<p>I've seen a lot of people posting their supposedly difficult grading scales, but I have yet to see one the same or as hard as mine (I go to a private school), and this brings up a question: do colleges convert grades from scales like mine to a public school scale or something to make cumulative grades from schools like mine not look artificially worse? Or, in the least, do they consider the differences?</p>
<p>Colleges will see a school profile sent by your high school when the transcript is sent. It will contain information about your grading scale, course offering, limits on what students can take, and information about SAT, ACT, and college matriculation outcomes at your school.</p>
<p>If your school has many students apply to a certain college every year, the college will be very familiar with your secondary school.</p>
<p>Good point about the profiles AND the relationship your school’s college counselors have with colleges. If you want to follow upon that, go ahead and talk to your school’s college counselors now; their job is to help you, and they may have tidbits regarding colleges you are curious about and how kids from your school have done applying there.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info about the profile; that’s really helpful to know. That thing about a college’s relationship with a high school has me worried though, especially because in the meeting I had with my guidance counselor a few days ago she had either not heard of any of the colleges I mentioned (LACs) or barely knew anything about them. Unfortunately, most people from our school go to one of about six to ten schools. This is all good to know, though, so, thanks a bunch.</p>
<p>Usually GPA in private schools is UW. The profile does not say what courses the top GPA’ers take. In this case, the profile hurts students who take the most demanding courses with score with lower GPA because the students who get higher GPA take easy courses. The admissions only see a low GPA with demanding courses and had no idea that the high GPA’s difficulty. It’s unfair to compare GPA with demanding courses with GPA with non-demanding courses directly. The private schools think all their courses are AP level and demanding. But a lot of students in those schools take pre-calculus in junior. So they may get A+ for honor Algebra but other students get A in AP Calculus. College admissions see A’s but from profiles know there are plenty of A+ and they don’t know they compare apple with orange.</p>
<p>OK, your post is confused. It just really depends on the private school. There are private schools that have admissions rates as low as the ivies and the students all have ivy like SSAT scores. Many of these schools have no classes called honors or APs, and every class is truly advanced. </p>
<p>Then there are private schools that have a full range of students. At these, colleges pay close attention to who has taken what classes as they do with public schools.</p>
<p>And don’t forget, at all schools the counselors rank the rigor of every student’s classes.</p>
<p>I think an example will explain clearly. Both student A and B attend elite private school (top 20). Student A took Calculus AP and got A (4.0) and student took Pre-calculus got A+ (4.33) in junior year. It’s common for student with strong humanity background to take easy math courses. Of course both students have to take all humanity courses in the same pace. Make it simple, the school profile only has these two students. Both took one course. So the school top 50% GPA is 4.33 and low 50% is 4. Student A applied for ivy school A and he was turned down because his GPA was at low 50%. School A couldn’t know the top 50% GPA was for pre-calculus and the admissions only looked at the percentage: low 50%.</p>
<p>The example is extremely simplified but you should get the idea. It’s true elite private schools offer most difficult courses but not all top GPA’s are from the most difficult courses. Often students with top GPA’s in elite private schools took easy math and science courses because their career goals are politicians, lawyers, businessman and doctors. Why should schools make their life suffering by requiring them to take difficult math or science courses, which won’t help them achieve their career goal after all? Elite private schools are totally different from top public schools.</p>
<p>believe it or not. One of my friends who is attending an elite private school (top 10) told me about one third of junior took pre-calculus at junior year and still some took math III. No doubt they can get into most selective liberal arts schools and become CEO’s , lawyers and doctors.</p>
<p>Read the book “What high schools don’t tell me”, in which the author advises take easy course to get high GPA.</p>
<p>By all mean, if you can get the highest GPA on toughest courses, go for it. Otherwise you rather have a higher GPA.</p>
<p>Of course they know. They have each student’s full transcript and the counselor has ranked the rigor of the courses each took. The school profile is just one piece of the puzzle.</p>
<p>An aside–in my experience many colleges don’t care if an elite prep school kid who is not applying for engineering or business took calc. Pre calc at these schools, if the student has taken advanced classes in the humanities, is fine. These schools often have such incredible depth with courses offered beyond the AP level in languages, literature, etc., that students can take an incredibly rigorous course load in different ways. On the flip side, many offer math way beyond calc and colleges want to see those classes from kids where that’s the strength.</p>