GPA Scale

[alewife]

25 minutes ago, Woodland Mist Academy said:

Do you include the grades so far this year on the Common App and transcript? At what point would you list the current year's grades? For example if you submit it now - no, but in October or November -yes? There's a place to mark what date the grades are included through. Would it be appropriate to include the current grades through whatever date it's submitted? If the weighted scale is used and grades for the current year aren't included yet, the senior AP and honors classes don't count, correct? In other words, the GPA would be higher once those grades are included because of the weight of APs, DE, etc. If applying early, the lower GPA might be what the decision is based on. Or am I misunderstanding?

I don't include the senior year grades on the transcript when the application is submitted and indicate that grades through the end of junior year are listed on the transcript.

  I do list the current year grades on the midyear report that is usually due in February. (Not every school requires a mid-year report, though). 

I have never dealt with weighted gpa's because I could never completely understand the process and I don't think weighted gpa's were a factor at the schools my kids applied to. (otherwise, I would have muddled through and listed some sort of weighted gpa, too)

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Back to the question of 4.0 vs 5.0 scale.  If some of the courses are weighted, that can put you above a 4.0.  But unless all the courses are weighted, the student can't get to a 5.0.  They might have the highest marks possible in every course and have something like a 4.6 through weighting.

I remember a couple years ago there was a Common App question asking what the highest gpa possible was. I don't know if that question still exists.

I used a 4.0 scale even with weighting.

[RootAnn]

13 minutes ago, Sebastian (a lady) said:

I remember a couple years ago there was a Common App question asking what the highest gpa possible was. I don't know if that question still exists.

This question still exists, but I can't remember where it is exactly. It wasn't starred, so I didn't answer it.

[Woodland Mist Academy]

15 hours ago, alewife said:

I don't include the senior year grades on the transcript when the application is submitted and indicate that grades through the end of junior year are listed on the transcript.

  I do list the current year grades on the midyear report that is usually due in February. (Not every school requires a mid-year report, though). 

I have never dealt with weighted gpa's because I could never completely understand the process and I don't think weighted gpa's were a factor at the schools my kids applied to. (otherwise, I would have muddled through and listed some sort of weighted gpa, too)

Thank you! After I posted I went through everything again and realized I had made an error in my previous calculations. Counting this semester or just counting through the end of junior year, the difference in the weighted grade was minuscule with her particular mix of classes. I was worried over nothing. Again.

[JeanM]

On 9/17/2018 at 9:39 PM, alewife said:

I don't include the senior year grades on the transcript when the application is submitted and indicate that grades through the end of junior year are listed on the transcript.

  I do list the current year grades on the midyear report that is usually due in February. (Not every school requires a mid-year report, though). 

I have never dealt with weighted gpa's because I could never completely understand the process and I don't think weighted gpa's were a factor at the schools my kids applied to. (otherwise, I would have muddled through and listed some sort of weighted gpa, too)

4

The bolded is exactly what I did with my first ds, and I'm planning to do the same this year with the second. I did include both weighted and unweighted GPAs on his transcript. I figured that way the school can use whichever. I can't remember which I entered in the common app. I guess I'll have to figure it out again this year.

[daijobu]

Can we also solidify this:

Is an A+ in a non-honors course a 4.3 or a 4.0?

Is an A+ in an honors course a 5.3 or 5.0?

[daijobu]

Somewhat related question:

I'm being asked on a scholarship application to report dd's class rank and the "# tied at that rank."  There's no option to skip the question, and you can't enter in "n/a".  So if you have 1 student at a rank, is the "# tied at that rank" 1 or 0?  (I think 1 and dd says 0 because no one else is tied with her.  I think she's nutty.)  

[alewife]

18 minutes ago, daijobu said:

Somewhat related question:

I'm being asked on a scholarship application to report dd's class rank and the "# tied at that rank."  There's no option to skip the question, and you can't enter in "n/a".  So if you have 1 student at a rank, is the "# tied at that rank" 1 or 0?  (I think 1 and dd says 0 because no one else is tied with her.  I think she's nutty.)  

I think it is nutty that you can't opt out of the question. ?.  I agree with your daughter.  I would put 0 since no one else is tied with her.  

Edited September 19, 2018 by alewife

[alewife]

25 minutes ago, daijobu said:

Can we also solidify this:

Is an A+ in a non-honors course a 4.3 or a 4.0?

Is an A+ in an honors course a 5.3 or 5.0?

At my local school and my oldest's college, an A+ is given the same numerical value as an A.  At oldest's school, an A+ is awarded a 5 (they are on a 5 pt scale) and an A+ at our local high school is worth a 4 (they are on a 4 pt scale).  My younger college kid is awarded a 4.3 for an A+ (they are on a 4 point scale).   All the options make my head hurt.  I think you can do whatever you want. ? 

[Woodland Mist Academy]

Is anyone else starting to feel like GPA is meaningless?

[Woodland Mist Academy]

I vote zero as well. (That's what I put on a recent application, so I really hope it's correct. ?)

Edited September 19, 2018 by Woodland Mist Academy

[Woodland Mist Academy]

1 hour ago, daijobu said:

Can we also solidify this:

Is an A+ in a non-honors course a 4.3 or a 4.0?

Is an A+ in an honors course a 5.3 or 5.0?

Hmm... Are your honors courses 5.0? What scale are you using? I'm asking because I've always seen honors as in-between AP and reg. So reg=4, honors=4.5, AP=5.

Are you using a 6.0 scale?

Edited September 19, 2018 by Woodland Mist Academy

[daijobu]

9 minutes ago, Woodland Mist Academy said:

Hmm... Are your honors courses 5.0? What scale are you using? I'm asking because I've always seen honors as inbetween AP and reg. So reg=4, honors=4.5, AP=5.

Are you using a 6.0 scale?

 

I just lump in AP, honors, and university level together and call it all Honors for GPA.  But at this point, I've made so many unfounded assumptions, I wouldn't trust me on this.  

[RootAnn]

I didn't give anything extra GPA-wise for an A+ and my grading/GPA scale reflects that. I figure that at least I'm clear about it.

WMA: Does that mean I'm going to have to answer that # tied at rank question, too? I vote zero as well. No one else tied at that rank in this school.

One of the colleges DD is applying to specifically states how they reweight the transcript using their own methods. They only use core classes (and they define which those are), and they state how much they weight what (if you clearly mark the type of classes on the transcript). I don't think it matters for DD because she's (hopefully) eligible for their top auto merit award no matter what they do with her GPA. I think it only matters when you look at their statistic about their average admitted class GPA.

Quote

Your GPA is recalculated based on the academic core courses (including English, math, science, social studies and foreign language). UCF uses a 4.0 grading scale, and also awards additional quality points for any weighted courses within the academic core. Courses marked as Pre-AP, Pre-IB, Pre-AICE, and Honors are given an additional .5 quality point.

Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), Advanced International Certification of Education (AICE), and Dual Enrollment (DE) courses are given 1 additional quality point.

 

Edited September 19, 2018 by RootAnn
edited to add wording

[JeanM]

44 minutes ago, Woodland Mist Academy said:

Is anyone else starting to feel like GPA is meaningless?

 

Yes! I'm struggling with the GPA business. I've personally eliminated the A+ problem because even though the school ds attends part-time gives pluses and minuses, I've stated in my profile that I round everything to A, B, C. Therefore, there is no issue.

If anyone cares, his school calls both an A and an A+ 4.0. And they don't weight GPAs at all.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

1 hour ago, daijobu said:

Can we also solidify this:

Is an A+ in a non-honors course a 4.3 or a 4.0?

Is an A+ in an honors course a 5.3 or 5.0?

 

This is going to depend on your grading scale.  I didn't count plus or minus grades for my older kids at all.  So an A in a non honors was 4.0 and an A in a weighted course (mostly AP and DE) was a 5.0.

I've seen scales that use plus and minus on both 4.0 and 4.3 scales.  This is one reason why schools list their scale on the transcript and often in the school profile as well.  

My personal opinion is that it doesn't matter which system you use as long as you explain your system clearly.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

1 hour ago, Woodland Mist Academy said:

Is anyone else starting to feel like GPA is meaningless?

 

GPA can compare students within a high school and maybe within a district.  It really isn't useful to compare students across districts or from various states.  

I had one college say during their admissions briefing that they were required to collect data on gpa, but that they didn't use that number in admissions decisions, because their was too much variability across applicants.

[Woodland Mist Academy]

2 hours ago, Sebastian (a lady) said:

 

GPA can compare students within a high school and maybe within a district.  It really isn't useful to compare students across districts or from various states.  

I had one college say during their admissions briefing that they were required to collect data on gpa, but that they didn't use that number in admissions decisions, because their was too much variability across applicants.

Too bad it's not that way at all schools and for all scholarships. But I guess they have to use something. I suppose there's no perfect way to compare. 

[Woodland Mist Academy]

2 hours ago, RootAnn said:

WMA: Does that mean I'm going to have to answer that # tied at rank question, too? I vote zero as well. No one else tied at that rank in this school.

Probably. I just did today. (I can't remember now if there was an option way back at the beginning to mark that you don't rank. I might be getting that part confused with the Common App) I do know that I answered the tie question today on the scholarship form.

[Woodland Mist Academy]

4 hours ago, alewife said:

At my local school and my oldest's college, an A+ is given the same numerical value as an A.  At oldest's school, an A+ is awarded a 5 (they are on a 5 pt scale) and an A+ at our local high school is worth a 4 (they are on a 4 pt scale).  My younger college kid is awarded a 4.3 for an A+ (they are on a 4 point scale).   All the options make my head hurt.  I think you can do whatever you want. ? 

I got the brilliant idea (*cough* *cough*) to just do what the local private and public schools do. How silly of me! ?  I found exactly what you described. So much variation! One school even gave quality points by percent. There are seven quality point increments between 90%-100%.  Forget chocolate, I'll take my cocoa powder straight out of the jar.

Edited September 20, 2018 by Woodland Mist Academy

[RootAnn]

On 9/19/2018 at 2:34 PM, daijobu said:

I'm being asked on a scholarship application to report dd's class rank and the "# tied at that rank."  There's no option to skip the question, and you can't enter in "n/a".  So if you have 1 student at a rank, is the "# tied at that rank" 1 or 0?  (I think 1 and dd says 0 because no one else is tied with her.  I think she's nutty.)  

Just FYI:  If you chose earlier (phase 1) to say you didn't rank, you were allowed to skip that question. (I filled out that part of that particular scholarship application today.) Too late to change that previous answer once you are in the section (phase 2) where it'll ask # tied. Letting you know for next time. 

Also, I'm reporting DD's GPA to only the tenths place. That's normal, right?

[Woodland Mist Academy]

3 minutes ago, RootAnn said:

Also, I'm reporting DD's GPA to only the tenths place. That's normal, right?

That's what I did. Although I think that's another -- depends on who you ask ---sort of question. 

[Woodland Mist Academy]

On 9/1/2018 at 12:31 AM, daijobu said:

 

Not that I can see.  I'm getting 4's and 5's and arguments for both sides.  I got a response on hs2coll for 4.0.  But this is from the Common App help page:

 

On 9/18/2018 at 11:49 AM, Sebastian (a lady) said:

Back to the question of 4.0 vs 5.0 scale.  If some of the courses are weighted, that can put you above a 4.0.  But unless all the courses are weighted, the student can't get to a 5.0.  They might have the highest marks possible in every course and have something like a 4.6 through weighting.

I remember a couple years ago there was a Common App question asking what the highest gpa possible was. I don't know if that question still exists.

I used a 4.0 scale even with weighting.

I keep coming back to this....

Unless schools are offering AP everything, including AP Health & PE (which doesn't exist), is it possible to have a 5.0? 5.0 makes sense to me in general, but going by the Common App's answer above, there is no correct choice on the Common App., is there? The highest possible grade is somewhere between 4.0 and 5.0.