GPA

[Born-To-Fly_024]

I just completed freshman year and here are my grades:

Ancient Medieval History: 91, 92,Final: 92

Algebra 1 Academic: 88, 93 Final: 91

Geophysical Science: 92, 90 Final: 91

PE: 93, 91 Final: 92

Spanish II: 90, 87 Final: 89

English I Honors: 92, 90 Final: 91

Concert Band: 94, 93 Final: 94

Does anyone know what my gpa is and if these grades are acceptable. Also, what is the minimum gpa for the academy, and do they weight it for honors classes?

 

[Zaphod]

YOU are asking US what YOUR grade point average is?

Well, IF everything is weighed the same, you have a 91.4% average which equates to a 4.0 (at least the way USNA used to do grades back in the chalk-and-slate days). Of course, if the weight of each course is different (and they most likely are), then you have to calculate accordingly.

I doubt there is an "official" minimum GPA for admission to USNA as they take so many other things into account. Even a schmuck like me was able to offset two horrible years (full of C's and D's, and even one F) of high school by completing my last two years with nothing lower than a B, and very few of those at that (not to mention being an absolute fanatic about getting into USNA). IIRC, my HS GPA came out to something in the neighborhood of 3.2 on a 4.0 scale. They seemed to have noticed the improvement more than the final score in my case, but who knows for sure?

Your best bet is to concentrate on continuing to get all those A's (especially the 91's. I like those a lot! ) so you don't have to worry about your GPA at all. It's no different than the people who are all wrapped up in how much money they make (or don't make) without realizing that if they just concentrate on doing a good job, the money WILL come. Make sure you study hard and get good grades and the GPA will take care of itself.

 

[2012mom?]

There's no way to know what your gpa is without knowing the cutoff scores between grades. If the cutoffs are 90=A, 80=B, etc., then Zaphod's calculation would be correct. However, my daughter's HS and some others use higher cutoffs: 93=A, 85=B, and so forth, so those 91's would be B's.

The point is, do your best, whatever that is. Take hard classes that will prepare you for USNA. Work hard to really learn the material, not just to get the grades, because you really will need to know the information from your HS classes in college (esp. math and science), whether at USNA or not.

 

[usna1985]

First of all, class rank is more important to USNA than GPA. Most successful candidates stand in the top 20% of their h.s. class.

Second, there is no per se "minimum" GPA. Much depends on what courses you take and, as noted, the GPAs of your fellow students. A 4.0 taking low-level courses in things such as music, art, social studies, and intro language won't be as impressive as a 3.8 taking AP science, math, history, English and advanced language. A 3.2 at a school where the median GPA is 2.8 is probably more impressive than a 3.6 at a school where the median GPA is 3.8 (depends somewhat on the nature of the schools).

Also, as Z says, freshman year counts, but each subsequent year counts even more. Thus, it's important to take -- and do well in -- the most advanced math, science and English courses that your school has and that you can academically handle.

 

[lew17]

Unweighted GPA's are really easy to do. Just count every A you've earned as a 4, and every B as a 3, and so on. Then average those. Simple!

 

[Simayan]

Looks like I've always calculated my GPA wrong then. Lol.

I would just average the number grades all together, and then convert it to a 4 point scale, i.e. a 95 would be a 3.5.

Let hope I didn't get rejected from Brown because of my ignorance.