On the right track for Ivy?

Applying to College
1

<p>Hi all, long time reader, first time poster.</p>

<p>I just finished my sophomore year in high school, and I was the only one in my grade that took the toughest course load possible. We received our final grades the other day, and I finished with a 3.57 for the year. </p>

<p>At my school, however, we have a tough grading scale (a 92 is considered a B+/3.5, 88 is a B/3.0, and 84 is a C+. I got 2 92s this year, just missing the A in a few of. My school doesn't weigh GPAs or rank students, but there are kids who took no APs or honors in my grade who finished with easy 4.0s. </p>

<p>As an Ivy hopeful, after freshman year my cumulative GPA comes to a 3.76. I go to a very selective Jesuit Prep school, and 6 years of language are required. I'm dropping classics and focusing on Spanish for 4 years, and I plan on taking 4 APs with the rest of my schedule containing honors courses next year. I've taken the SATs twice before, once in 8th grade (1750), and once freshman year (1950).</p>

<p>My questions are, (1) what would my GPA be if it were to be weighted like other schools, (2) If I have around a 3.9-4.0 both Junior and Senior years, would I have a chance at Ivy Admission (I have solid ECs/service), and (3)Am I hurting myself by taking the hardest courses possible, or do the colleges like to see that I am challenged myself?</p>

<p>My freshman/sophomore/potential junior year schedule & grades are below.</p>

<p>Freshman Year:
History (95/A)
Honors Geometry (92/B+)
Honors English I (96/A)
Spanish I (98/A)
Honors Latin I (96/A)
Religion (98/A)
Physical Science (97/A)</p>

<p>Sophomore Schedule:
APUSH (93/A)
Honors Pre-Calc (86/B)
Honors English II (95/A)
Honors Spanish II (92/B+)
Honors Greek I/Honors Latin II (87/B)
Religion (93/A)
Honors Chemistry (92/B+)</p>

<p>Potential Junior Schedule:
AP Psych
AP Calc AB
AP Lit & Comp
AP Gov
Honors Spanish III
Religion
Honors Physics</p>

<p>Sorry for the long post, just want to see if the Ivy League is anywhere on the horizon. Thanks!</p>

2

<p>

</p>

<p>Quite possibly very similar to what it is now. </p>

<p>I can get pretty much the same distribution of grades no matter what the grading scale is. Knowing where the bottom of the A’s is (90 or 93 or whatever), has a big influence on the way I assign point values to questions when I write a test or quiz, on the way I allot partial credit when I’m grading, etc. By and large, in my experience the school’s grading scale has much more to do with how I do my own work than with the letter grades my students end up with.</p>

3

<p>Sikorsky is exactly correct - there would be little, if any, difference in your GPA on a different scale.</p>

<p>Students at every school who are not at the very top of their class always complain about the unfairness of their system. They then point to a system that would benefit their specific system and fail to recognize that other students would complain about the unfairness of that system.</p>

<p>If OP’s school changed to a 90%=A scale, then anther student who averages 96 in every class would suddenly be numerically identical to a student who scores 5% or more lower in every class! Of course, this hypothetical case assumes that teachers do not adjust their scales to ensure a similar distribution as Sikorsky described.</p>

<p>Also, I have never heard a student complain about Extra Credit and its perverse effect on grade scales. Using EC, the range for an A suddenly becomes 93-105, meaning twelve discrete percentages are available for an A. However, all other grade range remain the same.</p>

4

<p>As to your other question - highly selective universities like to see that you have challenged yourself AND that you have succeeded at those challenges. Your GPA will hurt your application, although improving it during your junior year is obviously good.</p>

<p>Remember that you are not competing against other students at your high school for admissions - you are cometing against the best students from around the country and even the world. Your schedule might be the most demanding at your school, but as of your junior year, you will not have taken any advanced science classes or AP-level languages. You also don’t mention any class work that you are taking outside of your school to supplement your curriculum - this would allow you to stand out in terms of your intellectual curiosity and pursuit of challenges.</p>