Do top universities (like ivy league, northwestern, stanford) still recalculate your GPA? I read in an article that they don’t include electives like art or gym and a lot of them don’t count the +'s or -'s in letter grades, but the article was from 2003 so I’m not sure if that information is still accurate. also, do they focus a lot on senior year grades (if you’re applying RD)?
This is a prime example of “It is what it is.” Whether they do or not, there is nothing you can do about it.
Some colleges recalculate GPA, some don’t. Some only include academic courses, others include all. Some use +/-, some don’t. Some recalculate an UW GPA; others weight to their own parameters.
Is there a master list of what colleges recalculate GPA? No. You can certainly ask the colleges in question, but be prepared not to get a straight answer.