<p>I would suspect that since they are dealing with multiple grading systems, defined by multiple governing bodies (from individual school, to district, to state organizations), it would be quite inequitable to some applicants to apply an arbitrary conversion without considering the source of the grading. Comparing a 3.5 at a highly selective boarding school to a 3.5 at an impoverished rural school on a par level is not a way to identify your best applicants. So, I would bet that there is some professional judgement going on (probably on the upgrade side) for students taking a heavy honors/AP load at more rigorous schools.</p>
<p>IIRC there is a mention in the FAQs encouraging applicants in the top 10 - 15% of their classes to apply because of their potential eligiblity for these scholarships - the point being that there is some variability in grading toughness between schools, but that top students from their schools would get consideration for merit awards.</p>
<p>As to the hockey, I’m sure if you’ve researched my posting history, you discovered that my goalie is a girl. And you are correct Oswego’s women’s team is in their 2nd year under NCAA regulation. I believe past women’s teams were registered with one of the “club” organizations, as I cannot find any previous history of an Oswego women’s team presenece in NCAA statistics going back before then.</p>
<p>While it is a bit early to forecast my daughter’s hockey future (she’s only a HS sophomore), I know that the earlier you start your research about the entirety of women’s college hockey opportunities (there will be 82 teams as of the '08-'09 season) the better prepared we will be come application and decision time.</p>
<p>And as far as D3 schools for women’s hockey go, the schools that give the best financial committment (both program $ and merit/need-based aid) tend to be the most competitive year-in year-out, because if you are not going to play D1, (and sometimes the case in D1 as well!) money does matter.</p>
<p>But actually the curiosity about Oswego that brought me to this section was more generated by the fact that my father went to Oswego.</p>