<p>I was just wondering about grades for a tough prep school. My school is really high ranked small private school and my grades aren't all straight A's, however I did take the most rigorous schedule possible and my school does GPA a little differently; an A is a 93+ and a 4.33, an A- is a 90-92 and a 4.0, a B+ is 86-89 and a 3.66, a B is an 82-85 and a 3.33, and so on. And my school only sends out sophomore year and beyond's grades. Honors, which my school limits to upper grades (11,12) and limits the amount of them (3/year), add 2/3 of a grade point.</p>
<p>My grades sophomore year averaged out to a B+/A- (about half A-'s, half B+'s, and a B) with a little over 4.0 with that scale.</p>
<p>Junior year I did better (and had honors courses), with mostly A's and A-'s and a few B+'s, and my GPA was ~4.4 with that scale.</p>
<p>This year, senior year, I'm doing about the same as junior year and my mid-year grades will probably be A's and A-'s and maybe a B+ or 2.</p>
<p>How are these grades in comparison to the SCEA applicants? Are they competitive enough? (PS, I know grades aren't the only factor, I was just wondering if my grades were a solid foundation to my application.)</p>
<p>The competitiveness of your HS and upward trend of your grades help. Let's hope not too many of your genius classmates are applying SCEA as well.</p>
<p>If your school is really a "highly ranked" small private school, CC is the wrong place to be asking this question. You ought to know already who applied to Yale SCEA and was accepted over the past few years, and how you compare to them in terms of relative academic status and other intangibles. You should also have a college advisor who should have a very, very good idea of how you will look to Yale. He or she will probably also know who else plans to apply, and without necessarily telling you the details should be able to give you a sense whether you are going to be a top candidate or not.</p>
<p>One of the things highly ranked private schools tend to do really well is college counseling and placement. That doesn't always mean that everyone gets to go to their first-choice college, but it usually means that most people get to go to a college that's great for them. Listen carefully to what your advisor tells you.</p>