<p>Hey guys,</p>
<p>I'm a senior student from British Columbia, and none of the counselors/admins at my school have been able to give me a clear answer as to how I'm supposed to calculate GPA, so I'd really appreciate it if someone could clarify this.</p>
<p>First off, I need to know what courses are supposed to be included in calculation. Would it include all the final grades on my transcript, or is there some distinction between academic and non-academic courses? Also, would my grade 12 marks be included in any way, or will the universities just look at them separately?</p>
<p>I'm also confused with the 4.0 system. My school gives marks out of 100%, but according to the BC Ministry of Education website, (Policy</a> Site: Student Credentials - B.C. Ministry of Education - Province of B.C.), letter grades are converted into a 4.0 scale, with 4 being A, 3 being a B, and so on. I'm unfamiliar with this system but my principal has given me the go to submit it like this. Since there is no mention of any sort of weighting, I'd assume my GPA would be 4.0 as I never get any B's. However, I don't understand how exactly this weighting, unweighting stuff works and it would be really helpful if someone could explain it to me.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Here’s a start at how you can convert … some colleges have specific formulas, but this can be a guideline. Not all A’s count that same.</p>
<p>A+ = 4.33 = 97 - 100% (many colleges covert A+'s to A’s anyway)
A = 4.00 = 93 - 100% (some schools have A+, which is 4.33, which would be 97+)
A- = 3.67 = 90 - 92.9% (or 93 to 97 for those schools that have A+)
B+ = 3.33 = 87 - 89.9
B = 3.00 = 83 - 86
B - = 2.67 = 80 - 82.9
C+ = 2.33 = 77 - 79.9
C = 2.00 = 73 - 76.9
C- = 1.67 = 70 - 72.9
D+ = 1.33 = 67 - 69.9
D = 1.00 = 63 - 67.9 (or 60 - 67.9 for schools that don’t use D-)
D- = 0.67 = 60 - 62.9 (although most schools don’t use D-)
F = 0 !!! = anything below 60 (ouch)</p>
<p>Good luck. Your high school should send an official transcript anyway. Anything you write into an application for your grades will be a placeholder for the college until they get the official transcript, but it’s good for you to know how you stand in terms of a Grade Point Average that is used by most or nearly all U.S. colleges.</p>
<p>All courses are included, however, highly selective colleges will look at your grades for those classes that are considered core academic: math, science, English, foreign language, history/social science. They may also give extra consideration to those classes that are AP or honors.</p>
<p>So the number I put in doesn’t really mean much? In that case, would it look bad if I just left it blank and let the colleges look at my transcript themselves? Because the numbers you showed me are quite different from the percentages we use to determine letter grades, and we don’t even have pluses/minuses for A’s and B’s.</p>
<p>The number means a lot, and it means a lot more coming from your counselor/school official officially. The key is that your school has a way of giving grades, and you will be compared to other students at your same school based on the same grading system. If you don’t know the equivalent grade point average, even by estimating, then leave it blank and your school officials forms should help the college understand your academic abilities. This is why the standardized testing is helpful; it attempts to measure all candidates to the same standard (SAT, TOEFL, etc.). The application process is not perfect, so just do what you can to provide the colleges what they need to understand if you will succeed at their college.</p>