GPA conversion for AI or equivalent calculation by Non-Ivy schools

Athletic Recruits
1

Our school publishes a weighted and an unweighted average on the transcript. Weighted gives extra .5 for honors, extra 1 for AP. For +, extra .2, except A. So B=3, B+=3.2, A=4, A+=4. For weighted, - is ignored, so A-=A, and B-=B. For unweighted, both + and - are ignored, B-,B,B+ all = 3. I don’t know if this is standard. It’s different than my college did it 25 years ago, which is my only experience with the 4.0 scale.

My question is how top academic schools will view the transcript. Will they look at weighted, unweighted, or plug the grades into their own formula that treats the + and - grades differently? Also class rank is included, not sure how that factors in as well. I’m concerned about AI at Ivy schools, but also how treated by NESCAC and other high academic schools. DS is top 7%, not as high as I would like what we are working with.

I know the best answer is to ask the coach, but DS is still a sophomore. Due to his competition schedule, he won’t have ACT until September of Junior year. It seems like without that information it is getting ahead of ourselves to discuss that level of detail with coaches. I’m just trying to get a general idea of how it works. That will help us figure which coaches to even talk to. When I have specific info in a year or 2, I will be happy to share.

Thanks.

2

Wow. A minus is Ignored. I don’t know very much about grading scales of other schools but my kids system takes off .3…so an A- is a 4.7 in an AP. AP and Honors are done the same with +1 and +.5 respectively. The use the ± on all classes. That’s what I thought was standard but maybe not.

My oldest son is a junior and we still don’t know his class rank which is a little frustrating but it’s just the way it is. I know people say it’s better to be early than late but you are pretty early. It probably isn’t a good idea to take SAT or ACT’s any earlier than junior year anyway. Some schools require all test scores taken and I doubt they would be your son’s highest. I would have him take practice SATs and ACTs to get an idea of where he might score if you want.

3

AI can look at weighted or unweighted. There are a few good websites out there that explain this.

Each University has their specific conversion table to convert grade point average to an Academic Index number. The conversion can handle any conceivable grading scale, weighted or unweighted.

An example using one of these scales :

3.5 (out of 4.0) unweighted yields 73 AI points,

3.7 weighted is 71 points

3.0 unweighted is worth 67 points