<p>What is anyone’s experience with the plus/minus grading scale? Good, bad, neutral…</p>
<p>I have a neutral opinion about it.</p>
<p>i know that some are annoyed that an A- is less than a 4.0, but that’s pretty typical for colleges that use a plus/minus grading system. </p>
<p>Some schools with plus/minus will weight an A+ the same as an A (4.0). I’m glad that Bama doesn’t do that.</p>
<p>However, premed students need to be aware that AMCAS recalculates all med school applicants and they don’t give bonus for A+.</p>
<p>I like the plus/minus system. I think it rewards students for going the extra mile for those last points. Of course, if you take classes over the summer from a school that doesn’t use the plus/minus system it stinks to earn a 100 and get the 4.0 instead of 4.33, but I guess that’s life. :)</p>
<p>I quite like the system. It is, of course, annoying to not get a 4.0 for an A-, but overall I think it is a more fair system. Without the plus minus system, a 90 and 100 are worth the same, but an 89 and 90 are drastically different.</p>
<p>
Yes, I am so grateful for this. At Penn State, they have pluses and minuses in general, but no A+. This means if you ever get even one grade below an A, it’s impossible to graduate with a 4.0…I like that we can get A+ to compensate for lower grades.</p>
<p>My D has taken a few courses at our local community college where there isn’t plus/minus. I think not having it can be a disincentive to go the extra mile. D had grades that would have been A+'s at a school with plus/minus, so I’m expecting to hear lots of complaining the first time she gets an A- since she won’t have the benefit of those corresponding A+'s.</p>
<p>I personally haven’t had a bad experience with the plus/minus system, and it makes sense that there’s a difference between a 98% and a 91%. But while it makes for more accurate grading within UA, I think the fact that many other universities nationwide and in the Southeast don’t have the same system can put UA graduates at somewhat of a disadvantage. A student graduating from a different university may have gotten the same percentages in classes, but could end up with a higher GPA because their grade was an A or B, not an A- or B-. Plus it’s even rougher on premed students, who are penalized for an A- but not rewarded for balancing it out with an A+.</p>
<p>I think it would be a great system if more universities did it. As it is, I feel it is somewhat frustrating to be held to a different standard than other comparable universities, especially when competing for internships or grad schools.</p>
<p>My sons high school does the same, except that an A is not a 4.0, it is a 3.75. A+ is 4.0. This has hurt him in some of the scholarships that don’t recalculate - including Alabama. </p>
<p>He will miss the automatic admission to the University Fellows program by .03. If I recalculated based on their scale he would be higher. Hopefully they will round his score up to the nearest tenth.</p>
<p>Galaxyfigment, definitely try to contact someone and see if you can get them to recalculate his GPA. My high school uses a weird grading scale and Alabama at first calculated my GPA as a 3.3, so I didn’t qualify for a scholarship. My college counselor sent a note with her own calculations of my GPA as being over a 3.5 so that I was able to receive a scholarship. So in my experience at least, UA was willing to be flexible about different grading scales.</p>
<p>you can get a counselor to recommend him for UFE.</p>
<p>He will miss the automatic admission to the University Fellows program by .03. If I recalculated based on their scale he would be higher. Hopefully they will round his score up to the nearest tenth.</p>
<p>I need to clarify. There isn’t an “automatic admission” to the UFE program. There is an automatic invitation to apply with certain stats. Out of the many hundreds that will apply, less than 40 will be selected. </p>
<p>That said, you can get a GC to send in a recommendation and then he’ll be invited to apply.</p>
<p>And, yes, Bama will accept it if a GC writes in a recalculated GPA on the transcript or attached letter. </p>
<p>Galaxy…are you saying that your son is going to miss out on a scholarship at Bama because of this? If so, then definitely request that his GC write a note or recalculate his GPA or round it up or whatever. If needed, go to the principal and explain the financial ramifications of the school’s odd grading system.</p>
<p>there are pros and cons to both systems…uab does not use plus minus…it has cut both way for my S2… got an 88 which is a 3.0 got a 92 which was a 4.0. if at ua that would have been a 3.27 and a 3.67…so depends where you usually fall within the decile :)</p>
<p>At UA that is a 3.47.</p>
<p>At UAB it is a 3.5. </p>
<p>Not equitable if you are comparing schools. :)</p>
<p>If you are only working within UA system, no problem. If you are competing with UAB student for something, could be an issue with UA student at a disadvantage.</p>
<p>that can work both ways thestudent… if he gets ALL 88’s for a gpa 3.0, you get ALL 88’s for a 3.27…so then you have the advantage over a uab student. i used 2 grades as an example…</p>
<p>Good point. Consistency in either method would be best :)</p>
<p>agree thestudent…especially for those with plans to go on to grad schools or med school etc… where gpa’s can be critical to acceptances</p>
<p>Wanted to offer a slightly different perspective on the question. It actually hit me fairly hard…in the wallet.</p>
<p>DD’s school (not Bama) used the + - system. On two different occasions a minus score kept her from qualifying for a good student discount with our insurer. At the time I was not too happy with the plus/minus sytem. </p>
<p>Hopefully I won’t have to worry about that anymore since DS is a better overall student than DD was.</p>
<p>Of all the K-12 schools, colleges, and universities I’ve attended, only UA has awarded A+s and had a maximum GPA above 4.0. In Washington, high schools have a state-wide letter to GPA conversion that has As and A+s both equaling a 4.0. IIRC, the University of Washington uses a percentage scale (0-100). Community colleges are all over the map, with some with letter grades (no A+s) or a GPA equivalent rounded to the nearest 10th (ie a student taking 3 classes cound end up with grades of 3.2, 3.7, and 4.0).</p>
<p>The UA graduate school only gives whole letter grades and it’s really a mixed bag. UA’s current undergraduate grading system makes it easier to get a high GPA and provides more of a cushion between say an 89 (B+/3.33) and a 90(A/3.66) rather than a B (3.0) and A (4.0).</p>
<p>Keep in mind that instructors can further modify the grading system. I’ve had some classes where no A+s or A-s were given, but the B and Cs retained the +/- grading.</p>
<p>Do classes worth four credits, like my Calc 1 class for example, weigh heavier on my GPA than classes like GBA 145, which is worth 1 credit? Or is it all weighed the same, regardless of the number of credit hours, for your commutative GPA?</p>
<p>Classes with more credits will count more. If you get an A in a 4 credit course and a B in a 1 credit course, you’ll end up with a 3.8 [(4.0 x 4) + (3.0 x 1)/5].</p>