Would Harvard use my school's unweighted GPA scale or use their own?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

My school’s unweighted grading scale gives a 0.33 bonus for pluses and takes away 0.44 for minuses.

Unweighted GPA Equivalents
A+ 4.33
A 4.00
A- 3.66
B+ 3.33
B 3.00
B- 2.66
C+ 2.33
C 2.00
C- 1.66
D+ 1.33
D 1.00
D- 0.66
F 0.00

According to my school’s scale (above), my unweighted GPA would be a 4.05. Will Harvard use this scale or the typical A-4, B-3, C-2, D-1 scale? According to THAT one, my unweighted GPA would be 3.86, which is a MAJOR drop. Will Harvard look at the 4.05 or recalculate it to a 3.85?

2

When you apply to college, your guidance counselor submits your transcript to Harvard along with your high school profile, which is like a rubric for decoding the grading system at your high school. Admissions looks at your GPA in in the context of your high school using your high school’s grading system. Then Admissions rates you in 4 different categories on a 1-6 scale. That 1-6 scale is then compared to other students at other high schools from across the country and across the world. See: http://www.bostonmagazine.com/2006/05/keys-to-the-kingdom/

So, Harvard will use your 4.05 GPA – and by doing so notice that you are not at the very top of your class, which would be a 4.33. Maybe they’ll even consult a table like this one: https://www.pdx.edu/asian-studies/sites/www.pdx.edu.asian-studies/files/Attachment8_GPA_Conversion_Table.pdf. So, an Admissions Officer might rate your academics (which also includes your test scores) as a 1 or 2, depending upon your course rigor and the GPA of other student’s applying to Harvard from your high school.

FWIW: Harvard doesn’t require students to take physical education, but they believe an active student equals active mind. So, I think the athletic category rates your athletic involvement (not your skills), as Admissions hopes admitted students will continue their high school athletics in college on their own.

3

Assumes facts not in evidence. The highest potential GPA is 4.33; without a school profile, there is no indication that there is a student that actually has that GPA.

The rest of the post I agree with.

4

^^ Thanks for keeping me honest!

5

@skieurope Thanks for saying that! I was definitely feeling disappointed in myself.
@gibby I’m glad to know they’ll use the 4.05 GPA. Do you think they’ll convert to a 4.0 scale?

6

@differencemaker - a small correction on your post. You said your school takes away 0.44 for minuses, but from your numerical posting, looks like they only take away 0.34.

On another note, does you school report weighted GPAs at all or no? Also, does your school report class ranks or no?

7

All selective colleges, Harvard included, specifically look at your transcript grades in 5 areas: English, Math, Science, Social Studies, and Foreign Language. Admissions ignores courses that sometimes boost a student’s GPA such as art, drama, chorus, music, band, health and physical education. Sometimes when those courses are taken out of the mix, a student’s GPA can go way down, no matter what scale is used.

Admissions compares your transcript grades in those 5 areas – not your overall GPA – to the grades in those areas of other students applying from your high school and from the information supplied on your high school’s profile. For example, let’s say you attend Pingry High School: https://www.pingry.org/uploaded/_Teaching_and_Learning/College_Counseling/2016_PingryProfile_10_6-2.pdf. An Admissions officer is going to look at Pingry’s HS Profile and on page 2 see the ranges of grades for each course and then compare those grades to your transcript grades in those 5 areas.

In a sense, Admissions is recalculating your GPA based just upon those 5 specific courses – and using your high school’s grading system rather than converting it to a 4.0 scale. See: http://greatcollegeadvice.com/calculating-your-real-grade-point-average-gpa/

8

^^ NOTE: I was too late to post this addendum. The whole process of college admissions is anything but transparent. No admissions office I’m aware of publishes exactly how they recalculate a student’s GPA – whether they just eyeball it from comparing your grades in English, Math, Science, Social Studies, and Foreign Language to those of your fellow classmates at your high school or whether they go through the process of actually recalculating it as the greatcollege article does that I linked to at the bottom of post #6. What is known is that those 5 subject areas are what Admissions focuses on to the exclusion of everything else.

9

I just want to point out the the number of profiles that give the grade distribution by course I can count on 2 hands. Very very few profiles provide this level of detail. Additionally, those that do, like Pingry, only list the courses that this year’s senior class took as a junior. Whether AO’s are going to analyze a transcript in this level of detail is open to debate.

It is far more common for profiles to list a GPA range by decile or some type of bar chart. Here is another example.
http://www.newton.k12.ma.us/cms/lib8/MA01907692/Centricity/Domain/28/2015%202016%20NNHS%20Profile.pdf

While @gibby gives a very detailed answer, I’ll give the short answer: It is what it is. If they convert GPA’s or not is totally out of your control. If you plan on applying to Harvard, spend your energies on things you can control.

10

schools recalculate gpa to make all applicants even, but they will HEAVILY look at rigor too. The gpa they look at will probably be in between your weighted and unweighted.