<p>Well, none of these cite any reference, they are still just opinions, and 3 of them seem to be the same or related Massachusetts group(s) saying the same thing in 3 different forums. It really sheds no light on anything. Also, a lot of the references say that most colleges recalculate and include only core academic courses. Technically that is not what the CDS asks for either, and is yet another source of differences in reporting.</p>
<p>That is really the point. If the colleges don’t all do the same thing, then what is published in the CDS is worthless to use for comparison purposes. No one ever said that none recalculate or all do, although you rather implied you thought they all did in one post. But even if you didn’t, what’s the point anyway? This entire discussion was started when you said
No matter what you think the system should be, there can be no disputing that when instructed to use a 4.0 scale, then 4.0 is the highest score possible. If you want to say that an A in an AP course is worth 5, then it is a 5 point scale. It is that simple, really. Which schools recalculate and by what methods is all quite irrelevant to that point, and to what the CDS is asking them to report. I would even agree it makes sense to have a standard 5.0 scale, if you aren’t going to go to the 0-110 system I mentioned earlier. But until they all do the same thing, the GPA section of the CDS is quite worthless.</p>