<p>Admissions does have one standardized parameter: the ACT or SAT score. Add in SAT II subject tests for some schools. Or AP test scores, which aren’t used for admissions, but could be if schools wanted another standardized parameter. </p>
<p>Standardizing GPA calculation isn’t going to be possible and isn’t going to be worth it. Colleges already know which schools have grade inflation or deflation. Some care–the ones that evaluate holistically. Some don’t care, e.g. the UC system. The holistic ones aren’t going to standardize how they calculate GPA because they want to emphasize different things. Schools like Olin and Caltech and MIT or any engineering department are going to look much more closely at STEM coursework. Other schools will weight all coursework evenly.</p>
<p>“Sometimes I think that my D. should take a HS diploma, ASAP, with minimum classes, and get accepted to some college at the South of Border. Than get a transfer. Would save her tons of time, effort, and money.”</p>
<p>Actually, the cheapest, realistic way to do this would be:
Get a HS GED by testing out of HS and earning the GED
2 years at a CA community college while commuting from home (at cost of less than $1K per year)
Final 2-3 years at a CSU, while commuting from home (at cost of $6K per year)</p>
<p>Presto! A college degree for approx. $20K total. </p>
<p>@californiaaa, I just explained how they know. The school profile says what the grades are for percentile cutoffs and it’s clear from that information. It also says that in our school a 90 is an A, whereas in many schools, you don’t get an A for a 90. If students at your school are regularly applying to the college, the admissions officer for your area probably knows the school quite well. It also gives info such as AP test scores, so they can see that students getting A’s in AP classes are generally doing well on the exams. We don’t have a situation where kids get A’'s in AP classes and then are scoring 1 or 2 on the exam.</p>
<p>Also, you are assuming that schools in this country want to standardize. There is a cultural history here of having education under local or state, not federal control. That is part of the backlash currently happening about the common core. Some people do not like the idea of standardized national curriculum or perception of federal control of schools. This is a large and diverse country and many people feel that what makes sense in one area may not work as well in another. </p>
<p>Actually the UCs don’t really standardize GPA–at least not the very selective ones that practice holistic review. Berkeley explicitly says they consider all grades and all APs. Really no transparency there either.</p>
<p>You asked how colleges know about grade inflation or relative rigor of a school. While the information provided varies by school, a HS profile should include many of the following: GPA distribution, mean SAT, ACT and SAT II scores by subject, AP scores by subject, list of AP and Honors courses offered, and GPA weighting for these advanced courses. If a school has a quarter of the graduating class with a 4.0 but mean SAT scores of 1600, then a college will know that the school is not rigorous.</p>
<p>If a HS offers 10 AP classes and the typical kid ends up with a 2 or a 3, that’s meaningful to an Adcom. AP classes- not very rigorous. If a HS offers an honors track and half the kids in the school are on the honors track, and the mean SAT score is a 500/50 math/verbal, then the honors classes- not very rigorous. If the school designates anyone with a 4.0 as a valedictorian and last year there were 22 Vals- not very rigorous. This describes a suburban HS near me-- the parents can’t understand why the kids don’t do better in college admissions. 'How come my son, who was a valedictorian, didn’t get into U Penn?"</p>
<p>^Well that could be a pretty rigorous high school if it were my high school - with a huge graduating class at least 25 kids had 4.0 GPAs, but they were only 1% of the class.</p>
<p>It really is all about context.</p>
<p>BTW not every School provides as much information in their school profile about their grading scale and range of grades as the one described on page 3. </p>
<p>Don’t forget that admissions officers are often assigned by region, at least for the first read, so they have years to get to know schools and they don’t necessarily have to know every school in the country.</p>
<p>Every college that recalculates GPA using their own criteria does so because they want to emphasize what is important to them. Some throw out 9th grade, many throw out Phys Ed and Art, others scale AP and IB classes.</p>
<p>If you standardize the calculation you make the universe of college more similar, making even harder for kids to stand out. </p>
<p>Californiaa-- you’re a scientist and you want the admissions process to be predictable or more predictable than it it, but I don’t think that’s going to happen and I think the top colleges do everything they can to keep it that way. They want to admit whom they want to admit and they don’t want to tell you specifically why. These colleges seem to focus on the totality of the college experience for their undergraduate classes and not just the school’s academic mission so they accept a group of kids that provide the class with intellectual, athletic, cultural, economic and social diversity. And it all changes a bit year by year. Absolutely none of these schools simply want x number of the smartest kids available based on grades and standardized test scores for their class. Yes, these universities are places focused on learning, but it’s learning inside and outside of the classroom/lab/library. </p>
<p>It doesn’t matter how the GPA is calculated because while better is always better, you’re never going to be able to say 3.9/4.0/whatever plus 35/36 ACT equals Stanford/MIT/Berkeley admission. An earlier poster on this thread has an amazing kid who did really well in college admissions but even she doesn’t really know what it takes because there are other similarly amazing kids who don’t do as well, though, kids like that all end up somewhere great, just maybe not their first choice great place. As an example look up silverturtle on CC – amazing kid, perfect stats, along with xiggi has posted a massive amount of very helpful SAT prep information — who did not do as well as he/she or anyone else would have guessed. It’s just not that predictable for the vast, vast majority of us.</p>
<p>You lament your daughter having to take less valuable high school classes like PE, health, drama, etc. but many top colleges have core requirements that your daughter may not be interested in and they may or may not be great learning experiences. Even at top colleges there are poorly taught classes that will be a waste of your kid’s time and your money. </p>
<p>You’re a scientist and you want transparency and a greater degree of predictability, but, ironically, you seem to ignore hard data that applies to schools outside “tippy top” USNWR ranked schools. There’s a lot of great info on CC. I would hazard to say that even those of us whose kids have gotten into their top schools haven’t figured it out. We just got lucky.</p>
<p>"And in the aggregate, the number of parents who can buy their way into a top school is a tiny, tiny number. So tiny it’s not worth worrying about. You can get a list of who has given a 7 figure gift to any college in America by calling their development office and trust me-- it won’t take you a month to pore over the list to figure out who has bought their kid into Harvard (less than five kids per year) or Yale (ditto). Not worth worrying about. "</p>
<p>Californiaa, Blossom is exactly right. It is irrelevant what the “corruption” was in your home country. The # of developmental cases at any given elite school is so small as to be irrelevant. (And guess what? If someone’s family wants to give $100 MM to a school, god bless 'em. That buys a heck of a lot of buildings, equipment, scholarships, etc.) </p>
<p>Why do you obsess so over developmental cases (when they are very few) and legacies (when the vast majority of legacies at elite schools are rejected)? You are focusing on the wrong things. You would be better served listening and learning about the process, AND by learning about the many wonderful schools in this country - because you are a classic “I haven’t heard of this school so it can’t be any good,” which is wrong-headed thinking.</p>
<p>Californiaa, elite schools don’t idolize the AP you want them to. You seem to think admissions should be predicated upon assembling a list of scores and may the greatest scores win, regardless as to what else the person can bring to the school. That isn’t the way Harvard thinks, that isn’t the way Stanford thinks - it isn’t the way any elite school thinks. So, no, it’s no big deal that the person who took 20 AP’s didn’t get into Harvard (or whatever). I’m sure he still got into a very good school. And maybe he would have been better off taking his head out of the books and getting some fresh air every once in a while. </p>
<p>“You lament your daughter having to take less valuable high school classes like PE, health, drama, etc. but many top colleges have core requirements that your daughter may not be interested in and they may or may not be great learning experiences.”</p>
<p>It sounds like you want to turn your daughter into a robot who just studies STEM, STEM, STEM all the livelong day and has no appreciation for those things that add to the beauty of the human existence - history, theater, music, art, physical activity, etc.</p>
<p>Hey, STEM adds to the beauty of the human existence!!! Seriously, the response to someone like the OP (which could include folks who only are involved in,say, ballet or football or business) should be that there are many things that add to the beauty of human existence, not just one facet. </p>
<p>PG, I’m giving you an ungraded homework assignment: go see the film “Particle Fever” (more likely, rent the DVD when it comes out). </p>
<p>"there’s no brownie points in society or life for someone who just studies, studies, studies. "</p>
<p>And another thread discusses, why there are so many international Profs in academia. Because American students, who just "who just studies, studies, studies. " are not valued. </p>
<p>OK, in the essence, nobody knows how GPA is calculated. It is not a public information. Everyone trusts adcoms. Adcoms makes their own selections, based on whatever criteria, and this criteria is holistically confidential. </p>
<p>@californiaaa, I think most schools are looking at unweighted GPA in the 5 major subjects–math, science, social studies, English, foreign language. I’m curious why you think this is so important. What matters is that your child’s grades in these subjects should be among the best at her particular school. If it’s not a very good school, they would probably have to be among the top few students to be competitive at the most selective schools. If it’s a school full of high-achieving students taking much more rigorous programs than average, the bar is going to be lower. How much lower? I don’t know. Ask your guidance counselor what kind of GPA is needed at your school to be a competitive applicant for your favorite colleges. </p>
<p>Can I say it again? There. Is. No. Secret. Formula. The schools have explained this very clearly but you want to accuse them of hiding something because you just don’t like it. Can I say it again? Most of the top schools say they are looking for students who are academically very strong who they feel will become leaders or will contribute something of value to the University community where they expect a significant part of the learning experience to be from interactions between students. What might that be? There is no secret formula. Everyone is different. Perhaps they may be exceptional scholars. Perhaps they show exceptional community involvement and leadership. Perhaps they are exceptionally talented in the arts. Of course some of them will be athletes. Perhaps they are just really good and engaged students who are kind and helpful people who will help make the college experience better for everyone in the community. At a recent college presentation I attended, they said, we know that most of our graduates will not enter academia. (So, why should they admit only students who they feel will be the most successful in academia?)</p>
<p>There is no exact formula. Schools are looking to build classes that appeal to their sensibilities. </p>
<p>Do well in HS, pursue your interests, apply to schools where you are a good match, have realistic expectations and in the end you will have a good result.</p>
<p>The emphasis on “trusting” an admissions committee is interesting. What sort of choice do you have? If you want to attend a certain school, the admissions committee needs to evaluate the application. If you don’t like it, don’t apply and don’t attend. Admissions criteria do change over time, but not over the span of time that effects most families posting on this web site. I think we’re in better shape with admissions by merit than we were 100 years ago when the criteria were quite different, but I’m sure that there are parents who would disagree.</p>