OFFICIAL Early Decision Applicants Thread (Columbia Class of 2014)

<p>For grades that appear on report cards/transcripts:
90-100: A
80-89: B
70-79: C
60-69: D
0-59: F</p>

<p>Classes are weighted at my school, but it only affects GPA and not the letter grades that appear on the transcript. In regular classes, an A is a 4.0 and a B is a 3.0, in honors an A is a 4.5 and a B is a 3.5, and in high honors/AP an A is a 5.0 and a B is a 4.0 (So, theoretically, the highest GPA you can receive is a 5.0)</p>

<p>My 4 89’s were in 2 AP classes and 2 HH classes, so even though they will show up as B’s on my transcript, they are equivalent to getting 4 A’s in regular classes. Personally, I think the system is pretty dumb. The only challenging courses at my school, with one notable exception (Chem H), are AP, yet someone could potentially take only HH and H classes and be valedictorian. Also, it’s impossible to get a 5.0 since gym is required and is only available as a regular class and there is a required honors history class freshman year. Languages are also only available as H until level four, and very few students start at that level freshman year.</p>

<p>The highest GPA I know of in my class is a 4.75 (only one B in AP Calc BC). I’m sitting at a 4.40 (had a 4.54 before my Junior year)</p>

<p>Interesting in deed… but even between AP’s there will be a difference surely… Surely science subjects are slightly more demanding than humanity subjects. this is certainly the case in AUS - is this the case with America?</p>

<p>I can’t speak for all schools in America, but in mine the only difference between a science AP and a humanities one is credit value, which has no bearing on GPA or Grades. You receive about 1 extra credit for science courses than you do in history, English, and language courses. I’m not really sure how appropriate this is though. Difficulty is really subjective. Some people are more naturally inclined toward sciences, while others toward humanities. Is a class that gives a lot of work to be done outside the classroom considered more difficult than one that doesn’t require much outside work but gives hard exams?</p>

<p>oh thats very interesting - so do you think the system could be better and more logical? You got a new system in mind?</p>

<p>It would make more sense for my school to do increments of 0.5 as opposed to 1.0 (aka an A in AP is a 5.0 and a B is a 4.5). I worked my ass off to make up missed work for my AP classes and still only got 89’s in them, while I’m practically sleeping through an honors class this year and getting a 98. Sciences in my school are only given at the honors and AP levels with no intermediate between them, which I think is wrong considering that one class in particular, Honors Chemistry, is renowned for slaughtering the GPA’s of countless students thanks to an incredibly tough teacher (she’s one of my favorites though) and really should be a HH class.</p>

<p>Oh and I think I’m done hijacking this thread.</p>

<p>i wish my school had the grading systems you all have…</p>

<p>that is a weird system
we have the tradition 90-100 A thing but ours is a little messed up because some electives are honors and others arent
(kids who are editors in journalism dont get honors while regular theater kids do… our gpas are .1 below theirs for no reason… sucks!)</p>

<p>my school has a pretty standard grading system…A = 90-100, B = 80-89, etc. idk, the letter grade really has no real significance in our school besides assigning certain awards. my school’s weighting is ridiculous though. we go by the 100 point scale, not the 4 point one. i had a 94.5 unweighted, which, with all my APs and honors, got boosted to a 115.68.
i’m still a bit bitter however about my school’s weighting system. they weight certain music classes, which are deemed to be “more difficult” than other music classes and therefore they add weight to your gpa. i got screwed over because i had never taken an honors music class (or any for that matter) and therefore didn’t recieve the extra weight from them. i was number 6 in my class of 401, but had it not been for the weighted music classes, i would have been 2. <em>sigh</em> as someone else said life goes on. and thus ends my rant. lol.</p>

<p>@cberkowitz, that’s how i felt when i first found this thread, lol.</p>

<p>and omggg, i want to facebook you all once we find out decisions.</p>

<p>hey guys, i thought i’d introduce myself! im a hispanic male from texas. and hope to major in psychology!</p>

<p>good luck to all of you!!! :D</p>

<p>@mary i agree!</p>

<p>A=93-infinity(103 apparently isn’t an A+…I’ve been there)
A-=90-92.99999
B+=87-89.99999
B=83-86.9999
B-=80-82.9999
…F=negative infinity-59.999
etc. lol</p>

<p>^ that is basically my school’s system…although 92.5 is often rounded up.</p>

<p>so, guys, when you think of a student at columbia, what specific qualities come to mind?
i always imagine some kids on a subway wearing columbia sweatshirts while joking about literature, among other things lol</p>

<p>I always imagine really fashionable hip kids with copies of the Iliad in their hands. :D!</p>

<p>Dillbilly123 : finally a fellow psych major. Nice to meet you!</p>

<p>Wow, for my school, the grading system is like this:</p>

<p>A: 80-100
B: 70-79
C: 60-69
D: 50-59
F: <50</p>

<p>But that’s how it is for all of Ontario, so…I dunno.</p>

<p>@xshadow63 </p>

<p>yep same sorta thing (generally speaking) for an AUs School.</p>

<p>80-100 is an A??</p>

<p>…</p>

<p>WELL marks independently say nothing about the difficulty of the subject!</p>