<p>Different high schools have different grading policies. I came to know that during admissions, when the colleges look at the high school transcripts, some colleges do the conversion of the high school transcripts into a standardized GPA for their school. However, they are not disclosing the formula used for conversion. What are the factors that are used in the conversion? They say they look at the school profile and do the conversion. How does this work? Any one who has inside knowledge of admissions, please enlighten us with the factors used in the conversion and how that works?</p>
<p>-hypermom</p>
<p>Xiggi recently posted:</p>
<p>NACAC's 2006 Annual State of College Admission Report provides analysis of the combined results from the Admission Trends Survey and the Counseling Trends Survey. Based on surveys of school counselors and colleges and universities nationwide, NACAC provides this report to highlight issues of concern to college-bound students, their parents, and the educators who serve them. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.nacacnet.org/MemberPortal/ProfessionalResources/Research/SOCA.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.nacacnet.org/MemberPortal/ProfessionalResources/Research/SOCA.htm</a></p>
<p>Even if you don't read the whole report, you should definitely read Chapter 4 Factors in the admissions process </p>
<p><a href="http://www.nacacnet.org/NR/rdonlyres/7CA6BEAA-90C5-4357-A498-FB0566564D71/0/06SOCA_Chapter4.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.nacacnet.org/NR/rdonlyres/7CA6BEAA-90C5-4357-A498-FB0566564D71/0/06SOCA_Chapter4.pdf</a></p>
<p>Do Colleges Recalculate GPAs?</p>
<p>Colleges and universities receive transcripts and GPA calculations from thousands of high schools, each of which may calculate GPAs differently.</p>
<p>Many high schools use a traditional 4-point scale to measure grade averages, others use weighted 4.5- or 5-point scales, while still others use grade scales that reach as high as 8 or 10.</p>
<p>To provide a standard comparison of grade point averages among applicants, some colleges recalculate grade point averages. Colleges
are virtually evenly split on the practice of recalculating GPAs49 percent do and 51 percent do not. </p>
<p>High yield institutions are more likely than low yield institutions to recalculate GPA. (Basically more selective schools where if admitted the student is more likely to enroll will recalculate your GPA to a 4 point scale)</p>
<p>When in doubt, ask. Due to my son's school using the 0-100 grading scale and not doing any weighting, it was very difficult to figure out how any particular college would calculate his GPA on a 4.0 scale. I was pleasantly surprised that many schools were very forthcoming on how they do this -- you just have to ask the admissions office. Some may provide fewer details than others, but at least I have a general idea. And for at least one school I have enough info to know exactly what the conversion will be.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot Sybbie71 and Xiggi. That was great information!</p>
<p>Iderochi: I did not get the information I needed when I called couple of schools. Penn State and Johns Hopkins both said that academic record is very important, but said that it was University policy not to disclose how they re-calculate the GPAs. I am just at loss to see how they re-calculate the scores, especially when some schools give As and Bs while some awards +s and -s (A+, A- etc...) ...</p>
<p>hypemom -- That's just bad service as far as I'm concerned. It's not (or shouldn't be) a trade secret how a school does what they do with GPA. They publish the average GPA all over the place, including the Common Data Set, and to me it's only common courtesy to explain their published numbers to someone thinking about giving them a big chunk of tuition money. I guess I've been lucky. Elon, in particular, was extremely nice and gave me specific info.</p>