<p>Hi. We are oos and D2 is considering applying to some of the UCs. GPA eligibility and calculations just say that an A is given a 4, B 3, etc, but it doesn’t distinguish between all of the numerous grading scales (at least here on the east coast). Her district gives an A for a 93 or above, while her cousins receive an A for a 90 or above. So for them a C starts at a 70, but for her, a C starts at a 77. Most of her B’s are 92’s and her two C’s would be mid-B’s, so it really hurts her GPA calculation when taken literally. Does anyone know how this disparity is addresssed? We don’t know if it is worth a trip out there next month or not. Thank you very much.</p>
<p>I don’t think the UC cares how the letter grade is given. An A is an A because the teacher/school says so. Do your schools say A, B, C or the just numeric leaving it up to someone else to translate?</p>
<p>^ … correct … and the concern about a 90 versus a 93 A grading scale is an unfounded concern. The teachers at these schools know these scales and design their grades around the scales … the question that matters is what percentage of students get As whatever the scale is. Would you prefer a 90% cutoff with only 10% of students getting As or a 93% cutoff with 50% of students getting As?</p>
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<p>A vacation can always be worth it. But IMO the UCs are definitely NOT worth the OOS price (with few academic exceptions, such as Cal-Eng). And in particular, you are from Virginia, passing up UVa to pay 2.5x the costs?</p>
<p>Read the transcript carefully to determine whether the school uses a percentage scale or letter grade (if both are listed, you can select percentage scale on the UC application and list the grades that way).</p>
<p>UC application evaluation is contextual, so your daughter is compared to other students at her school. She won’t be compared to her cousin, if that makes you feel better.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the responses. </p>
<p>The problem with this grading scale is most teachers give a 10 question m/c quiz at least once a week. So the options are either a perfect score (10/10 =A or not). There is no room for any error. Nine weeks in the marking period and there is no way to overcome the quiz component of a grade. One is either a perfect m/c taker or one is not.</p>
<p>We are extremely frustrated with her fixation on attending a school out west. Her three older siblings really applied themselves in high school, so we changed our “we will only pay for an in-state school” rule to “we will only pay for an oos state school if it is arguably better than UVa or W&M” for you. One attended P, one attends Y, and one attends W&M and all found the right school for their needs. She, on the other hand, slacked off, but now wants to live out west after spending a summer hiking out there. She feels like we are being unfair becuase she is the youngest and we have “used up all of our money on her siblings” which, of course, is not the case. But teenagers are teenagers and we know that if she goes to a school where she doesn’t want to be she may just waste more time and our money, so we thought it might be worth a look see…</p>
<p>AMS: Official transcripts here do not show anything for semsters, only final grades which are shown as numeric grades on a 100 point scale as well as the corresponding letter grade, so I don’t know how that will play out. Would that mean that instead of the 92’s and 91’s that she has listed as B’s that she can list those as that percentage (92/100) and they would consider it as an A? She is in an all honors program in her high school which actually hurts her GPA. Every year the district reconsiders how it should calculate GPAs because the top ranked students are not in any honors classes and there are always complaints but it is never changed. Politics, politics…</p>
<p>IMO, with the exception of engineering or chemistry at Cal, (or perhaps theater/dance at UCLA), it will be impossible to find a public out west as good as UVa. And definitely not at twice the price. UVa is ranked number 1.5 public for a reason!</p>
<p>With good test scores, USC would throw some money her way.</p>
<p>btw: sorry, no help on the grade conversions bcos I don’t yet understand that 1-100 thing. (Our public HS had an A- from 90-92.9 in most classes.)</p>
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… a possible addition … " we will only pay for an oos state school if it is arguably better than UVa or W&M" for you or we will pay the in-state amount for a school near equivalent to our in-state options. If this were my kid I’d offer to pay the in-state UVA fee if they went to Berkley or USC (the difference is on them and I would NOT cosign tons of student loans).</p>