<p>OK, so my high school does a weird GPA scale (actually its pretty simple)</p>
<p>C: 2.0 B: 3.0 A: 4.0 (and here's the crazy part) A+: 4.5
There's also no weighted GPA for AP/Honors classes. (Also, my school doesn't rank)</p>
<p>I have a 4.17, (and I've been told I'm in the top 10% out of 265)
(only gotten 1 B+. An 89% in regular Spanish 3 with a bunch of idiots...sorry sore subject) so on a 4.0 scale I would have a 3.98. I have only avoided 2.5 AP/Honor classes. By the way, i say 2.5 b/c i copped out and took AB instead of BC Calc.
I've gotten 6 A's in band and 4 A's in Theology (yeah, thats right, I'm a Catholic school kid at a damn good Catholic school) and another A in a required computer class, effectively lowering my GPA significantly. In each of these cases, my teacher just wouldnt give an A+ unless you were #1 chair, or held some spiritual position, or took other computer classes, etc since if you simply turned in the work on time, it was pretty much a guaranteed "A" for 1/2 the class.</p>
<p>So, i guess my question is, will Yale look at this and think "the highest GPA in the class is a 4.5, so this student must have been slacking" or will they consider my GPA on a 4.0 scale? </p>
<p>[It's so frustrating that some students get off the hook by avoiding fine arts and some AP classes and getting lucky with Religion teachers (which plays a huge role) to rack up ultra high GPA's]
-Any help would be greatly appreciated. And if you're still confused, I can explain it more thoroughly. Thanks.</p>
<p>I don't know how it works for Yale ( or actually any of the schools to which D is applying) but I remember 4 years ago when we visited UPenn we were told that it did not matter what your school said your GPA was because they calculate it themselves using their own guidelines. They use there own scale and do not include courses that they do not consider into the calculations. If I recall they used the main areas of study, science, math, english, history - and I don't remember about language.</p>
<p>Does Yale do this? I don't know. But if one IVY does, I would think that this might be a normal practice amongst them.</p>
<p>As for, will they think that less than a 4.5 is being a slacker? They are going to have your whole school profile. See your schools unusual grading system. Since your school does not rank, they will not see that but they will know what the highest possible GPA and highest given GPA for your graduating class. That is going to help put you in perspective. Your GC is also going to have had to comment on the rigor of your chosen curriculum (#APs will be a part of it). All these other factors will help Yale to evaluate your academic record.</p>
<p>Walton, sorry I did not see your post. I didn't get a notification but I think Ambitiousmind07 covered it well. Class rank would compare you to your peers</p>
<p>They will look at the whole picture presented by your application. Whatever your GPA is, they will also see what courses you took, and the grades you got in them. They will also look at this in the context of your school, your scores, and your activities.
This is just my opinion, but I very much doubt if admissions decisions often turn on some arcane mathematical issue such as exactly how a high school weights grades. I suspect that usually the sorting can be done by looking at the big picture.</p>