<p>OK, report card just came, and I have a 100 avg-- good, OK, fine. the thing is, my school is really weird about gym. They give you a grade for it, but it doesn't go into your average. And the absent policy is ridiculous. They take off 5 points from your average for every absence, legally excused or not. You can make up the classes, but no one ever does.</p>
<p>So basically I have an 80 and a 75 in gym for my first two quarters. And about a 85 avg from last year in gym. My first two years they just gave pass/fail grades for gym.</p>
<p>Are these bad grades from gym going to seriously affect a admissions decision? I seriously hope not, because they don't mean anything and it's the result of being absent often more than me doing badly in gym. </p>
<p>mini-- you really scared me there, i thought you were serious.</p>
<p>the only reason i-- and no one else-- makes their classes up is because you have to go during a lunch period or before school...plus it's so ridiculous, you have to make up legal absences? ew.</p>
<p>My question would be about the 100 average. How do you possibly get 100 in everything? Are you a super, super, super genius, or is there serious grade inflation at your school? Or is the work really easy? What is the AVERAGE score at your school (I read recently that 47% of students now have an A average, which, of course, should be impossible in any reasonable bell-shaped curve world)? </p>
<p>I don't doubt you; I just think there must be more here than meets the eye. How does someone NEVER make even the slightest mistake or two, all quarter (or semester) long, in any subject, that would bring a grade down to a, say, (gasp!) 98?</p>
<p>I was an ivy interviewer for 15 years, and this would make me very suspicious.</p>
<p>Nedad, we both go to the same school and our averages are weighted for AP classes and what not. This is common all throughout New York state public schools. There is pretty bad grade inflation as well, but in general it is very well known in college admissions that this is how it works. The valedictorian of our class, for example, would have something around a 103. I was outside the top 10% with a 96. Just to give you an idea.</p>
<p>Well, I am sorry you were outside the top 10%, but it gives me hope for my daughter - I thought she might be screwed, being in the top 11%, given the USNWR rankings for number of admits in the top 10% --- you got accepted somewhere really good, right?...If I remember correctly....</p>
<p>NOt true, there are large majority of NYC high schools ( I know my daughter's for one)that don't weigh grades. I don't beleive they weigh grades at Stuyvesant or Bronx Science because there is an expectation that you are taking AP courses.
Babybird, I would watch those absences in gym, because you don't want ot miss graduation for failing gym</p>
<p>nedad-- yes, there is grade inflation, about 10 points extra per "weighted" class. My average is actually kind of low compared to others at my school and I rank about 22 out of 400.</p>
<p>sybbie-- you are right. I used to go to Stuyvesant and there is certainly no grade inflation there or at Brook Tech/Bronx Sci.</p>
<p>I'm certainly not going to fail gym, I just don't want gym to be a factor in admissions.</p>
<p>dmd77-- i'm not whining. but their policy on absents is awkward and inconsiderate, in my opinion. After all, my close friend is sick all the time, not through any fault of her own, and she shouldn't have to make up all those classes because of that.</p>
<p>achat - hah i think i can talk within this thread because it won't be discovered and hijacked by any posters with some personal vendetta against me :). so yes, i am doing very, very well. i started up classes at college last week and i am taking three incredible 300-level courses. one course is on modern us diplomacy and it is particularly fascinating, with an incredible professor. right now we are studying truman, dean acheson, mccarthyism, etc. incredible stuff! other than that i am relaxing, going to a princeton alumni reception in a few weeks, and doing some heavy reading so that i'm not the only kid who has never read "the merchant of venice" or "the prince", etc. any books i should read? how bout movies? i finally saw "casablanca" :)</p>
<p>i'm also taking yoga now instead of gym (im in babybirds class), so i have some motivation to get up and go to class, because essentially i just fall back to sleep in the lotus position moments later. so believe it or not, i'm graduating! it's an exciting time, indeed.</p>
<p>okay - so if you have an 80 and a 75 for the first two quarters and they take off 5 points for every absence that means (if I get this right!) that you missed 4 classes first quarter and 5 classes second quarter (or vice versa). So over the course of roughly 16 weeks (not sure how long your quarters are) you missed 9 classes??? Either you are ill a lot or you just don't get to PE and in that case you are mighty lucky that does NOT count in your overall average. And your school lets you make it up - but you choose not to. Sorry - I think a class is a class is a class and if you miss it you pay the consequences. Now I'm not equating PE with AP Chem but it still counts for something. </p>
<p>Bottom line: you can't complain about something you permit. If you don't go to gym class, don't complain about what the consequences might be (and thank your lucky stars those consequences probably won't be too severe.)</p>
<p>Just my $.02.</p>
<p>Oops, just saw Ilcapo's post that she's sick a lot of the time. So maybe never mind. Although I have to wonder how someone who's sick so much still gets such a high average - weighted or not.</p>
<p>I do get sick frequently but it's also things like music lessons and guidance-- if I have a choice between missing AP Politics or missing gym, I'm going to miss gym-- so I end up with a lower average. When I miss other classes, they don't force me to attend another section just to make it up. So why gym? it's ugh.</p>
<p>Anyway, my question is not whether the policy is fair. My question is whether it will negatively affect my chances at admission. If everything else looks good, are they really going to say no because "she's no good at gym"?</p>
<p>my only thought about why your school is requiring you to take gym is that your state may have a requirement for ___# of PE credits for graduation.
They probably don't require AP politics for graduation
Our school however allows a credit to be waived if you are on a sports team.
This is what my daughter is going to do this semester, because that then opens up her schedule for more academic classes.</p>
<p>I failed gym first quarter and still got into Brown. Don't worry about it. The teacher even gave me a really really nasty comment on my report card, and it made no difference.</p>
<p>Missing 9 classes per semester isn't that much. With a fall sport, I missed about 15 days of school before the end of October. Getting caught up in so many APs was such a joy...</p>
<p>Just putting in my .02 about weighting and grade inflation in NY public schools - practices vary considerably by district. While students in some districts may graduate with 100-plus averages, many others absolutely could not. Our competitive public hs neither weights nor ranks. GPA is on a 5.5 scale, with 5.5 being an A-plus average (97-100), and 5.0-5.49 an A. No one in recent memory has graduated with an A-plus average, and usually only about 5-6 percent of the class will graduate in the A range.</p>
<p>Many kids would score in the A-plus range if GPA was calculated on a scale of 100, but the hs won't do it. Cumulative GPAs are not rounded up, and gym counts. After 2 years of reading CC, this grading system seems to me rather "special," and not in a good way - but it does keep grade inflation down.</p>
<p>NY also permits local districts a lot of leeway in setting PE participation policies. 10th-12th graders who are involved in sports or other physical activities, including dance, MAY be excused from gym classes if the school's policy permits. Ours doesn't. Some schools are particularly hard-nosed about gym absences and will withold graduation from a student who has missed too many.</p>