<p>Just curious, what are some of the lowest gpa’s (unweighted and weighted) everyone has heard of someone getting a LOA/nomination with??</p>
<p>i might could see a 3.5 as getting in, but i think anythin below that would really be uncompetitive. a 3.5 would have to be countered w/ some really unique other things, ECs, sports, volunteer stuff, everythin..</p>
<p>What about college GPA's?</p>
<p>The lowest guy in 2009 had an Ac Comp around a 2800. So, I'd say around a 3.0 if I remember correctly.</p>
<p>I have a 3.52 but i dont think the academy just looks at GPA, they will look at your course schedule and rigor of classes. I dont think GPA's are a good "first look", if that makes sense because they can be deceiving.</p>
<p>I would hope they look at it that way...I had a 3.32 My first quarter here-17 credit hours-Chem, Calculus (I got 10 credit hours of math from a 4 on AP AB Calc) Psychology, Engineering "Survey Class" (pointless) and Air Science (AFROTC)</p>
<p>Our ALO told us they put a lot of weight on the gpa and SAT, because the transcript will show the course load, and the school will show what APs are available. If your GPA is 3.52 with APs it looks better than a 4.0 with only stds, I don't know, but I would think the 4.0 with no honors would be re-weighted. Obviously the SAT's matter because they have the break point that you must score. Class rank lso plays a part. In our case my sons uw is used for ranking, so our gc sent a letter explaining that some of the 4.0 kids, have taken the min. courses and received A's where my son took AP and got a B.</p>
<p>CadetPariss, I think they probably will look at your situation with a different pair of eyes, because you can't compare your course load to a sr. since you are in college. Out of curiosity what do they have on your on-line application as your gpa?</p>
<p>
[quote]
If your GPA is 3.52 with APs it looks better than a 4.0 with only stds, I don't know, but I would think the 4.0 with no honors would be re-weighted.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>USAFA uses a system called "PAR" (Prior Academic Record) that is a measurement of your GPA and your class rank, giving weight to the competitiveness of your school and your course curriculum. When class rank is not provided, PAR is computed from your transcript.</p>
<p>"Adjustments are made to the PAR for students attending unusually competitive schools with a rigorous college prep curriculum and/or where honors and Advanced Placement courses are NOT weighted in the schools calculation of class rank and/or GPA."
----USAFA Admissions----</p>
<p>
[quote]
I think they probably will look at your situation with a different pair of eyes, because you can't compare your course load to a sr. since you are in college.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>"A strong post-high school prep or college record, that essentially duplicates the Academys academic program and course load, will be carefully evaluated and may offset a poor high school record. At a minimum, the total post-high school record must be satisfactory; that is, a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.00 (on a 4.00 scale) with no grades lower than a C. In addition, all failing grades must be satisfactorily repeated."
----USAFA Admissions----</p>
<p>:cool:</p>
<p>It only shows my HS GPA, which is a 3.8 unweighted. I just sent in my fall quarter transcript a week ago, so that has not shown up yet-I dont know if it will though.</p>
<p>thanks luigi59, i am taking a rigorus course load and thats good to know.</p>
<p>That would explain my ds's situation. We have a wonderful gc, and she stated that she had to explain his class rank, due to the fact that he is only in the top 15% of graduating class, but actually his weighted gpa puts him in the top 5%.</p>
<p>We have the funkiest school system here, you can graduate with honors, but yet not be eligible for NHS (they go by the top 10% of weighted GPA), but when they rank you they rank as a uw, so the kids with honors could be lower.</p>
<p>Add into the fact that we moved from another state in his soph year, and our previous school does not give honors/AP until your sr. yr. They go by gifted, (9th grade gifted =geo., bio, foreign language II). ANd our new school would not give him credit as being in honors which they give here. Thus, the gc, had to explain that if he took geo. in 9th grade (which they don't offer until 10th) it would be honors, but it is school policy, so that drops his gpa...she wrote a letter with what his gpa would have been if he was here, brought it up by .27 uw...don't know if this helps us or anybody else, but it does show they really do look at every which way from Sunday to put everyone on the same field</p>
<p>Not sure of how or when the academy "Re-Weights" the gpa. On the application, next to the GPA, it says "(Your GPA listed may be refigured by USAFA and may not match the GPA reported by your school.) My son's school doesn't weight gpa, so the GPA listed on the application is the same GPA that he actually got from school. </p>
<p>So, depending on if the Academy has a max of 4.0 and they re-weight weighted GPA's back to the 4.0 scale, or if they actually list gpa's ABOVE a 4.0. Not sure how they do that. But in their calculations, they take you gpa, class rank, tests, etc.. and come up with a composite score. From their web page it says;</p>
<p>Academic Composite</p>
<p>This score is a combination of your SAT I or ACT test scores and your PAR and is the most heavily weighted component of the selection composite. A low PAR and low test scores, even though they are individually qualifying, will usually result in an academic composite score below our qualifying guidelines. </p>
<p>So, academics is obviously their most important section. But it does include gpa, ranking, sat/act, etc... to come up with a composite. So, you can obviously have a lower GPA than others, but score a 2400 on the SAT or a 36 on the ACT and it will keep you competitive. From what my son's ALO said, they also give points for AP and IB classes. Apparently, the highest composite academic score is something like "801". So somehow when they factor everything in, they come up with that composite score.</p>
<p>so what would the etc...consist of? like, how many extracurriculars or how involved you are with a few?</p>
<p>Our ALO told us the same thing. He also has been excellent in keeping us informed, his concern was my s's class rank, and I wouldn't be surprise if he was instrumental in getting the academy to contact our gc about their ranking system. S has all honors or AP's (jump start also), his required electives were stds., but again because the new state requires 3 Foreign languages and wouldn't count 8th grade, and not enough kids to warrant IV, he took Latin I & II as his electives. His other electives were sociology, psychology, and every history course they offered (8, 3 of them are APs, and 2 at the community college). According to his ALO that also helps his PAR because there are no fun courses like teen living or weight lifting.</p>
<p>His final transcript will have 4 AP's, all honors in core courses (i.e. you must take Eng IV H, and than you can take AP Eng. same with history, you must complete all requirements and then you are eligible to take AP). His electives were all college prep oriented and unique.</p>
<p>Note to 2013, make sure you choose your electives wisely, they will look at your transcript.</p>
<p>His admission director stated they like to see that you stick with something instead of having 10 different 1's each year. Your EC's accounts for 20%, and your ALO, recs, essays, CFA, count for the last 20%</p>
<p>Ofy32, I got a LOA with a 3.61 is high school... and thats refigured by USAFA.</p>
<p>The part I wrote of was the academic section. That doesn't include extra curriculum, sports, volunteer, etc... The etc... I referred to might include the academy's assessment of such things as the classes you took, difficulty, school profile in available class, etc... Each school is different. You could have a 4.0gpa and it might be all band, chorus, woodshop, basic math, and the likes. Obviously, your composite score in the academic section would be lower than the person taking AP classes or the IB program. Or even that of a person taking the highest math and science available at their school. Remember; not all schools have the IB program. (Matter of fact; it's less than 500 schools last time I checked). Also, not ever school has a full assortment of AP classes. These all get factored into your composite score. The academy wants to see that you took the most difficult classes available; and that you did well in them. However; they will not penalize you if the classes aren't available. They aren't asking you to transfer to another school just to get certain classes. That's all part of the composite score.</p>
<p>Christcorp, You are right our school, only offers 9 AP (2 Eng., 3 History, Calc, and 3 Sci.--Bio, Chem and Physics). No AP Art History at our school. We must pay $84 for ea. AP class, because they must take the test. If you get a 4, then they reimburse you, anything lower, you will not get the money back. The school explanation is because colleges require the 4 and they get college credit for the course.</p>
<p>Dye, was your LOA for an EC reason or WCS?</p>
<p>^^Only 9? My high school only offered 3.</p>
<p>What were the 3?</p>