremendous stress.</p>

<p>I am stressing out a lot about school lately. By no means am I saying I want to lower to a 3.6 or below GPA. However, I was curious to know what you all think about the little difference in grade points. Is a 3.7 going to ruin your chances of a good college? Do colleges put THAT much weight on say, a 4.0 vs a 3.8 (assuming the same curriculum)?</p>

<p>I am wondering, is it worth it to push myself THAT much harder, and add that much stress, for a lousy grade point? ( I could be totally wrong. )</p>

<p>On a side note, ideally I'd enjoy going to U of Michigan. They pretty much want 4.0s as you probably know, but I feel like a well rounded application discredits the SLIGHT lack in gpa? Would it really affect your acceptance?</p>

<p>Thoughts, comments, experiences, I'd like to hear it all.</p>

<p>I’m pretty sure A-'s will be recalculated to 4.0s when applying to college. If I’m wrong sucks to be you tbh.
OT: 3.8+ is generally ideal. I don’t think somebody with a 3.82 will be rejected over somebody with a 3.9 if their accomplished in other areas. </p>

<p>Colleges always recalculate GPAs if a standard GPA calculation is not utilized; for instance, many schools in my district weight an A (90-100) as a 4.0, whereas my school only awards 4.0s for 98+ – our state school system, UMass, calculates GPA by awarding the standard 4=A, 3=B, 2=C, 1=D - which then “levels” peoples grades so to speak. </p>

<p>I wouldn’t worry tremendously; there is significant fluctuation amongst the GPAs of our top 10% - Valedictorian had a 4.0 and was rejected from Cornell where as our #12 had around a 3.86 and was accepted to Brown and UPenn – so there is far more involved in your college application; including other objective criteria (SAT, ACT, subject tests) - and subjective criteria - your essay, your extracurricular involvement, your letters of recommendation. </p>

<p>Your GPA is solid - anything above a 3.5 is solid; and coupled with a 2000+ SAT will ensure a very large array of schools to choose from come college admissions time. </p>

<p>Work hard to raise your GPA - a higher GPA can’t hurt you, even if your current GPA won’t break your application necessarily. You’re fine right now and you have a lot of time to improve. </p>

<p>Best of luck!</p>

<p>Edit – To elaborate on my remark about my classmates and the Ivy League - they were both Asian males with no hooks. </p>

<p>

Grading scales with minus grades usually say an A- is 3.7 or 3.67. I don’t think they’ll be considered the same as a regular A, especially with the kind of grade inflation a lot of high schools have, but they’re not as bad as Bs. </p>

<p>**Not all colleges literally recalculate GPA.<a href=“This%20doesn’t%20mean%20they%20just%20take%20your%20weighted%20GPA%20at%20face%20value%20or%20anything…they%20look%20at%20your%20overall%20transcript.”>/b</a> The University of Michigan stopped in 2009 ([source](<a href=“http://www.michigandaily.com/content/u-no-longer-recalculate-gpa-admissions-process]source[/url]”>'U' to no longer recalculate GPA in admissions process)</a>), and now they just sort of eyeball your transcript to see what kind of grades you got overall. (They could have started doing it again, but I couldn’t find anything about it, so I assume this is still current.)</p>

<p>

I always hear that, once you have a 3.7 or a 3.8, you’ve probably made the cutoff and they’ll look at the rest of your application. It’s more iffy if you’re lower than that.</p>

<p>

<em>insert obligatory comment about how the current emphasis is on passion/devotion to a couple of specific things, not well-roundedness</em></p>

<p>You have not mentioned anything about rigor. You can be valedictorian on nothing but gym classes in my high school (all classes are 4.0). </p>

<p>The difference between a 3.8 and a 3.7 over 24 credits is actually pretty significant. That is not just a B, that is several B’s, or even a <em>gasp</em> C.</p>

<p>I don’t think your GPA matters that much as long as it’s above 3.7; what matters is the class rank and rigor of the coursework. In some elite, hard private schools, a 3.5 GPA will put you at #1 in class rank. While ostensibly a bad GPA, the college looks at your GPA relative to the other students in your school. And as long as you’re below the top 10% margin and have taken rigorous classes, you’re good.</p>

<p>I think the difference between a 3.9 and 4.0 matters, just because 4.0 is a big deal. 3.8 and 3.9, however, is very insignificant. They both indicate students who are bright but not the brightest (if you will).</p>

<p>

I would argue the opposite, because the difference between 3.9 and 4.0 is potentially much smaller than the difference between 3.8 and 3.9. If you ever got anything that wasn’t an A, you can’t have a 4.0, but it’s not quite as easy to get pushed out of having a 3.9, so it’s “worse” to lose a 3.9 than it is to lose a 4.0. By the end of junior year, a person with a 3.9 could have at most two more Bs (in one-credit classes) than a person with a 4.0, but a person with a 3.8 could have three more Bs than a person with a 3.9. (I’m nitpicking, though…I assume people get rejected from top schools because the other candidates were better overall with ECs/essays/recommendations, not because they had a 3.8 rather than a 3.9 or a 3.9 rather than a 4.0.)</p>

<p>And yeah, when I said you should have a 3.7 or above to be competitive, that’s assuming you’re taking challenging classes and your class rank is reasonably high. (As someone else said, a lower-looking GPA is excusable if you go to an unusually challenging school and have a high class rank in spite of it.) If challenging courses are available and you’re not taking them, you probably wouldn’t get into a top college even if you never got anything less than an A. </p>

<p>A tenth of a GPA is not going to make or break your application. That being said, if you have the means to get a higher GPA, DO IT!
Also, know that there will be hundreds and thousands of kids with stellar GPAs and who are “well-rounded.” The key to admissions, is to have a good GPA, be well-rounded, have good test scores, and most importantly, be different and genuine (have a hook, something you are passionate about, something!).</p>