<p>Hello everyone! This is my first time on CC and it seems like everyone here is insane... I know that it's not uncommon for people to have a 4.0 gpa avg when applying to the top schools, but how rare is it to have straight A+'s in 5 AP classes? Is this just the norm or will this be a slight hook? </p>
<p>Thanks so much!</p>
<p>Grade Inflation much? </p>
<p>In my school 98+ is an A+. I’ve never seen it happen in an AP class.</p>
<p>It depends on what the norm is at your school. In some schools, A+'s are very rare. In others, they are almost common.</p>
<p>I don’t think it can be a hook because some schools don’t give out plus or minus grades. For instance, my high school gives out plain letter grades that don’t identify how high or low of a percentage the grade is. Like, an A could be an 89.5% or it could be a 100%. So it wouldn’t be fair to people from schools like mine because they never know if we got all 100%'s or not.</p>
<p>The difference between a student who gets a 95% and a student who gets a 100% is that the student with the 100% spends time obsessing over silly little details. An A+ isn’t more impressive than an A.</p>
<p>Look, I am completely biased on this topic because I have had straight A+s in all my classes through high school. So, I sincerely hope colleges will understand that We have devoted notabley more time to our schoolwork than others who glide by school with a 4.0by earning all A-s. With that said, I think that giving students with alot of A+s any kind of advantage is extremely difficult. I mean it would take alot of time to figure out if the HS they attend is severely grade inflated. But ya…I mean it can’t hurt to have the A+s as long as you didnt spend 100% of your time getting the A+s. Your hard work ethic WILL pay off…if not now in college!</p>
<p>Any sort of A, be it + or -, isn’t a hook for HYP, period. It looks good, but it’s not a hook. And A+'s in all AP classes may look bad <em>coughgradeinflation</em> if you don’t have the AP scores (ideally 5’s with a couple of 4’s, maybe) to back it up. So yeah, if you aced the AP exams you’d be in damn good shape, I think (academically, anyway).</p>
<p>An A+ shows you’re working too hard. I love that my school treats an 89.5 the same as a 100, because it means you learn where to fight your battles, where to put in that little extra effort and where you know your stuff. I’ve only gotten one 4 on an AP test, and that was in a class that I got an A+ in. It was an easy class, and the test was only difficult because I breezed through the class without learning enough.</p>
<p>But yeah. In my school an A shows (usually) that you’ve excelled in that subject, doing better than the rest. It’s not that I’m a slacker, it’s just that learning to forget about little things, learning to not do make-work assignments worth very few points is good for you.</p>
<p>A+s are great if the rest of you shows that dedication to everything. Bs are great if they were in a class you worked hard at, and really LEARNED something in. And yes, grades are important, but overstressing is not.</p>
<p>Again, it’s all evaluated hand-in-hand. If you have amazing scores, glowing recs, all A+'s, with a hard curriculum at a difficult school, A+'s have a different meaning than if you have mediocre scores, so-so recs, etc. To me, all A+'s usually indicates some kind of grade inflation. As long as your GPA is good, I would not worry about the +.</p>
<p>In either case, I would not say it’s a hook. Applicants with stellar grades/scores are a dime a dozen for HYP.</p>
<p>At my (nyc private) school, there is a difference. The A+ kids are rare and tend to go to HYP.
The A kids tend to go to Columbia, Penn, Dartmouth, or a top LAC. The A- kids go to Cornell, JHU, Georgetown, Emory…</p>
<p>teacher’s pets + good handwriting + nice deco = A+ , some girls are good at it.
otherwise, A</p>
<p>my county is like that too, we only have “A” on our report card which is good and bad. less pressure but no recognition for people like me who maintain 100% averages in all our APs (so far i’ve only taken APUSH and Psych tho, but sometimes i didn’t even read the chapters lol)</p>
<p>if you are horrified that hey should recognize A+'s, you should find something else to do. you spend unnecessary time trying to get an A+ when other kids are doing things useful to prepare for their future.</p>
<p>I feel that colleges – though they look at grades – more frequently will review your type of courses and your class rank. If you have straight A’s but class rank is low, colleges would know that the grades are inflated. On the contrary, if your grades are all B’s but you are in top 5% of your class, then it is obvious to understand that the grading standard of your school is pretty hard. So, don’t worry just put your best effort in the class.</p>
<p>At my school, the top 5% are into the A+, and just because it’s an AP doesn’t mean it’s hard to get a 98 or above average in the class. It’s not common in my school for people to even take an AP class but those who do, of which there is a minority, usually excel. Usually, it’s to inflate your GPA and last year our valecdectorian had like a 4.6 because of all the AP classes he took. A lot of kids attempt it but not a lot succeed. In the long run, it’s not a big deal. Schools like HYP are looking for that but not JHU, any state schools, or even Dartmouth type schools. Plus, you have to focus on extracurriculars as well so don’t stress over A+'s!</p>
<p>The valedictorian at my high school (class of 2009) has received essentially straight A+'s throughout high school (his seven-semester GPA was 4.6891) and was rejected at all of the top 20 schools that he applied to (including Harvard and a number of others). He’s planning to attend Miami University; trust me, A+'s are meaningless.</p>
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<p>If his SAT scores were weak then his straight A+s obviously implied grade inflation at his school and thus his GPA was probably deemed to be of little value.</p>
<p>I just hate the fact that I got border line grades like 97.4 that are so close to A+s. Oh well guess I just have bad luck. And it annoys me more when I think about how those dumb kids get 91.5s and have the same grade as I do. And no, I do not work extra hard or extremely hard in those classes to get A+s. In fact I regret that I didn’t work harder to get A+s. Sorry for the ranting, but I feel somewhat better now.</p>
<p>@monstor344
I’m quite sure his standardized test scores were competitive.</p>
<p>Apple-</p>
<p>I agree with you that A+s and being val by NO means grant you special access to any of the top 20 schools. However, I would not use this student you mention above to “prove” that A+s are worthless. I mean you could have a student with a perfect 2400/36 that gets denied from all top schools for a variety of reasons that range from subpar GPA to bad personality/discipline stuff to no ECs. But ya…I still think you have a point to a degree.</p>