<li><p>How do grad schools view A+'s (my school gives them out but they only count as a 4.0). I realize this probably varies from school to school but was wondering if any schools re-calculate your GPA counting an A+ as a 4.3 (I thought I read somewhere that Stanford does this). </p></li>
<li><p>Also, how do grad schools view upward trends in undergrad GPAs. My first semester has covered grades (pass/fail) and my 2nd semester was my lowest gpa (although it was still a 3.7). My sophomore and junior years have been nearly perfect GPA wise and was just curious as to whether or not this will help me in anyway.</p></li>
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<p>Since most colleges don't give A+ grades or go above 4.0, graduate schools do not recalculate undergrad grades to account for A+ marks, at least as far as I've ever heard. I imagine that a transcript of A-pluses from a school that gives out A-pluses would be viewed by admissions committees as identical to a transcript of all As from a school that caps grades at A.</p>
<p>As for your other question, upward trends are always good. Your grades in courses relevant to the graduate program in question are more important than your grades in other classes, and most students don't start taking major classes until their second year, so therefore your first-year grades are not as relevant (unless you screwed up in relevant classes in your first year).</p>