<p>Do they look at weighted? Unweighted? Do they only count core classes? Etc.</p>
<p>Also, does it hurt me if my school doesn’t rank?</p>
<p>im sure they look at both, but my school doesnt give unweighted so i guess they convert it somehow.....but if your school doesnt give a rank it shouldnt hurt at all. my school doesnt rank either, most private schools dont.</p>
<p>I also have a question about this GPA in general. My school (since I live in Michigan) uses the Michigan GPA system where A- is the same as any other A (ie A, A+, etc) and the same goes for all other letters, the +,- are dropped. Will Penn recalculate my GPA with the minuses (since some appear on transcript) or take what my schools gives them... I'm kind of worried because I got a lot of A-'s since I never really thought it mattered but many tell me that other places use different GPA systems. Would having a large number of A-'s instead of A's adversely effect my chances?</p>
<p>i get a lot of a-'s, is ur transcript your only redeeming aspect? it shouldn't be, and u shouldn't be worried about the -'s next to ur grades</p>
<p>What is the difference between an A- (somewhere like a 93 or 94) and an A to A+ (from 95 to 99) for admissions? I think I got a 93 or 94 for physics last year, and this physics teacher wrote me a letter of recommendation. I'm skeptical as to whether this was a wise decision, especially since it was a relatively low A. Would they figure that my best grade was only an A- (since I asked him for a rec., it's expected that it would be one of my best classes)?</p>
<p>Also, I got my physics, math, and chem teachers to write me a rec. for Penn (ED). Is it bad that they are all in the science/math department as opposed to something more well-rounded like math/science and something in the humanities? I got a very low A in Spanish last year, but I'm not great at Spanish and have no passion for it (I'm only taking a 5th year to appease colleges even if they require less... I know, very sad!). My strongest points are in math and science anyway, and I have no idea how well they emphasized my abilities in that area, but I'm hoping they did a great job (my physics teacher is 'known' to write very good recommendations and I've known my math teacher for a few years since he's also the tennis coach).</p>
<p>Any advice would settle some of the uneasiness that isn't going away!</p>
<p>I've read over and over, not to worry about getting the teacher who necessarily gave you your best grade (they'll see that on the transcript anyway), but the one who knows you best. </p>
<p>I wish our district had plusses or minuses. We go on a straight A, B, C, system, with a 5.0 being an A in an AP or honors class, a 4.0 is a B in an honors class or an A in a standard class. But 92 and under here is a B and we have a competitive class, so there are a fair number of top kids with a few Bs on their transcript (including me). They take all this into account school by school, though.</p>
<p>Oh, and the colleges only see our year end grade, no semester grades, or anything like that. Isn't that crazy?</p>
<p>count youself lucky... getting a B in my college will already allow you to enrol into the honours program for all subjects. All humanities, economics and math only requires a C. in fact, the top history student in my junior batch only got a B (that's 65-69)
Im glad I don't need to send in my semester grades.. I got a D (52-57) for physics..but well, the ave mark was 35... i think the admission officers will faint seeing my big 'D'</p>
<p>collegecountdown, our school only sends out year-end (after 2 semesters--there are two semesters per year) grades as well. So, for example, if you get an 85 for the first semester and a 95 in the second, colleges only see an A (not even -/+). Also, we don't have midterms but we do have finals. If we keep at least a B average in senior year and have a B average for the last marking period, we're exempt from finals. How sweet is that? The reasoning for doing away with midterms was to use this time to help the students in 10th and 11th grade prepare for the PSSAs (standardized test for Pa). Even though 11th graders are taking it for real, 10th graders must come in during this time and take practice tests. During this 6-day/3-hour-per-day period (yes, 6 days to take this stupid test that could be done in less than 2 hours), seniors have no school at all.</p>
<p>Also, my high school only goes from 10th to 11th grade while the middle school (that's literally right across the practice football field) goes from 7th to 9th grade (and our elementary schools go from K to 6th grade). It's pretty insane, because I'll only be taking finals twice in my entire high school career (assuming I won't have to take them this year)--once in 10th grade and once in 11th grade.</p>
<p>Crazy? Yes. It's pretty great but it's probably screwing us over when we get into college.. o well..</p>
<p>uh... so lets say... i have a smattering of a-'s across my page, are they all a's by their standards??? haha yes... 26 a's and 8 b's seems pretty decent now! my 3.7 goes to a 3.76!</p>
<p>oh i guess it doesn't make much of a diff... :)</p>
<p>my hunch is they actually do look at A-'s in terms of determining how strong you are academically. After all, they say they look at the transcript, not the GPA. In the end, it's just impressions, and you won't be rejected for any minuses (or pluses for that matter). But they look specifically at the transcript, and IMO they will notice.</p>
<p>btw, I have no proof of this whatsoever.</p>
<p>damn it... about 15 of my 26 a's are -'s haha ONCE AGAIN... i'm a failure at life lol</p>
<p>ok, people, it's time to take a DEEP BREATH. you all are great! i mean, really!! you're worrying about A vs. A- while i'm here worrying about A vs. B vs....yea, let's leave it at that. Everyone (except me) is a great student here, probably straight-A students too! so relax about the whole "-" thing! an A is an A, and really, if the rest of your app is just as strong as your academics seem to be, a minus here or there won't hurt you. so be confident in your abilitities and your application, and just keep up the good work!</p>
<p>(how's that for a pep talk? lol)</p>
<p>it's just an A- no big deal</p>
<p>I hope they take grading scales into consideration as well. The grading scale at my school SUCKS! It's so freaking hard to get an A.</p>
<p>A at my school is usually 87.5+</p>
<p>easy (sad)</p>
<p>Mr_Socrates, I know your pain pretty well...my school's scale is so evil: 99-100 A+, 96-98 A, 94-95 A-, 91-93 B+, 88-90 B. Aint that killing?!</p>
<p>HAHA... our A+ is around 75% on average. Then again I take IB so it's a bit different. Here's a shocker for you guys: a 68% will get you an A+ in IB HL physics (do not think that is easy in any way howerver!)</p>
<p>Mr_Socrates, I know your pain pretty well...my school's scale is so evil: 99-100 A+, 96-98 A, 94-95 A-, 91-93 B+, 88-90 B. Aint that killing?!</p>
<p>We have the EXACT same grading scale. An A+ is a 4.3 uw and a 5.3 in a weighted class. I have never seen anyone get an A+ in a AP class here.</p>
<p>our school is technically </p>
<p>97-100 (A+)
93-96 (A)
90-92 (A=)</p>
<p>although.. there are a lot of teachers who go by their own grading scales (stupid).. ergo.. my 1st semester precalc grade of 94.7 was an A- according to my pre-calc teacher who said he used a 95 before rounding as the cutoff point for an A</p>
<p>^^Ahaha, our teachers would be in so much trouble if they didn't use the standard grading scale. They can curve all they want but they better match the numbers and letters according to the grading scale or else lol.</p>