<p>First semester freshman year I got all As and 2 or 3 A minuses. Second semester, I got only one A minus. My school does note the A- on my transcript, however if I got all A minuses it would still display 4.0 at the bottom. Will colleges use their own systems with the letter grades or take the school’s reported GPA? </p>
<p>Also, both semesters I got an A+ in orchestra. Do colleges factor these kinds of classes into GPA? I know for P.E. they don’t.</p>
<p>Generally your GPA won’t be taken at face value. Some colleges recalculate GPA, but others just sort of eyeball your transcript to see what kinds of grades you got, mostly in academic classes. An A minus will be viewed differently from an A (even if they don’t recalculate), but having a few A minuses or Bs shouldn’t be a big deal. </p>
<p>Most schools take the overall grades after a year unless it is a semester course. Most use the GPA because it is a more precise measurement, but some recalculate for non core courses such as PE.</p>