Who Counts Grade Pluses and Minuses and Who Doesn't?

Applying to College
1

<p>I've read that neither the UC system nor CMU consider the plus or minus
on grades rather looking at just the letter. A 4, B 3, C 2. I have a lot of
A- in my junior year with the 5 APs. So that makes the number value 3.7
unweighted 4.7 weighted rather than a 4 or 5 when decimals are included.<br>
My unweighted is 3.84 if you don't include the +/- but 3.68 if you do. Are
there any other noteworthy schools that toss the plus/minus? My SATs,
APs, SAT II are all solid. But GPA seems to be crumbling the more I dig
into the details beyond the official high school transcript. I tossed out PE and
health from the equation. </p>

2

<p>Found some info from this WSJ article. Emory, CMU, UC. And then Haverford uses class rank. Now sure how that would work with my school district that doesn’t rank.</p>

<p><a href=“Why Colleges Scoff At Your Kid's GPA - WSJ”>http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB105899458688282900&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

3

<p>Interesting statement by the Haverford admissions director who said that when they “guesstimate” class rank it usually hurts the applicant because the guesses are conservative. My kids’ competitive private school doesn’t provide rank and I have always thought that hurts the top students and leads to greater reliance on SAT scores.</p>

4

<p>Also Cal State calculation is without pluses and minuses. A is an A. Just FYI if any future folks are looking. </p>

<p><a href=“Cal State Apply | CSU”>Cal State Apply | CSU;

5

<p>I can see the rationale for not counting A pluses as different than A’s since some teachers consider A to be the highest grade while others do give out the A plus.</p>

6

<p>When ivies recalculate your GPA, I highly doubt they consider the plusses and minuses. It would be unfair because at many schools there are no A-'s (like mine) and a 90+ would be an A. </p>