Just_A_Mom
10-Year Member
- Joined
- Jul 9, 2006
- Messages
- 4,774
Mmm, I didn't know that. Thank-you for that information. I will make sure to worry less about my gpa and more about how tough my classes are. (I know this thread isn't about me) so I'll just say that I've been taking a tough enough schedule that I can still get all A's (I've made sure the science, math, and english are all honors and AP). But if a more tough schedule and getting like a 3.9 or 3.8 will look better than should I be doing that? I think gpa still has some influence since the average gpa I believe for the classes is a 3.8. I don't want to take this thread away from being about JConnolly, but if someone could elaborate more, I'd appreciate it.
GPA by itself is a meaningless number. Do not even attempt to compare GPA's from students at different schools. High schools use different criteria in calclating GPA and the "weighting" of grades.
When someone comes on here and post's his/her GPA - that number doesn't begin to tell the story. The whole academic story is found in the transcript.
Service academies look at your class rank and your strength of schedule and your grades in core courses.
Do well in all of that and you probably have a decent GPA.
It isn't that you don't have to worry about your GPA - just realize that you aren't comparing apples to apples when comparing GPA's.
Select colleges know this and they actually have developed methods where they take apart a student's transcript and reacalculate GPA's so they can compare the academic progress of applicants.
Some kids with high GPA's have padded them by doing well in electives and taking college prep level core courses instead of challenging themselves with honors classes.
Others kids will have a lower GPA but the transcript shows they have challenged themselves consistently with honors and AP classes, especially in math and science.
It is entirely possible to have a kid with a 4.0 who earned it by taking a lot of easy classes, while a kid with a 3.5 earned it by honors and AP classes.
I am not sure where you saw the average 3.8 gpa number, if it did come from the Naval Academy then it is most likely a compliation of their statistics from recalculating transcripts.
Your goal is not to worry less about your GPA but to do well in high level classes challenging yourself especially in math and science. Pay attention to your class rank. The Naval Academy wants you in the top 20% of your class.