GPA calculation help

Applying to College
1

<p>Okay, first off I'm Canadian and we don't use this system, which I believe is standard in the US:</p>

<p>A = 90-100
B = 80-89
C = 70-79
D = 60-69
F = 0-59</p>

<p>In Canada, each province has its own grading system. In BC, ours goes:</p>

<p>A = 86-100
B = 73-85
C+ = 67-72
C = 60-66
C- = 50-59
F = 0-49</p>

<p>I'm also aware that some schools in the US have "+" and "-" for every letter grade (except F), and that the GPA scales differently for those. For instance, I know Columbia calculates these and A+ is worth 4.33 per credit, not 4. Can someone tell me how the marks break down for these things?</p>

<p>Not knowing how to take these into account, I've used the standard American 4 point system. (So for instance, a BC 'A' of 88 in Socials 9, I've designated as a 'B' worth 3.00 points. Since in BC all courses, core or elective, are worth the same credits, and we don't use a semester system, the multiplying and dividing by credit worth is superfluous and I've plugged in the numerical letter grade values directly.)</p>

<p>My cumulative GPA from grades 9 to 11: 3.79</p>

<p>Now, with the issue of 'weighted' GPA. I'm told that honours and AP courses are worth more, but aside from the odd AP's (which are only available in two or three subjects max in my school), we don't follow the same program. For instance, we have no "Honours" classes. However, we do have "Accelerated" classes, again for a small handful of subjects. Should these be weighted? Also, in grades 9 and 10, I didn't take an "honours" math course per se, but I did take regular stream math two years higher respectively (so 11 and 12 respectively). Would this be weighted? Again, I have done so, mainly because I want to see that baby go up, but I don't know if this is what admissions will do.</p>

<p>I've weighted the courses by putting a '5' instead of a '4' for an A. There are different ways to weight courses, I know, but I don't how to do the other ones. Full list of courses I've weighted: Math 11 regular in grade 9, Math 12 regular in grade 10, Accelerated English 10, AP Calculus 12, AP Biology 11, Physics 12 in grade 11, and Accelerated English 11.</p>

<p>Weighted GPA (cumulative): 4.03</p>

<p>A couple more caveats. I've not taken into account a challenged AP, because I don't know if it will count as a separate course, especially considering that I was taking the regular course concomitantly. (Specifically, I challenged AP Physics B in grade 11 while taking a non-AP Physics 12 course in grade 11. I didn't count this as another 'A' course, because I already weighted the Physics 12 'A' for having taken it in grade 11, and adding this on top would feel too cheap, even by my standards.) </p>

<p>Finally, I averaged out my grades 9, 10, and 11 marks, because I think that's the way they do it. Are certain grades weighted more? </p>

<p>My grade 12 marks aren't in yet, but they should be about the same.</p>

2

<p>Now, I didn't forget this last section, but I thought I'd add this in on another post because that last one was getting to be long. And no one likes a post that is both long and involves number crunching.</p>

<p>I'm not crunching these numbers just for the fun of it. I need some idea of what sort of universities will look at what sort of GPA's. My target schools are the non-HYP Ivies. </p>

<p>How important is GPA, relative to class standing? Because my class standing is not as good as it could be. While I'm in top decile, I'm not in the top 5%, which my counselor told me to aim for. Will not being in the top 5% hurt my chances significantly? Especially when I'm up against a few students in my school who ARE in it. </p>

<p>Great thanks to anyone who actually read through all this. Now say something! ;)</p>

3

<p>I go to school in BC and we're on a semester system... that's irrelevent and unhelpful, I know, but... just wanted to post that.</p>

4

<p>Your high school's transcript will probably include an explanation of their grading system. When colleges receive your transcript, most likely they will re-calculate your GPA using their own system. They do this for all applicants so they are comparing apples to apples, then make comparisons between kids accordingly. So don't obsess over how the college will read your grades and your GPA. </p>

<p>Unfortunately, this doesn't help you when you're looking at stats of admitted students and trying to figure out if a school is a good fit for you or not! I started a post on GPA's a while ago and got tons of replies, there are as many ways to calculate GPA, weighted and unweighted, as there are schools. </p>

<p>I believe the most selective colleges will recalculate your GPA using an unweighted, A (90-100) = 4.0 system, and only counting your core academic classes. Sorry, they don't consider an A in Phys Ed! As for what the rest of the colleges do.... who knows?</p>

5

<p>Could there be any way to find out exactly how they recalculate GPA?
Cause i'm really curious myself whether all my 9s turn out to be perfect 4s. That'd be too cool :D</p>