<p>I think it’s clear that Arizona is most interested not in educating kids (that is, taking them as far as they can during the four years they are there), but in “turning out” performers that they think will be professionals and which will bring “glory” back on that program.</p>
<p>One of the chief complaints of those being cut is that they were not informed of their cut until it was too late to apply to, let alone audition for, another school for the following year. Take a look at some of the past posts.</p>
<p>Keep in mind also that no one is contending that a student should be permitted to remain in a BFA program simply because they can pony up the tuition regardless of their performance. What is being questioned is a cut system where either a school accepts more students than it really intends to keep and cuts the class to achieve predetermined numbers, regardless of student performance or where, as may be the case at UA, students are viewed as a fungible product and the stock is reshuffled when fresher product is available that seems more marketable. When you look at the number of cuts and the percentage they represent of a given class, something is going on unrelated to simply whether a student is achieving solid growth and reflecting expected commitment.</p>
<p>Wow! After reading about the “cuts” at U. of A. I had to go and check out previous discussions here on CC. This school has not been on my D’s “List” so I was not aware of all this controversy. </p>
<p>I have to respect that the university is up-front about their policy, but it seems a little too much like they are more interested in building a program of “stars” rather than showing loyalty to the students they accepted into the program as freshmen. College students are NOT in the “real world” yet, but are preparing for it. Our MT kids get exposure to the “real world” through community and regional theater, summer stock and internships. In these ways they are building up to college graduation and the “Real World”. I am not unrealistic to many school’s review and jury policies. U. of A. just has a different and rather disturbing twist to it.</p>
<p>With the cost of a college education we could not afford to risk loosing 1-2 years of tuition not to mention adding in the expense of auditioning all over again because of a “possibility” that my child would be cut at the end of the year. How can anyone operate under that kind of emotional and financial stress?</p>
<p>As a parent of a student in the H.S. class of '09 I’d like to thank everyone who continues to bring information such as this to our attention.</p>
<p>I’d also like to thank MichaelNKat for adding the word fungible to my vocabulary. You’re never too old to learn!</p>
<p>I just don’t understand why any student would choose to attend a program with cuts such as U of Arizona’s when there are so many fabulous programs that offer training that is just as good, if not better, who don’t cut. What does Arizona offer that ONLY Arizona offers that makes it worth taking the risk that the faculty might decide you don’t have “professional potential” (or whatever that phrase was!) as a sophomore and cut you? I have to ask myself why top programs such as Carnegie Mellon have done away with their cuts. There is a good reason.</p>
<p>I wonder if it would be possible to move all this info about U Arizona onto the respective thread?</p>
<p>We do know someone who is a happy BFA MT at UA and who is double majoring. As Arizona was never on my D’s radar we have never asked in depth about her BFA experience, but she always seems perfectly happy when we see her. For any of you who are eager to speak with another person in the program, PM me and I can see if she would be willing to answer any pertinent questions.</p>
<p>Back in '06 there was some discussion about weighted and unweighted GPAs. At that time, someone said that most schools look at unweighted. Our school guidance dept. will only give us the GPA as weighted- when I asked for it also unweighted, (which I did twice), I was told that “most schools prefer the weighted”.</p>
<p>When I see an average GPA reported on a school’s website which is it, weighted or unweighted? (Obviously, I can email each school and ask, jut thought I’d run it by CC first.) With my D’s ecclectic mix of AP, Honors and CP classes I am concerned that the difference between the two calculations will effect which are “stretch” schools when we put together a balanced group of applications.</p>
<p>Can anyone recommend a way of converting W. to Un-W.? I looked online and it was a black hole of more confusion on an already murky topic.</p>
<p>I know that there are guidelines for reweighting GPA’s in the Florida State University system. They are as follows;
A, A-=4.0
B+, B, B-=3.0
C+,C,C-=2.0 then add 1.0 for AP and .5 for Honors
This should recalculate a weighted GPA (for Florida)
I don’t know how universal this method is. I know that our high school is very generous in their weighting; 2.0 for AP and 1.0 for Honors. In addition a B- is a full 3.0, a B is 3.2 and a B+ is a 3.7 plus the weighting points. Although this makes the kids feel great in high school there is a real shock when they are reweighted for college.
Hope this helps</p>
<p>mtfamily, I think what you’ll find is that each school has their own way of making this calculation. Most, from what I’ve seen, do, indeed, look at unweighted rather than weighted, so your guidance dept. is not right about that. However, many recalculate gpa when they receive the student’s transcript, often only including core academic classes in their re-calculation. You’re probably best inquiring at each school you’re interested in, in spite of it taking longer to get all of the answers. :)</p>
<p>I can help. For starters, not all high schools use weighted grades for the GPA or ranking. So, in order to have everyone on the same playing field, one would have to go by the unweighted GPA. Please be assured that schools most definitely examine the RIGOR of one’s chosen curriculum in the context of what is offered at their high school and so will take into account that factor. But in terms of GPA, an unweighted one is usually used as that is what everyone has and not everyone attends a school that has a weighted grading system, as well as the fact, that grading systems vary widely across high schools (ie., some use numerical grades like 1-100, some use a 4.0 scale and some have a 6.0 scale and so on ). So, every applicant’s transcript is examined and an unweighted GPA can be calculated. In fact, with all of my clients, I calculate their unweighted GPA if they do not have one (some schools only report a weighted one). Again, that is not to ignore the weighted GPA or the rigor of the classes. </p>
<p>So, when you see reported average GPAs for admitted students in college directories, they are referring usually to an UNWEIGHTED GPA. The only exceptions I have seen are the state U’s in CA which seem to have a weighted system. </p>
<p>To calculate your child’s GPA, you would convert each A, A-, B+, B, B-, etc. into a numerical. An A would get 4 grade points, a B would get 3 grade points, etc. And then you would divide by the total number of classes or credit hours. An easier way is to use a GPA calculator or conversion chart. Here is an online one that I have used many times:
[Online</a> Conversion - Grade Point Average Calculator](<a href=“http://www.onlineconversion.com/grade_point_average.htm]Online”>Online Conversion - Grade Point Average Calculator)
So, remember, take your child’s grades off the transcript for each course. It is not like converting a weighted GPA to an unweighted one like you asked but merely just computing an unweighted one. And when you do, go by THAT for comparison purposes in looking at the stats of admitted students at the colleges you are interested in. But also keep in mind that a more rigorous curriculum is going to be a PLUS in the evaluation of the student’s record. More selective colleges are going to expect or require a student to have chosen a more demanding curriculum within the context of what their HS offered (you can only take what your school offers and are not penalized for not taking more APs, for example, if your school doesn’t offer such courses). Be wary of those who simply post stats as they are not comparable without examining the rigor of the courseload. Indeed rigor is a factor in admissions, particularly at selective schools. Further, your child’s weighted GPA will be beneficial when it comes to class rank if your school uses a weighted system.</p>
<p>I cross posted with AlwaysAMom but agree that some colleges only compute an unweighted GPA for the academic core subjects and not the electives. They are most interested in those grades. I have had some students who have a decent GPA but their grades in their academic classes are not as good as their overall GPA appears. Colleges ask for transcripts for a reason. There is more to it than weighted GPAs…they want unweighted, often examine grades in core subjects, as well as rigor of curriculum in the context of the HS Profile.</p>
<p>My D, who just went through the admissions/auditions process, doesn’t know what her GPA is (weighted or unweighted) and didn’t seem to need to know in order to get into college. Her school’s GC simply send transcripts as requested and all was well. Is there a reason that a kid should know this, other than to see if he or she is in the ballpark for admission?</p>
<p>No, you really don’t NEED to know it. The grades on the transcript speak for themselves and can be averaged to obtain an unweighted GPA. The main reason to know your GPA is that when you are selecting schools to apply to, you have to examine if your academic record is in the ballpark or if it makes the school a reach, match, or safety (academically speaking, without the audition factor). So, each college publishes the stats of admitted students. Most publish the mid range of SATs and ACT scores of those admitted and what percentage were in the top 10%, top 25% and top 50% of their HS classes (if reported…some high schools do not rank) and then many colleges (but not all) repoart the average unweighted GPA of admitted students. As well, most colleges report the required and recommended HS courses for admissions. So, it helps to compare your stats with those of admitted students, but one must remember with GPA, that it’s not ALL just the grades but the rigor of the curriculum (that is why schools gather a transcript and school profile and do not simply ask for your GPA itself). As well, in determining reach, match, safety, one should examine the acceptance rate to the university. For example, if your stats are in range for a highly selective school like Yale, it is NOT a match by virture of the very very low admit rate. So acceptance rates are a factor in assessing one’s admissions chances. In any case, that is the main reason to know your GPA. But if you know your grades, that pretty much is the same thing but just is not the average using a 4.0 scale. By the way, one of my kid’s colleges, Brown University, doesn’t compute GPAs for the college grades (I’m not talking admissions INTO college but for the college transcripts themselves). My D had no official GPA while at Brown and if a grad school wanted her to record a GPA on an application, she had to compute one. Of course they wanted her transcripts.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your help! I will start crunching numbers and see if our list of “current favorite schools” shifts any.</p>
<p>Interestingly, I just found out that school weight differently. I guess I should have expected this, but I have to say I was very surprised to find out that the school of a friend of my D weights AP and honors courses at 1.4 while D’s school weights only at 1.1…thats quite a difference. Our school sends a detailed School Statement that explains along with lots of other facts, how they weight. Do all schools do that?</p>
<p>ALL schools send what is called a School Profile in with the transcripts. They must do this because it would be impossible otherwise to interpret a transcript without it as every school has different grading systems, weighted vs. unweighted GPAs, class ranking systems, course levels/offerings, and so forth. The Profile also includes other data such as what percentage of the class goes onto four year colleges and which colleges students have been admitted to in the last year or last few years. Even when I evaluate a student’s transcript, I also request the School Profile as I can’t interpret it otherwise. </p>
<p>So, it doesn’t matter how your school weights. Colleges will usually compute an unweighted GPA as everyone is able to have one of those. Not everyone has a weighted GPA because not all high schools weight grades and for the ones that do, it differs in how they do so. </p>
<p>Again, for the sake of comparison or looking into stats of admitted students to colleges, GPAs are reported as unweighted.</p>
<p>Concerning the application essay:</p>
<p>Often a school gives you a choice of a few topics and also says you can do an essay of choice. Is there any sort of bias towards the school’s topics or are the choice essays considered equally?</p>
<p>Thank you for your help.</p>
<p>I would think that if a school gives you an option to “do an essay of choice”, they mean it; otherwise why provide the option at all. In contrast, those schools that do not offer the option but limit you to the specific prompts or topics on their application are clearly signaling what they want.</p>
<p>This question goes back sort of to the weighted and unweighted GPAs. I can unweight GPAs for D pretty quickly but I was wondering what they do about non-core courses? How many do they count?
D is at a performing arts school and has 4 arts credits a year (As) which makes a pretty considerable difference in her GPA. When colleges look at transcripts do they take out all non-academics, or do they leave in 1 a year. The state requires 2 fine arts credits so would those count?</p>
<p>I think this differs from college to college. I think some compute an unweighted GPA for just the core academic classes and some include all courses taken in the GPA. But regardless of what method they use, they surely look at the actual transcript. And so I think overall GPA doesn’t give the full picture…they want to see the actual grades and in what subjects they were in. For instance, I had a client whose overall GPA was decent but his academic core grades were just fair and his GPA looked better only because he had excellent grades in his performing arts classes (his school had a performing arts program as part of the public school). That is a very different picture than someone with a similar GPA but with much better grades in the academic courses. Another example would be that you could have a very good GPA if you have all As and one D but one would want to look at the actual grades on the transcript as a D doesn’t look so hot compared to the same GPA that maybe was mostly As and a couple of Bs. </p>
<p>So, I think that no matter the GPA calculation, they examine the rigor of the coursework chosen and they look at the actual grades in courses and certainly the grades in academic subjects matter more overall in terms of an academic standpoint.</p>
<p>It probably depends on the school. But many college admissions offices calculate GPA based solely on core courses.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses. I guess it depends on how they choose to define core courses then. When we are visiting schools I guess we need to ask then specifically about what they count and not count.</p>