<p>My school calculates GPA in such a way that everyone's GPA is .2 lower than it should be.</p>
<p>For example: The only way to achieve a 4.0 is by getting a 100% and anything below is not a 4.0, even 99s 98s etc... so needless to say even our Val doesn't even have a 4.0</p>
<p>My question is one, do colleges recalculate your GPA based on their standards?</p>
<p>and two, should I call up my colleges and explain the way that my HS calculates GPA?</p>
<p>Does your high school realize its screwing its students over??</p>
<p>For private schools, this isn’t an issue. When your high school sends in your transcript, it also includes a school profile. This gives background info on the school, like how many students, what the surrounding community is like, and the school’s aims. The profile will also list the curriculum and the grading policy. Your GC’s recommendation gives your rank in the class, or estimated quintile/decile if your school doesn’t rank. </p>
<p>All of this information allows the admissions people to understand your grades in the context of your school. If you took two AP courses, but that’s all your school offered, that looks great. If you took two APs, but your school offers 20-some starting in 9th grade, not so good. Likewise, if you have a 3.8 GPA but the highest GPA in your graduating class was 3.9 and you are in the upper decile, that looks better than having a 3.8 where the highest GPA was 4.0 and you’re in the second quintile. </p>
<p>Public schools may use the GPA as it stands without looking at context, in which case you could be at a disadvantage. Maybe. </p>
<p>If you’re really worried, ask your counselor if you can take a look at the school profile.</p>
<p>Yeah I go to a Public School…</p>
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<p>This is incorrect. All schools send profiles with the transcript, allowing colleges to accurately assess the candidate’s relative strength. This, coupled with rank, will provide colleges with a way to understand each applicant’s GPA. OP, you are at no disadvantage.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot, glassesarechic. I needed to hear that.</p>
<p>My rank is 15/360 and my GPA is a 3.61. See what I mean?</p>
<p>You guys are misreading post #3. It isn’t private vs. public high schools, ST was referring to how private colleges are usually less formulaic about interpreting various HS’s peculiar GPA schemes.</p>
<p>Thanks for the clarification on which schools I was referring to, sherpa. Branches, your GPA puts you within the top 5% of your high school. If you’re applying to some tippy-top private colleges, they’re going to love to see those numbers.</p>
<p>They will understand - grading scales are sent in by colleges. They know that a 4.0 in every school does not mean the same thing.</p>
<p>OP – here is where your school’s 0.2 penalty could hurt some of your students –</p>
<p>1) many scholarships have qualification criteria – e.g. 3.5 unweighted gpa, 1200 SAT, etc. If a student at your school has a 3.35 per your school’s transcript, which is a 3.55 at another school, your school just cost your student thousands of dollars in potential scholarship per year.
2) some schools like Pitzer have a threshhold above which SATs are not necessary. Pitzer for example has a 3.5 unweighted. Same argument as in point #1.
3) some schools do not recalculate GPA, and a 3.35 looks a lot different from a 3.55, even if class rank is the same.
4) some public Universities like UC San Diego, UC Davis, and other use GPA, SATs, and some EC stuff as part of a point formula. However, they use “UC GPA”, and I’m not sure how your high school’s marking system would be affected by that… I assume it would be, but I don’t know.</p>