My public high school has always used a 7 point grading scale (92.5 and up A, 85-92.4 B etc.), with no A+ or B- or anything for gpa purposes, and without numbers being reported on our transcript. This year however, the school changed its policy. Under the new system, starting with this year, 89.5 and up is an A, 79.5 and up is a B etc. The thing is though, now our number grades are reported on our transcript, even though they dont matter for our GPA (an 89.5 is still the exact same thing for our weighted and unweighted gpa). The one reason I am asking though is that I am very busy getting straight A’s and having good extracurricular and volunteer work , and its a LOT of extra effort to get high A’s (97 and above) like I used to, while my classmates are starting to get ever better at finding out exactly how much effort it takes to get that 89.5. Will selective colleges care about the level of a grade if its an A and my GPA is unaffected if it is reported on our transcript?
If they will show your % on your transcript, it will matter. Now they will see the difference btw a 90% and a 96% average!
I know that they will certainly notice that big of a gap, but for smaller differences, say being on average a percent or two lower, getting 94 or 95 instead of 96 or 97.
Essentially, they will be able to covert your score more easily to their system to judge.
There really is minimal difference in a 96 or 97, so that doesn’t really matter.
My S school doesn’t do ABCD. They only have %. That way you don’t end up with all kids in the top 10% with a 4.0!!
My son’s school only posted letter grades on his transcript and no - or + either. When he applied to colleges they didn’t seem to care. I think getting a good ACT/SAT score is more important than a GPA which colleges know may be inflated in the first place. If you end up with a nice GPA that’s great but make sure you back it up with a solid SAT/ACT score.
Well, I am a sophmore, and I am doing SAT prep already, but most of my academic energy still goes to school, I am not sure though what the concensus seems to be, should I still put in the effort to get 96 or 97 and above in all my classes even if it wont help my GPA and takes time away from extracurriculars?
Yes, you should. If it shows on a transcript, schools will see it, and will judge based on that. If you are an 89.5% kid, your chances will go down compared to 96% kids.
At my kid’s school, this year you needed a 95% just to hit top 10%!
Every HS sends a school profile along with each transcript. The school profile covers things like the grading system, the levels of courses offered etc. So no worries, every transcript will be reviewed in its proper context.
Just so you know, it’s not all GPA. Colleges know many grades are inflated. I suggest you take the most rigorous schedule you can handle and don’t worry about getting perfect scores in each class. Most people on college confidential seem to say that you need an A+ average to get into a good school - I was biting my nails as my D sent out her applications. Based on all these stats I’ve read on CC it didn’t look like she would get in anywhere. Her GPA unweighted was only an 89% and weighted it was only 92%. She had solid ACT scores but not perfect scores. Turns out she only got denied from 1 college and received many merit scholarships. She took the most rigorous schedule she could, lots of EC and would have had excellent recommendations. Her honors classes were mostly A grades but her AP classes were all B’s.
Just to be clear: for GPA unweighted and weighted and class rank at my school the numerical grades mean nothing, and I am taking the most rigerous classes allowed (2 AP’S 5 honors) for a sophomore. Also, my school is not particularly grade inflated, last year there out of around 700 juniors, only 8 were on the straight A honor roll, although that was when there was 7 point grading. What Im asking is, seeing as it wont affect my gpa, is it worth the extra effort to 97’s-98’s in a class vs 94’s-96’s, even if it detracts from extracurriculars and other things, given that it wont affect my gpa but colleges will see it?
I think the most important thing you can do is be well rounded. If getting the 97-98% impacts your ECs, stress level, and social life in a negative way I would say it’s not worth it. I know a couple of kids at my D’s high school who did not develop much of a social life because they spend most of their time on schoolwork and they missed out on many ECs and friendships - yet with their nearly perfect SAT scores and GPA, neither got into an IVY and both applied early decision.
Advise - do the best you can but maintain social health as well.
Im not sure everyone here is fully understanding what I am saying, so Ill try to state it clearly: my school calculates class rank, unweighted GPA and unweighted GPA based on a 4.0 scale, without any value to A+ (89.5 is the same as an A), and my school does not have much grade inflation (less than 10 people out of 700 get straight A’s throughout all of high school), should I spend hundreds of hours to get higher A’s rather than lower A’s given that colleges will see the numbers, even if it doesnt impact my class rank or GPA (weighted or unweighted?).
We understand what you are saying. YES a school will care, if they can see it, if all your As were 90s or 95s. 95 vs 97, not so much.
Alright, just wanted to make sure, and thank you for all of the advice.
Alright, another question, will colleges be worried if they see a trend of numerical grades that go down? Because my first semester, I got all 97’s and up, and that was the first time numerical grades were reported, and I don’t think its likely I can keep my grades all above 95 this semester without a great deal of additional effort (as opposed to maybe 2 95’s, a 93, and a 91).
How about focusing on your own credentials instead of peers. Wish your peers the best in terms of their grades and focus on your own.
My apologies for any misunderstanding, my question had nothing at all to do with my peers if you read it carefully, I merely mentioned what they were doing to show that it was possible in the current system at my school. Do you have any other advice?
This worry is like asking, if I drop from an A to an A-, should I freak? And most of us, on another thread, agreed, no.
When they look at the transcript, they know 90-100 is an A. (Or, for some schools, 92 or 93+. In your case, 89.5+.) If you got a 97 and it dropped to a 95, face it: this is still a solid mid-range A. A 93 is still well past the cutoff at your school (and in most people’s minds.)
If you dropped from a 97 to a 90, the answer depends on your rigor and possible major. Borderline in, say, calc AB for a stem kid, going for the most competitive colleges, won’t look as strong. But this is really taken in context, how strong you are overall, how sensible the rest of your app is.
Ok thank you Lookforward, that was helpful. I am wondering though how colleges evaluate numerical grades when they aren’t factored into class rank? Especially because there is nothing about the gradual grades on my school Report to provide context.
Any other advice or suggestions?