How important is .0166 in a GPA?

Applying to College
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<p>I got my final report card in the mail today. In my regular U.S. History B class, I was expecting a 94/95 (90-94 is A-, 95-100 is A at my school) and somehow got an 89. I don't know how it happened, because my school policy is that your quarter 1 grade is 45%, your quarter 2 grade is 45%, and your final exam is 10%. I got a 93 Q1, a 91 Q2 (also questionably low, but that's beside the point because I don't feel like explaining), and an 85 on the final. This should all add up to a 91--try it yourself.</p>

<p>Anyway, this B+ lowered my GPA at the end of my junior year from what would have been a 3.6812 (assuming I actually earned an A- in history) to a 3.6646.</p>

<p>In the grand scheme of things, how much is this going to affect my college app? You'd think that the difference in GPA is negligible, but I remember posting here once with a 3.64 and again with a projected 3.69 (which obviously didn't happen), and my college chances miraculously increased according to the people replying to my threads.</p>

<p>My college list right now is Amherst, Brown, Colgate, Tufts, Vassar, Wesleyan (reaches), Bucknell, Colby, Rochester (matches), and Ithaca (safety). My test scores and essay will be perfectly competitive by application time (I think I'll do much better on the ACT than my 2220 SAT that is just a 1420 without writing), but I don't have any real hook so I need to have a competitive GPA.</p>

<p>My question is simply this: should I be THAT mad about this seemingly tiny change in GPA that appears to be due to an accident that will likely not be fixed because of a negligent teacher? I want to brush it off and not mind, but it's hard when you hear about how picky admissions officers are.</p>

<p>Also: at this point, there's not much I can do to increase my GPA, and I know you'll all go on about how I need less reaches and more matches and how my matches are actually high reaches and how I could still conceivably be rejected from Ithaca, but that's not why I made this thread. Also: at this point, there's not much I can do to increase my GPA, and I know you'll all go on about how I need less reaches and more matches and how my matches are actually high reaches and how I could still conceivably be rejected from Ithaca, but that's not why I made this thread.</p>

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<p>/groans.</p>

<p>I wouldn’t take chance threads so literally. </p>

<p>And no, I would seriously not sweat it over .0166 GPA. It only goes to two decimal places for a reason. I might worry a bit over .05 or even .1 but .01…?</p>

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<p>This is an open forum, within the Terms of Service, members here can post whatever they like.</p>

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<p>It can’t hurt to send your teacher a polite email asking what’s up; if there’s a good reason for it, you’d be happier knowing it. If the teacher made a mistake, they’ll likely fix it. (Phrase it as “I’m confused / I would have thought / can you explain how you arrived at that 89?”)</p>

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<p>entomom: Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.</p>

<p>Everyone else: Well, I went down to the school office today (in addition to emailing my teacher about my Q4 grade), and they saw the mistake and changed my grade to a 91. I’m going to double check with the teacher about my extra credit that I don’t think he counted, but I’m content with my A-. I didn’t really put much effort into the class anyway.</p>

<p>The question still stands, though. At what point does a GPA difference become substantial? Not just with my situation, but with any?</p>

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<p>I’d say you want to stay at least above a 3.6, and a 3.75+ UW to really be competitive. Changes don’t matter so much as long as you stay within a good range.</p>

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<p>2 Quarters don’t make a whole. Better call up your math teacher as well to fix your grade.</p>

<p>As far as the GPA change, I think it’s negligible. However, I don’t think any of the reaches (esp. the LACs) on your list will appreciate a B in a regular class (presumably in Jr. year).</p>

<p>Since this does seem like a legitimate grading error, I’d contact your school immediately to fix the grade.</p>

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<p>“entomom: Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.”</p>

<p>And just because you can start threads on MINUTIAE (literally) doesn’t mean you should, nor should you adopt such an ungrateful, disrespectful tone when you are asking people for help.</p>

<p>In any case, you are 3/4 done with high school and you only can add 1/8 more to the composite grades that will be considered when you apply to colleges. So making your GPA substantially more “competitive” is just not gonna happen.</p>

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<p>cc123sb: We use a semester system. Nice try at being witty, though.</p>