What's the point, OP? How much do you want to argue this? Why?
The college doesn't endorse. That's far from offering carte blanche to make up your own gpa and pretend it's fact. Yes, the 4 point scale is conventional and accepted. You think kids could arbitrarily give themselves a 6 pt scale? Or go ahead and call themselves A students when they aren't? That's not clear thinking, much less, defensible.
The end point is what employers or grad school expect. Use that basis. If you want to convolute, do it at your own risk. (That expression, dumb is as dumb does. )
If this is all just too hard to do right, ask the career folks to help. Get it done. There's only so much wide eyed shoulder shrugging that can be tolerated.
why the university does not officially declare this to be the case
For the same reason Brown doesn't have +s or -s. It runs counter to the new curriculum's goals of academic exploration and pursuit of knowledge. A transcript is supposed to represent a record of the things you have learned and how well you have learned them. That's why it's a list of courses with grades next to them and why NCs don't appear (that course's material is obviously something you haven't learned). A GPA does not tell you that. It is just a number.
Just as you're so concerned about what "legal" imperative there is for a Brown student to not just make up their own GPA, what is the "legal" imperative for a school to not offer a course called "Enrolled at our school" that's worth 100000000000000000 credits and give everyone As? This would put essentially every student's GPA at 4.0 on the transcript no matter what they got in their other courses which, if someone is going of GPA alone, would make these students on paper look more competitive than other students. There are still colleges that require PE courses and put them into the GPA on the transcript - why on earth would an employer or graduate school care about the grade for those? What if I only care about your GPA for a specific department? What if I don't want to factor in the transfer credits from another school? What if, what if, what if - the possibilities are endless.
So Brown decided that they're just going to give you a list of courses and grades and interpretation is in the eye of the beholder. The A=4, B=3, C=2 system is so widely used, that when someone wants a GPA, that's 99.99999999999% of the time what a Brown student is going to use to calculate their GPA for whoever is asking for it.
There's an awful lot of concern in your post over legality. I don't see much concern for morals or ethics.
@akmom124 for medical school at least (and I assume many other places), S is 0/0. It plays no role in GPA calculations.
fireandrainRegistered UserPosts: 4,738Senior Member
This is truly one of the most absurd threads I've seen on this forum.
You don't fudge when you calculate your GPA just like you shouldn't lie about anything on your application. If you have no morals, you can lie about anything you want. If you get caught, your acceptance will be rescinded.
The fact that you see a "moral hazard"with this says more about your ethics than Brown's policy.
Replies to: Moral hazard concerning GPAs
The college doesn't endorse. That's far from offering carte blanche to make up your own gpa and pretend it's fact. Yes, the 4 point scale is conventional and accepted. You think kids could arbitrarily give themselves a 6 pt scale? Or go ahead and call themselves A students when they aren't? That's not clear thinking, much less, defensible.
The end point is what employers or grad school expect. Use that basis. If you want to convolute, do it at your own risk. (That expression, dumb is as dumb does. )
If this is all just too hard to do right, ask the career folks to help. Get it done. There's only so much wide eyed shoulder shrugging that can be tolerated.
Just as you're so concerned about what "legal" imperative there is for a Brown student to not just make up their own GPA, what is the "legal" imperative for a school to not offer a course called "Enrolled at our school" that's worth 100000000000000000 credits and give everyone As? This would put essentially every student's GPA at 4.0 on the transcript no matter what they got in their other courses which, if someone is going of GPA alone, would make these students on paper look more competitive than other students. There are still colleges that require PE courses and put them into the GPA on the transcript - why on earth would an employer or graduate school care about the grade for those? What if I only care about your GPA for a specific department? What if I don't want to factor in the transfer credits from another school? What if, what if, what if - the possibilities are endless.
So Brown decided that they're just going to give you a list of courses and grades and interpretation is in the eye of the beholder. The A=4, B=3, C=2 system is so widely used, that when someone wants a GPA, that's 99.99999999999% of the time what a Brown student is going to use to calculate their GPA for whoever is asking for it.
There's an awful lot of concern in your post over legality. I don't see much concern for morals or ethics.
@akmom124 for medical school at least (and I assume many other places), S is 0/0. It plays no role in GPA calculations.
You don't fudge when you calculate your GPA just like you shouldn't lie about anything on your application. If you have no morals, you can lie about anything you want. If you get caught, your acceptance will be rescinded.
The fact that you see a "moral hazard"with this says more about your ethics than Brown's policy.