Average GPA for Cadets

gpa is definitely important, like others have said. if you wanna take advantage of all the opportunities that there are here, you better have a good GPA or you can forget about it.. it's more than half of your OPA, and is always weighted heavier than everything else (whether you like it or not, whether you agree with it or not, that's a whole different issue); so the point is DO WELL IN SCHOOL! lol
 
I read somewhere that the number of cadets with a 4.0 each semester is about 6-8 per class. So, that tells me that there is basically No "grade inflation" at USAFA.
 
salj said:
I read somewhere that the number of cadets with a 4.0 each semester is about 6-8 per class. So, that tells me that there is basically No "grade inflation" at USAFA.
Click to expand...

That's not a grade inflation issue, that's a PE issue. In the class of 2010, all of the Dean's Aces (4.0) last semester were on exchange to Navy. An A- in PE will bring the GPA down to a 3.98 if everything else is an A. I think its ridiculous to hit us twice, once in the GPA AND the PEA, for our PE class. A few of my friends and even me would have made that list if it weren't for the stupid PE classes! The only PE classes that don't have to meet an average in the class are SCUBA and physical development. Another guy and me had the highest grades in UCI last semester, and that was an A-. So, no way to hit that list, which is why everyone that was on the list was at Navy. argh.
 
I thought the A- thing was partly a reason for so few 4.0's. I didn't really think about PE playing such a big role. That hurts. It would be interesting to see the stats without PE added in.

How is the grading system in the PE classes controlled?

So, the PE grade is part of the PE ranking and the Academic Ranking?? Ouch! Unless, of course, you get an A!
 
salj said:
I thought the A- thing was partly a reason for so few 4.0's. I didn't really think about PE playing such a big role. That hurts. It would be interesting to see the stats without PE added in.

How is the grading system in the PE classes controlled?
Click to expand...

Many are required to meet a certain average, like an 80 or 85.

So, the PE grade is part of the PE ranking and the Academic Ranking?? Ouch! Unless, of course, you get an A!
Click to expand...

A PE class can't do much more than about 0.05 on your GPA, regardless of an A or a D. All it really serves to do is drop many of us just below 4.0....
 
fencersmother said:
Well, if "average" work is a C (= 2.0), and let's assume that the highest point on the bell curve is the C, then the 2.7 is a bit high. Of course, I would expect the Service Academy's to have more classes NOT graded on a curve.

However, I could be (and often am) wrong.
Click to expand...

A "C" or 2.0 is not "average". It can't be. A 2.0 is the minimum GPA needed for graduation. Therefore every single cadet who is graduating is above a 2.0.
 
That's pretty much a given. The terrible thing about statistics is that numbers can mean anything you want them to mean. In reality, 2.7-2.8 is the academy's average for all students. Does that mean that there are students who are below 2.0? Definitely. That's why they are one Ac-Pro. But mom is correct that any student that GRADUATES must indeed be a >=2.0 for a gpa.
 
Mom and CC -

My light bulb just went on! I had forgotten about the 2.0 to graduate. So you are correct - it's not "average."

Still, I would rather have a 2.5 from USAFA or any other Service Academy than a 3.0 from Penn State (despite the hoopla).
 
It all depends on what you want to do with the degree. I.e. If you want to go to med school or law school, then whether it's an academy or a HYPS type school, you better have a pretty good GPA graduating. Unless of course you want your graduate/doctoral education to come from the "University of Idontgiveacrap". Then there's the LSAT and MCAT. If you kick butt on those, they are understanding of your undergraduate education. Don't get me wrong; even a degree from the "University of BFE" is something to be proud of. And graduate school; especially prestigious ones understand that not everyone can get accepted or afford to go to an Ivy league; prestigious private; or accepted to one of the military academies. But definitely an academy education is head and shoulders above most schools. But when it comes to graduate/doctoral educations, that 3.0 from Penn will mean more than the 2.5 from the air force academy. But side by side, I believe a 3.0 from both schools would hold equal weight. Same with the other Ivy's.
 
I have just found out from our cadet that the USAFA's way of reporting GPA is much different from any college I know of. All the colleges I know grades of 90 - 100 are a 4.0, 80-89 are a 3.0, and 70-79 are a 2.0. But according to our cadet, a 4.0 at the academy is only a 93 and above, 90-92 is a 3.7, and so forth if he has his information correct. I know that an A- is only worth a 3.7 where that would be a 4.0 at the colleges I am familiar with.

So..GPAs for the same earned grades will always be lower at the USAFA than at other colleges. Doesn't matter if you think USAFA is harder. The USAFA GPA grading will result in the GPA being lower. How then, are the cadet's GPAs compared to other students at other colleges that are both competing for post graduate scholarships?
 
Many colleges figure GPA by the A=4.0, A- = 3.7, B=3.0, C=1.7, etc. method. What's different at the Service Academies is that the cadet's military and athletic grades also figure into the whole package.

I think it is called the OPA?
 
fencersmother said:
What's different at the Service Academies is that the cadet's military and athletic grades also figure into the whole package.
Click to expand...

And I would think that graduate schools would understand that.
Maybe they reconfigure the cadet's GPA during the admission process, if the cadet chooses to go onto graduate school.
 
I am only familiar with the major colleges (Texas A&M, University of Texas, etc. in Texas and University of Oklahoma) but 90-100 is a 4.0, 80-89 is a 3.0, etc. This 90-92 being a 3.7 is new to me.

Maybe Hornet can chime in as he has applied for graduate scholarships and probably knows this subject back and forth.
 
To complicate matters further, not all classes have the same scale.

Physics grades on a curve.
Astro 310 has whole letters on the 10s, but pluses and minuses are two points beyond. (i.e. 88 is an A-)
Some classes are the 90,80,70 system with pluses and minuses in the extreme 2. (i.e. 91 is an A-)
Each department may be different, and even classes within departments can vary.
 
I read recently that the top graduate programs will automatically adjust the GPA of a service academy grad upward by at least a half point. Can anyone confirm this?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top