<p>I've asked everyone I can for an answer to this question and no one seems to have an answer for me. My school district grades on a scale different from everyone else in the nation.</p>
<p>At my school:
A = 94-100
B = 85-93
C = ?-84</p>
<p>I'm beginning my senior year and have received, by our scale, 11.5 As, 11.5 Bs, and 2 Cs. As a result my GPA falls somewhere around (I estimate) an unweighted 3.37 on our scale.</p>
<p>Of these, 8 were accelerated classes and 1 was AP. I know for a fact that by the 90-100, and 80-89 scale, that 7.5 of those Bs would be considered As and both of the Cs considered Bs.</p>
<p>As a result of this, I have a very hard time reporting my GPA to colleges or even know where to apply and who will consider me. The only college I've attempted to have this discussion with was University of the Cumberlands when they called to tell me about scholarships I was eligible for and they pretty much ignored my question of whether it would be converted to the standard scale or not.</p>
<p>Can anyone help me? Will my GPA be converted when considering my eligibility for admissions and scholarships? Furthermore, for the first two years of high school, my transcript reports only the letter grade received and not the percentage. How should I go about reporting my GPA to colleges on forms where there is only a blank space to fill in your GPA?</p>
They won’t ask. They’ll look at your transcript. If your trancript shows numeric grades and letter grades they may make an adjustment for the harsh scale. If it only shows numbers or letters (not both), then that’s what they’ll see.</p>
<p>
There is no national standard. At my daughter’s HS the teachers are free to set their own scales. For example, in AP Physics B, 65-100 is an A, and in AP Calc AB, 95-100 is an A. As you might imagine, the physics teacher writes a pretty mean test.</p>
<p>Colleges will be able to see how each school calculates students’ GPAs because you (or your GC) have to send a sheet of paper (that your school prints out, you don’t have to find the info and write it down yourself) about your school explaining GPA calculation, how classes are weighted, what classes are available, etc. It’s updated every year, too, so you don’t have to worry if something about the school has changed for underclassmen but not for your class.</p>
<p>If you want to see what colleges will see, ask your guidance counselor how to get a copy of the school profile they send out with the transcripts. That explains everything you or the college admissions office needs to know.</p>
<p>When asked to report a GPA, students should report whatever appears on their school records. Admission officials will read the school profile that accompanies all counselor reports to check out the grading scale and see if it differs from the norm. However, it’s fine for the OP (as well as for any student from a school with an atypical scale) to make a quick note in the “Additional Information” section of applications (or send a separate cover letter) that alerts admission committees to this anomaly–or any other one–on their transcript or in their background.</p>
<p>OP, our local HS uses the same grading scale that yours does. So I’m sure that there are plenty of others out there that do.</p>
<p>You do not need to worry about reporting or calculating your GPA. Your school will do that.</p>
<p>You also do not need to worry about explaining your school’s grading system to colleges. Your school will do that in the school profile that they send to every college. The profile will also explain your school’s weighting system, if any, and give an idea of distribution of GPAs. The likelihood is that your school’s profile is available through their website. You can go there and check it out.</p>
<p>I would not make the assumption that you can take a 90 from your school and say that it would be an A elsewhere. Teachers generally grade within the grading system they are given. If they gave you a B+, they meant it to be a B+. If they were operating in a different grading system, they would have calibrated their grading to suit.</p>
<p>If you want to know what your current estimated GPA and rank–if any–are in order to decide where to apply, just ask your GC.</p>
<p>Thanks for your responses. I didn’t know about the school profile and went down to my guidance office to get a few copies today. As for my class rank, it was top 13% before I got my two Cs. I don’t know what it’s at now. Our class rank is weighted by AP, but not our GPA.</p>
<p>FM - You’re in a gray area, definitely. If it were me, I’d take this as an advantage. I’d apply to a range of schools, and accept at the best place that accepted me. YMMV of course. Bottom Line? It’s no disaster, for sure.</p>