recalculated gpa?

packermatt7 said:
Anyway, there is no way to tell how difficult your school is.
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Many of the back up schools that I applied to (I'm not sure about USAFA) required me to have my college councelor submit a "rigor of seconday school" form. She used to work at admissions at an Ivy league school, and she said that they definitely do take into account what kind of high school you went to. USAFA may or may not, but I would assume that they do the same thing.
 
Yes, of course they look at your school's curriculum's rigor and school profile. If you read the sheet that you had to print out to give to your counselor they ask things like: what top schools were your 2008 class accepted to,how many seniors compared to how many of them were freshmen are graduating, and stuff like that. All schools are prepared and send a little booklet describing what their high school is, how they rank their students, and how they weigh their classes in full detail. If your GPA went down, then perhaps your high school gave you too much credit (in the eyes of the Academy). If your GPA went up, then perhaps your high school didn't give you enough. If it stayed the same, then congrats- your sending high school and AFA are on the same level. But regardless of what it is, everyone's on the same playing field now.
 
unitedstatesAFA2013 said:
Yes, of course they look at your school's curriculum's rigor and school profile. If you read the sheet that you had to print out to give to your counselor they ask things like: what top schools were your 2008 class accepted to,how many seniors compared to how many of them were freshmen are graduating, and stuff like that. All schools are prepared and send a little booklet describing what their high school is, how they rank their students, and how they weigh their classes in full detail. If your GPA went down, then perhaps your high school gave you too much credit (in the eyes of the Academy). If your GPA went up, then perhaps your high school didn't give you enough. If it stayed the same, then congrats- your sending high school and AFA are on the same level. But regardless of what it is, everyone's on the same playing field now.
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This is very, very true.

Something to consider. If your GPA was recalculated down, it might be beneficial for you to go brush up on calculus, chemistry, physics, etc. during the summer before you inprocess. Not a stretch at all to see valedictorians end up on academic probation for failing a class. It happens. The advantage of this place is also its disadvantage. We take such a diverse group of people from all 50 states, the territories, and other nations. That means that the range of secondary education varies greatly. I was fortunate to find out, once I was here, that I was in one of the more difficult curriculums in the country at my home. Worked to my benefit, but I have friends who wish their school had been more rigorous due to the difficulty classes now present. Just be prepared to be jumping into a pool, that although varied, will contain a 1000 other high achievers. ;)
 
I went to a public school, but it's rated 2nd highest in MN for academic rigor, so my GPA went up .07 points to a 4.0
 
MChansard said:
if this helps.....

my high school listed GPA is a 3.75, and my reconfigured is 4.0. I have taken 12 AP classes and made 9 Bs- that's what the admissions board worked with. maybe there is a secret formula.
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"what's the SECRET FORMULA?!?"

"uhhh......99 cents?"
 
yeah, mine was calculated down

an issue I have with my GPA compared to some is that my school follows a 92-A 83-B 74-C 65-D scale, which is a jump from the 90,80 scale.
I admit, i had a few B's in my earlier high school career, but most of them were 90's, and the academy would not know that since the transcripts only show letters, so I feel the GPA system can be a little off
 
xTxMANx said:
yeah, mine was calculated down

an issue I have with my GPA compared to some is that my school follows a 92-A 83-B 74-C 65-D scale, which is a jump from the 90,80 scale.
I admit, i had a few B's in my earlier high school career, but most of them were 90's, and the academy would not know that since the transcripts only show letters, so I feel the GPA system can be a little off
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Yeah, my school is 93 A, 85 B, 76 C, 70 D. They do round up, so really it's 92.5, 84.5, but still... Oh well. Do most HS use a ten point scale, or are they more like mine and xTxMANx's???
 
The academy knows what the scales are, so they do account for that when looking at grades. If you're used to the 93 scale, the Academy won't be too different, but A- is from 90-92.
 
hornetguy said:
The academy knows what the scales are, so they do account for that when looking at grades. If you're used to the 93 scale, the Academy won't be too different, but A- is from 90-92.
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You think they take the same from admissions to regular college letter grades? My gpa wasn't changed and for us, an A- is 90-94, A is 95 and 96, and everything above is an A+...similarly goes to B, C, and D.
 
I'm definitely going to be wishing my school was more difficult. Any suggestions on what to do between now and the academic year? I don't think my HS has prepared me as much as other high schools.
 
unitedstatesAFA2013 said:
You think they take the same from admissions to regular college letter grades? My gpa wasn't changed and for us, an A- is 90-94, A is 95 and 96, and everything above is an A+...similarly goes to B, C, and D.
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Probably felt the difficulty of your school fell into the 50th percentile range so they did not need to alter it. My best guess.


packermatt7 said:
Any suggestions on what to do between now and the academic year?
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Study up on the stuff I said before. Keep your head into academics as much as you can while still going out and enjoying yourself. Big thing to realize once you are here is that you SHOULD take advantage of help available. Go to teachers for EI, go ask classmates and upperclassmen to help. There is absolutely NO shame in getting help, in fact, people will call you an idiot for not getting help if you struggle. The network is here, use it!
 
my GPA was recalculated down a lot, but according to the study that just came out, my school is ranked in the 90th percentile
 
hornetguy said:
Probably felt the difficulty of your school fell into the 50th percentile range so they did not need to alter it. My best guess.




Study up on the stuff I said before. Keep your head into academics as much as you can while still going out and enjoying yourself. Big thing to realize once you are here is that you SHOULD take advantage of help available. Go to teachers for EI, go ask classmates and upperclassmen to help. There is absolutely NO shame in getting help, in fact, people will call you an idiot for not getting help if you struggle. The network is here, use it!
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Makes sense.

About keeping our heads in academics..It is soo much easier said than done! haha. I can't believe I have this much senioritis. It doesn't help that I have been surrounded by seniors with the same condition since AP Chem my sophmore year. It's been an exponential decline in schoolwork interest since then. I think I will just try to finish this year off and try to take those placement tests without any previous studying (especially since graduation is on the 22nd of June). Hopefully I'm found competent to learn Japanese, too. I'm guessing YOU'RE one of those people, Hornet, whom I'll be calling for help on that subject :thumb: lol jk
 
It sounds hard, but its not so bad. I asked my AP chem teacher for a study packet which he helped me get. Combined with my Calc BC study materials, the week before I left I glanced over it all and worked a couple problems. Couple days with an hour each of study is worth eliminating ~120 hours worth of each class!

If you've had some Japanese, you should be good. I lived in Tokyo from 1999-2002, didn't take any Japanese from 2002-2006, then I tested into the 200 level courses. Granted I was immersed in the culture itself, loved to read and write it, so that helped. But, I am willing to help in Japanese.
 
I don't understand how the foreign language tests work...

I mean, I've never been immersed or even taught any Russian or Arabic, but I would like to consider taking them. Granted, it would be difficult, but useful in the long run.

German is also an interest on that subject. I haven't taken any German since 8th grade...

How do they test your competence in languages you've never tried?
 
My GPA jumped from a 2.8 (83) to a 3.31 on the USAFA site. Perhaps this is because my school is a "rigorous college prep school." Currently 100% of the grads attend a 4 year college.
 
packermatt7 said:
I don't understand how the foreign language tests work...

I mean, I've never been immersed or even taught any Russian or Arabic, but I would like to consider taking them. Granted, it would be difficult, but useful in the long run.

German is also an interest on that subject. I haven't taken any German since 8th grade...

How do they test your competence in languages you've never tried?
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The language tests allow you to move to a higher than 100 level course in the language.

Everyone will take the DLAB which will determine if you have the potential to learn a difficult language. If you do well on it and ask to take Arabic or Russian, then they will allow you to.
 
buffalo said:
Yeah, my school is 93 A, 85 B, 76 C, 70 D. They do round up, so really it's 92.5, 84.5, but still... Oh well. Do most HS use a ten point scale, or are they more like mine and xTxMANx's???
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Many of my teachers alter their grading scales. For example, my 10th grade H Chem teacher had an A as 85% or above, and my current AP Lit teacher an A is 95% or above. Granted, both teachers have resources that allow the student to receive an appropriate that he or she deserves.
 
hornetguy said:
Study up on the stuff I said before. Keep your head into academics as much as you can while still going out and enjoying yourself. Big thing to realize once you are here is that you SHOULD take advantage of help available. Go to teachers for EI, go ask classmates and upperclassmen to help. There is absolutely NO shame in getting help, in fact, people will call you an idiot for not getting help if you struggle. The network is here, use it!
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what does the honor code say about getting help from other cadets, especially in regards to editing papers and things like that?
 
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