Ie, is an a- calculated differently than an a, etc?
For example I know Michigan recalculates such that a+, a, a- all get entered as a 4.0
B+, b, b- all equal 3.0
Etc.
How does uw Madison do it?
That has never been clear. Son’s WI HS only did A, B while mine did the +/- thing. Over the years no one seems to have figured out exactly which courses counted as well- “academic” ones are ??? Not likely phy ed but arts and music? Do be aware it is unweighted grades only- no extra points for honors, AP et al.
They definitely look at the school’s grading system. I know of gifted twins in son’s district whose mother told me the son would do A- work while the daughter A++ work to yield the same A. UW changed its grading in the early '70’s to add AB, BC to the A, B C grades. In the end it doesn’t matter because, fortunately, it is not just the numbers that matter. And those that tip either way for cutoffs could have it go either way.
Thanks. It would be nice to know what gpa they see when they look at his grades, since he does have some a minuses and 2 b+s. I guess only someone with straight a’s (no a minuses) would know their UW gpa as 4.0. I wish it would be more transparent. My son is also applying to UIUC and I have no idea what they do either other than they do consider an a minus different from a and they only consider core classes (like you mentioned, but what is a core class exactly???).
have him (remember this is his show) ask admissions in an email.
You have asked the same basic question here. http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/21769434#Comment_21769434
I strongly suggest that your son not email and ask if/how UW (or any college) looks at or recalculates GPA. If the school wanted to make that information available it would do so. As I noted in the other post, your HS grading system is not at all unusual and it will be detailed on the school profile sent with each transcript. Admissions officers handle many different grading systems as part of their job. The fact is that unless a person works for UW (or any other college) then not every aspect of a holistic application review will be transparent. You and your S need to live with that.
I was just curious happy. No big deal.