<p>RobD~ Thanks for the info. I knew that D would probably qualify for the honors program, but hadn’t read anything about the Blount Iniative. Sounds very interesting. D is planning to major in english, but is also very interested in psychology. Looks, though, that she is out of the running for the bigger OOS scholarships since she will not quite be at a 3.5 at the end of this year. Do you have any info about the UA Early College’s Honor Ready Experience that is held during the summer? D received an invite to apply.</p>
<p>Haystack~ Will you be visiting Truman in April for the Junior Showcase? We are planning on attending, but may visit earlier if time allows.</p>
<p>SATs out of the way! Yay! S2 will be a “one and done” kid. Now we’re just waiting to hear from 2 of the summer programs that he applied to. It will be his first summer program, other than church camp (which he hated). He’s probably going to be gone for 5 weeks this summer, so it will be a good trial run for college. My only concern is laundry, so it looks like there are going to be some laundry lessons in the near future.</p>
<p>When you guys talk about your child’s GPA, is it the school’s report or do you calculate it? Our school only calculates weighted GPA. There are all sorts of GPA calculators online for me to calculate unweighted GPA but I am wondering about things like pluses (e.g., is an A+ commonly a 4 unweighted? Or a 4.5? And if it is a 4, is it the same as an A or is an A lower?). And do you put in gym? Do colleges just sort all this out themselves? And if so, then only your own school’s Naviance is any use in planning, because everyone is working with a different system, right? I mean, my son’s xx.xx GPA is different from your daughter’s xx.xx because there is no assurance that they are calculated the same way.</p>
<p>When my older D was applying to colleges, most of the selective school told us that they recalculated every GPA according to their own criteria. Most simply scored only core classes - math, science, English and social studies (some used foreign language) and did not use any quality points for honors or AP. So, in theory, an A in regular English would count the same as an A in AP English. The only bump, according to many schools, was on “rigor” of curriculum. Of course, these did not include Ivys but some top 25 schools.</p>
<p>At my D’s high school GPA is calculated on a 4.0 scale, any A is a 4.00. They do weight honors and AP courses, A=5.00. Both are listed on the transcript, and all courses are counted. I have heard of schools that only count core classes, and that some colleges do recalculate GPAs. </p>
<p>How would colleges look at this situation? My D is in an outlying metro(ruralish) school district, 3.325U/3.388W, 29 ACT with 34E/22M/34R/27S. I believe this is a real indication of her as a student. Someone else in a rural high school with a 3.85, 23 composite ACT with 24E/23M/22R/23S. I know of someone else who previous graduated from this other school with all A’s, one B up until the end of junior year, who scored a 24 on the ACT. How is that GPA so high with low test scores, and how would my higher test, low GPA student compare?</p>
<p>I just did some calculations, and if DD can get a 4.0 sem gpa it will bring her cumulative to 3.49. I am wondering if she can add a class that she can earn .5 credits for this last quarter, and could get an A in it, that would put her at a 3.5. I am sure that would be a request that her GC hasn’t heard before! Probably not possible, but a thought…</p>
<p>Our school doesn’t provide GPA (except on college transcripts) and does not provide rank. Our school weights the AP and IB courses. In my D’s school an A+ to an A- is a 4.0. </p>
<p>I believe each college handles differently. </p>
<p>D did take the SAT on Saturday and said it was okay. She wasn’t happy with her essay, but felt good about the other two sections. Can’t wait to get the results to see if we can put this to rest.</p>
<p>Wow! SteveMA - I couldn’t disagree with you more. I can only say that I have been a student there recently and I saw almost no sign of the 40,000 students on the weekends. While there, I was personally familiar with many undergrads whom I knew left campus nearly every weekend. (they might not have gone home, but they sure didn’t stick around Dinkytown.) </p>
<p>I would never recommend an out of state student attend the U for this reason. A couple of athletes I knew from other states were miserable.</p>
<p>My D’s school provides a weighted GPA and class rank on the report card beginning second semester of junior year. However, the methodology for determining the GPA is clearly stated in the curriculum guide, so we have been calculating it ourselves since my D started high school classes in sixth grade. They only report the weighted GPA on the transcript and all of the public colleges in our state that we have talked to do not recalculate an unweighted GPA for admission purposes. They just look at the reported GPA in the context of the school where it was earned. I have never quite known how to calculate an unweighted GPA for my D because our school system uses +'s making an unweighted A+ worth 4.5 quality points. My D would have an unweighted GPA quite a bit over 4.0 using this system.</p>
<p>My D was happy to have finally taken the SAT on Saturday. She thought the math and writing sections were the easiest. After being in AP English Language all year, the essay was a piece of cake for her. She felt the critical reading was the most challenging which has been her experience with the PSAT. Looking forward to getting the results at the end of the month. D is eagerly anticipating March 29 for other reasons, however. She is leaving for NYC early that morning with her orchestra group. She has never been and is very excited for the trip!</p>
<p>Vandy: UNC-A is 88% instate and 33% live on campus so I think being a suitcase school might be an issue, although Asheville proper is an amazing & lively place so there should be plenty to do on the weekends. There is bus service from the campus to downtown on a regular basis (I asked!) so even kids without cars should be able to take advantage of the local opportunities. For me, the problem with UNC-A is accessibility. It’s just far enough away that coming home for a random weekend would be tough to do, there’s no good way to fly there, and the portion of the ride between Knoxville & Asheville is a little on the white knuckle side even in good weather. And between November-March, there can always be snow in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Ain’t no way I’m driving that stretch in the snow!</p>
<p>midwestmom: D2 got invited to the Early College thing as well, but I’m of no help. She’s too busy to take extra classes during the regular school year & for summer, she wants a more specialized program. I’d suggest popping over to the UA forum and asking there. I’ve heard it mentioned. </p>
<p>Just had this GPA conversation with a friend. Every HS is so different in how they calculate, and admissions counselors know this (method is generally reported in the school profile that’s sent with the transcript.) Our reported GPA is weighted and everything is counted. There are different “quality” points for gpa for +, regular and - versions of a grade. For example:</p>
<p>Grade Value Regular Honors AP/IB</p>
<p>A 97–100 4.0 4.5 5.0</p>
<p>A 94 – 96 3.7 4.2 4.7</p>
<p>A 91 – 93 3.5 4.0 4.5</p>
<p>I’ve decided this is one of those things I just can’t worry about. Kids can control to some extent their test scores & how they do in the classroom; they can’t control how the administration figures stuff like this out. I will say this: if your school only reports an unweighted GPA and your child is missing out on a scholarship because of this, check with the college scholarship office. I know U of Alabama has accepted adjusted handwritten GPA’s from the HS counselor to reflect the weighted version even if it’s not that HS’s usual practice. Telling a GC that your kid is missing out on a 6 figure scholarship can sometimes lead to an exception in policy. </p>
<p>I seriously need to start making hotel & car reservations for our trip now…</p>
<p>At my son’s school, an A = 95, B = 85, C = 75, etc. There are no +s or -s and the highest GPA possible out of a 4.0 (straight As or 95s) is 3.88. They don’t rank.</p>
<p>Our school gives A, A-, B+, etc. The bottom for an A is 94%, A- bottom is 92%, etc… The few schools we’ve found that have their merit criteria on their website lumps all A’s into the 4.0, all B’s into 3.0, etc. Every school we have looked at, however, says they put more emphasis on the class rank vs the GPA because they want to see where kids fall in relation to classmates. A 4.0 or a 3.7 is meaningless if you don’t know where the other kids fall. Not sure what they do for schools that don’t rank but I suspect schools that “don’t rank” really do when they send over the school profile but that is just my guess.</p>
<p>Steve, our school just stopped ranking, except for top 10%. But I believe on the profile they list GPAs per decile so you can kind of figure out who’s where.</p>
<p>Today is the first official day of spring break. Ds2’s plans include sleeping late, shopping for new running shoes and going to watch the finale of The Bachelor with friends. :)</p>
<p>Our school profile gives no indication of GPA distribution whatsoever. And really and truly doesn’t rank. They really try to create an evironment that fosters collaboration. The only thing they mention that gives any clue to where a student stands in relation to their peers, is the percentage of seniors that take dual enrollment classes</p>
<p>RobD - I know this is a bit off-topic, but I had to laugh about the road between Knoxville and Asheville. We live in the midwest and I grew up in NC, so every summer we do the “I-40 through the mountains”. Every year we look at our car and say “Can it take the trip on I-40 through the mountains?” I hope it can make it this year!</p>
<p>Our school stopped ranking the year older son was a Freshman. The profile shows the GPA required to be in the following bands using weighted GPA, including academic and non-academic classes - Top 10%, Top 25%, Top 50%, etc. It also shows the highest GPA. It gives this data for each graduating class at 6 semesters for juniors and 8 semesters for seniors.</p>
<p>GPA calculations vary so widely! In our school over a 94 would be an A which would translate to a 4.0 (or 5.0 if an IB or AP class). If your student has a 93, it would be a 3.0. </p>
<p>I am not exactly the biggest standardized test supporter, but these differences speak to the importance of these tests and other measures.</p>
<p>BerneseMtn: you know there’s no such thing as “off topic” for this thread Glad to know I’m not the only one who ponders that drive before taking it!</p>
<p>For more food for thought about ranking & gpa, there’s an article a friend recommended from the Spring 2007 edition of American Secondary Education (volume 35, issue 2, pages 36-48) titled “Class Rank, GPA & Valedictorians: How High Schools Rank Students.” From the abstract: There is no standard ranking procedure. I agree with nellieh that although the emphasis on standardized testing can be frustrating, just think about how admission counselors at the 3000+ colleges need to wade through the various ranking & GPA schemes they see come across their desks & try to make sense of it all. </p>
Probably not possible, but a thought…</p>
Glad to know I’m not the only one who ponders that drive before taking it!</p>