Help me Calculate my GPA

[Gregory Pratt]

All right. Here's the deal.

 

All of the following numbers are grades from classes in the past. I am currently in the break between Junior and Senior. Each individual grade, as posted, is worth .5 credit. I've got a total of forty nine grades (24 classes, .5 each semester, two semesters each), and two summer classes each worth .25 that, together, are worth .5 credit.

 

Here are the numbers:

 

4

1

3

3

4

3

5

5

5

6

6

4

2

1

2

1

2

1

3

1

2

3

3

1

4

4

3

3

4

1

1

2

0

3

3

2

2

4

4

4

4

1

3

4

3

3

4

4

4

 

 

Will someone who knows what they're doing please crunch them for me? Without adding in .25 of credit that I'm getting this summer, one of the fours was worth .25, and with that calculation, and forty eight courses, I had a 2.9901 weighted GPA; unweighted, I've got a 2.6931 GPA. Now, what is it with the numbers previously given?

[The Critic]

If you need help to calculate your GPA, that automatically drops it by a full point.

[Gregory Pratt]

If you need help to calculate your GPA, that automatically drops it by a full point.

 

Ha! I guess I'm screwed...

[DonkeyKongerko]

42

[3E8]

2.959

[Gregory Pratt]

That's very nice of you to calculate that for me. I'm glad to see that it isn't a 2.0 GPA.

 

A 28 ACT. A 2.9 GPA. I'm frustrated with this result, but I should be fine, College-wise.

[dasox24]

That's very nice of you to calculate that for me. I'm glad to see that it isn't a 2.0 GPA.

 

A 28 ACT. A 2.9 GPA. I'm frustrated with this result, but I should be fine, College-wise.

Yeah, you'll be fine college-wise. Plus, with a strong senior year, you could get that up to above a 3.0, and you'd be more than fine. What schools are you looking at?

[Gregory Pratt]

Yeah, you'll be fine college-wise. Plus, with a strong senior year, you could get that up to above a 3.0, and you'd be more than fine. What schools are you looking at?

 

I really like Loyola and UIC. Perhaps DePaul.

I don't think I could get it above a 3.0 in time for the application process. I could surely be up by the end of the year, even by January, but applications go out in November/December.

 

This whole things been gnawing at me, and I didn't catch any breaks leading into the June report card. I missed a C in my Math class by .5 percentage points, and the teacher refused to round it up to a C, and that infuriated me, because we were good friends, and, besides that, ".5" difference = ROUND UP. It's simple math, and preached often by math teachers!

 

Besides that, I moved in late May, and on the weekend I moved, she collected a binder worth ten percent of my grade. My mother misplaced iti n a box, and the teacher refused to allow me to turn it in late for a late grade, even after my mom called her to explain the situation. The binder was worth ten percent, and it drastically brought me down. I was furious about it, because I thought it was unnecessarily b****y to take such a hard-line stance on a student who never misbehaved in her class despite the fact that it was a misbehavior class, as she's a soft teacher.

 

Hell, I had a B in the first Semester. I felt she should've been a bit more lenient to me as I've been a consistently good student in her class, and let's not bullspiff ourselves: if a kid handles his work, takes care of business, does well on tests, and behaves, and he happens to be half a point between grades, you give him the better grade. But she didn't do it, and that's really eaten at me.

 

I narrowly missed an A in her class the first time around, by .7 points. I wish she'd rounded up for me then, but I understood it then, and wasn't so upset. A wide variety of unfortunate events brought me down a bit in the second semester of school, and I missed a 3.0 by .1 percent.

 

Bummer.

[Sonik22]

I really like Loyola and UIC. Perhaps DePaul.

I don't think I could get it above a 3.0 in time for the application process. I could surely be up by the end of the year, even by January, but applications go out in November/December.

 

This whole things been gnawing at me, and I didn't catch any breaks leading into the June report card. I missed a C in my Math class by .5 percentage points, and the teacher refused to round it up to a C, and that infuriated me, because we were good friends, and, besides that, ".5" difference = ROUND UP. It's simple math, and preached often by math teachers!

 

Besides that, I moved in late May, and on the weekend I moved, she collected a binder worth ten percent of my grade. My mother misplaced iti n a box, and the teacher refused to allow me to turn it in late for a late grade, even after my mom called her to explain the situation. The binder was worth ten percent, and it drastically brought me down. I was furious about it, because I thought it was unnecessarily b****y to take such a hard-line stance on a student who never misbehaved in her class despite the fact that it was a misbehavior class, as she's a soft teacher.

 

Hell, I had a B in the first Semester. I felt she should've been a bit more lenient to me as I've been a consistently good student in her class, and let's not bullspiff ourselves: if a kid handles his work, takes care of business, does well on tests, and behaves, and he happens to be half a point between grades, you give him the better grade. But she didn't do it, and that's really eaten at me.

 

I narrowly missed an A in her class the first time around, by .7 points. I wish she'd rounded up for me then, but I understood it then, and wasn't so upset. A wide variety of unfortunate events brought me down a bit in the second semester of school, and I missed a 3.0 by .1 percent.

 

Bummer.

I heard loyola costs like $40 grand a yr, am i right?

[Gregory Pratt]

I heard loyola costs like $40 grand a yr, am i right?

Uh, no.

[dasox24]

I really like Loyola and UIC. Perhaps DePaul.

I don't think I could get it above a 3.0 in time for the application process. I could surely be up by the end of the year, even by January, but applications go out in November/December.

 

This whole things been gnawing at me, and I didn't catch any breaks leading into the June report card. I missed a C in my Math class by .5 percentage points, and the teacher refused to round it up to a C, and that infuriated me, because we were good friends, and, besides that, ".5" difference = ROUND UP. It's simple math, and preached often by math teachers!

 

Besides that, I moved in late May, and on the weekend I moved, she collected a binder worth ten percent of my grade. My mother misplaced iti n a box, and the teacher refused to allow me to turn it in late for a late grade, even after my mom called her to explain the situation. The binder was worth ten percent, and it drastically brought me down. I was furious about it, because I thought it was unnecessarily b****y to take such a hard-line stance on a student who never misbehaved in her class despite the fact that it was a misbehavior class, as she's a soft teacher.

 

Hell, I had a B in the first Semester. I felt she should've been a bit more lenient to me as I've been a consistently good student in her class, and let's not bullspiff ourselves: if a kid handles his work, takes care of business, does well on tests, and behaves, and he happens to be half a point between grades, you give him the better grade. But she didn't do it, and that's really eaten at me.

 

I narrowly missed an A in her class the first time around, by .7 points. I wish she'd rounded up for me then, but I understood it then, and wasn't so upset. A wide variety of unfortunate events brought me down a bit in the second semester of school, and I missed a 3.0 by .1 percent.

 

Bummer.

Man, that sucks. In the situation you were in, the teacher should really have been more understanding, especially if you behave and work hard in that class. Normally, a teacher will reward you for good behavior and hard work by maybe rounding up that .5, or at least by letting you turn in that binder after what happened to it.

 

Also, I totally didn't think about the application deadline thing. I had my Tennessee application done in August b/c I had a 3.97 at the time, so I wasn't worried about admission. However, my other applications (St. Louis U and U of Mississippi) were done by November. Though, if you're worried about your GPA affecting admission to a school, then I would wait until after your 1st semester to apply. UIC's deadline is Feb. 6 and DePaul's is Feb. 1, so you'd have time to wait to apply if you think you can bring up your grades, and believe me, even though it's your senior year, you can. That way, you could maybe bring up the GPA enough to help you in gaining admittance.

[Gregory Pratt]

Man, that sucks. In the situation you were in, the teacher should really have been more understanding, especially if you behave and work hard in that class. Normally, a teacher will reward you for good behavior and hard work by maybe rounding up that .5, or at least by letting you turn in that binder after what happened to it.

 

Also, I totally didn't think about the application deadline thing. I had my Tennessee application done in August b/c I had a 3.97 at the time, so I wasn't worried about admission. However, my other applications (St. Louis U and U of Mississippi) were done by November. Though, if you're worried about your GPA affecting admission to a school, then I would wait until after your 1st semester to apply. UIC's deadline is Feb. 6 and DePaul's is Feb. 1, so you'd have time to wait to apply if you think you can bring up your grades, and believe me, even though it's your senior year, you can. That way, you could maybe bring up the GPA enough to help you in gaining admittance.

 

Are you sure those last two are the deadlines for UIC and Depaul?

D'you know what Loyola's is, too?

 

I absolutely know that I could raise my GPA by quite a bit if given until January, which I would have with those two deadlines. Awesome!

 

By the way, you're better about this than my HS counselors.

[StrangeSox]

Are you sure those last two are the deadlines for UIC and Depaul?

D'you know what Loyola's is, too?

 

I absolutely know that I could raise my GPA by quite a bit if given until January, which I would have with those two deadlines. Awesome!

 

By the way, you're better about this than my HS counselors.

 

More important than what school you're going to is what program you're going into; applying for general LAS vs. engineering at U of I makes a big difference.

 

That said, with a near-3 GPA and a 29 on the ACT (which is pretty high), I don't think you should have a problem getting into UIC or DePaul. Might not get the scholarships a 4.0'er might get, but then again UIC is the second cheapest school in the state and still pretty good.

[dasox24]

Are you sure those last two are the deadlines for UIC and Depaul?

D'you know what Loyola's is, too?

 

I absolutely know that I could raise my GPA by quite a bit if given until January, which I would have with those two deadlines. Awesome!

Well, according to the UIC and DePaul websites, those were the dates this past year, and very, very rarely do schools ever change them. They like to keep things the same to make it easier on high school counselors, mainly, but also themselves. Change can cause lots of problems, admissions-wise.

 

Though, for UIC, it depends on what school you'd be applying to. I just said Feb. 6 b/c that was the earliest, and I think that was for the College of Liberal Arts or something like that. I remember seeing another deadline for a different college (maybe college of engineering?) as being in March. But, for DePaul, the standard last deadline was Feb. 1.

 

By the way, you're better about this than my HS counselors.

Haha, well, thank you. I just went through all of this stuff this past year, so it's still fresh in my mind. My counselor was always busy, doing this or that, and it was hard to see her at a time that fit both our schedules. So, I had to resort to spending a lot of time researching stuff myself. Although, I did have help from both my sister and brother who have already been to college.

[Rowand44]

Greg, you'll be absolutely fine with a 2.9 and a 29. You'll get into UIC and Loyola I can guarantee that and you should be fine with Depaul too. My high school counselor was no help either.

[Reddy]

I really like Loyola and UIC. Perhaps DePaul.

I don't think I could get it above a 3.0 in time for the application process. I could surely be up by the end of the year, even by January, but applications go out in November/December.

 

This whole things been gnawing at me, and I didn't catch any breaks leading into the June report card. I missed a C in my Math class by .5 percentage points, and the teacher refused to round it up to a C, and that infuriated me, because we were good friends, and, besides that, ".5" difference = ROUND UP. It's simple math, and preached often by math teachers!

 

Besides that, I moved in late May, and on the weekend I moved, she collected a binder worth ten percent of my grade. My mother misplaced iti n a box, and the teacher refused to allow me to turn it in late for a late grade, even after my mom called her to explain the situation. The binder was worth ten percent, and it drastically brought me down. I was furious about it, because I thought it was unnecessarily b****y to take such a hard-line stance on a student who never misbehaved in her class despite the fact that it was a misbehavior class, as she's a soft teacher.

 

Hell, I had a B in the first Semester. I felt she should've been a bit more lenient to me as I've been a consistently good student in her class, and let's not bullspiff ourselves: if a kid handles his work, takes care of business, does well on tests, and behaves, and he happens to be half a point between grades, you give him the better grade. But she didn't do it, and that's really eaten at me.

 

I narrowly missed an A in her class the first time around, by .7 points. I wish she'd rounded up for me then, but I understood it then, and wasn't so upset. A wide variety of unfortunate events brought me down a bit in the second semester of school, and I missed a 3.0 by .1 percent.

 

Bummer.

 

hey man i go to loyola. if you have any questions let me know.

 

(btw LUC is 34k/yr... not much better than 40)

[SoxFan1]

Not to hi-jack the thread, but when do you guys think is the best time to start applying?

 

When my sister was in the process, she was already done and and choosing freshman courses by Winter Break...

[Gregory Pratt]

hey man i go to loyola. if you have any questions let me know.

 

(btw LUC is 34k/yr... not much better than 40)

 

That's counting boarding, isn't it? I don't intend on living on-campus, so that'll shave off nine thousand for me.

[dasox24]

Not to hi-jack the thread, but when do you guys think is the best time to start applying?

 

When my sister was in the process, she was already done and and choosing freshman courses by Winter Break...

This may be a longer answer than you wanted, but it has some very valuable info, so I'd read it all if I were you. Also, as you said, your sister has already gone thru the process. She can be a huge help. Nothing is better than asking someone who has already recently gone through the process b/c it's fresh in their head. Parents can help, but remember, it has probably been 20-30 years since they were in college, and things have changed. Try to use your high school couselor as well. Most suck, but some can be very helpful. And, even if they do suck, still meet with them b/c they're the ones sending recommendation letters to colleges for acceptance, scholarships, etc. and it's very, very helpful if they know you better than just being a name on their computer or in a file.

 

Anyway, in regards to your question:

It all depends on your situation, really. What is your GPA? What is your highest ACT/SAT score? What schools are you going to apply to? Do you want to apply early acceptance (or it will be called something like that) to a school, where if you get accepted you have to attend that school, or do you want more time to weigh your options, and therefore, apply regular decision? I'm not saying you have to answer these questions in this thread, but it just gives you some stuff to think about.

 

If your GPA and ACT/SAT scores are high enough right now for you to get into the colleges you want to, then you can start applying to those schools as soon as their application comes out, which should be sometime in August probably. If you want to wait to bring up your grades/standardized test scores, then apply in January, if possible. I know some schools have deadlines in, like, late December, so your grades probably wouldn't be out yet. However, I'd say 90% (probably more) of schools have deadlines of Feb. 1st or around there, so you'd have time to wait.

 

Another thing you need to find out is what schools you're applying to that have early decision vs. early acceptance. Early decision is what it's mainly called when you can apply to a school as early as you want, get your acceptance letter sooner than other, but are not obligated to attend that school. Early acceptance is where you apply to a school early, get your acceptance letter sooner, but if you get accepted, you have to go to that school. It seems to me that most "state" schools have early decision, and most "private" school have early accpetance, but that's not 100% certain, so find out for yourself. It would really suck to get accpeted to a school that you end up not wanting to go to, but have to go to anyway b/c you applied early accpetance.

 

Also, you've got to remember that if you're really set on going to one school, and you know you'll get accepted to that school, then apply as early as possible. That way, you'll get your acceptance letter as soon as they start mailing them out (probably some time in December) and then you can apply for housing, so you get your 1st choice. Although, with some schools (like Tennesse, where I'm going), you can apply for housing with your application to the school. That way, the school gets your housing application rediculously early, and when you do get accepted, you'll be about 99.9% certain to get the #1 choice you put down as the dorm you want to live in.

Edited July 24, 2006 by dasox24

[SoxFan1]

This may be a longer answer than you wanted, but it has some very valuable info, so I'd read it all if I were you. Also, as you said, your sister has already gone thru the process. She can be a huge help. Nothing is better than asking someone who has already recently gone through the process b/c it's fresh in their head. Parents can help, but remember, it has probably been 20-30 years since they were in college, and things have changed. Try to use your high school couselor as well. Most suck, but some can be very helpful. And, even if they do suck, still meet with them b/c they're the ones sending recommendation letters to colleges for acceptance, scholarships, etc. and it's very, very helpful if they know you better than just being a name on their computer or in a file.

 

Anyway, in regards to your question:

It all depends on your situation, really. What is your GPA? What is your highest ACT/SAT score? What schools are you going to apply to? Do you want to apply early acceptance (or it will be called something like that) to a school, where if you get accepted you have to attend that school, or do you want more time to weigh your options, and therefore, apply regular decision? I'm not saying you have to answer these questions in this thread, but it just gives you some stuff to think about.

 

If your GPA and ACT/SAT scores are high enough right now for you to get into the colleges you want to, then you can start applying to those schools as soon as their application comes out, which should be sometime in August probably. If you want to wait to bring up your grades/standardized test scores, then apply in January, if possible. I know some schools have deadlines in, like, late December, so your grades probably wouldn't be out yet. However, I'd say 90% (probably more) of schools have deadlines of Feb. 1st or around there, so you'd have time to wait.

 

Another thing you need to find out is what schools you're applying to that have early decision vs. early acceptance. Early decision is what it's mainly called when you can apply to a school as early as you want, get your acceptance letter sooner than other, but are not obligated to attend that school. Early acceptance is where you apply to a school early, get your acceptance letter sooner, but if you get accepted, you have to go to that school. It seems to me that most "state" schools have early decision, and most "private" school have early accpetance, but that's not 100% certain, so find out for yourself. It would really suck to get accpeted to a school that you end up not wanting to go to, but have to go to anyway b/c you applied early accpetance.

 

Also, you've got to remember that if you're really set on going to one school, and you know you'll get accepted to that school, then apply as early as possible. That way, you'll get your acceptance letter as soon as they start mailing them out (probably some time in December) and then you can apply for housing, so you get your 1st choice. Although, with some schools (like Tennesse, where I'm going), you can apply for housing with your application to the school. That way, the school gets your housing application rediculously early, and when you do get accepted, you'll be about 99.9% certain to get the #1 choice you put down as the dorm you want to live in.

Wow, great explanation there.

 

I got a 26 on my ACT and have a 3.6/3.7 GPA and my #1 choice is Grand Valley State. Last year, their application deadline was May 1st, so I definitely want to be done earlier than that.

[dasox24]

Wow, great explanation there.

 

I got a 26 on my ACT and have a 3.6/3.7 GPA and my #1 choice is Grand Valley State. Last year, their application deadline was May 1st, so I definitely want to be done earlier than that.

Well, I looked at their website, and the high end of the middle 50% of their admitted students in 2005 had a 3.8 and 26. What that basically means is that only 25% of the students they accpeted in 2005 had better grades than you. That means you'd be a shoe-in for acceptance.

 

So, now, what you really need to find out is when is the earliest you can apply for acceptance to the school (but make sure it's not the type of early application where if you get accepted you have to go b/c you may change your mind. I know I did. I thought for about 2 years I was going to the Univ. of Mississippi (Ole Miss), but ended up liking UT a ton better after visiting), and when is the earliest you can apply for housing. Housing is something that's very important that most people don't think about right away. They're so worried about getting in to a school that they forget how important it is to have your pick of where you want to stay. You want to be happy/comfortable with the residence hall you choose.

 

Anyway, I highly recommend you visit the places you're looking at before deciding on a school. If I had never toured UT (twice) and really done my homework on it (asking other people that already go there as well), I don't think I would have chosen to go there. My Bro and Sis both went to Ole Miss, and I've been there countless times, so I know the lay of the land. I thought it would be a perfect place for me, and while I would have been happy going there, I think I'm going to be even more happy at Tennessee.

[SoxFan1]

Well, I looked at their website, and the high end of the middle 50% of their admitted students in 2005 had a 3.8 and 26. What that basically means is that only 25% of the students they accpeted in 2005 had better grades than you. That means you'd be a shoe-in for acceptance.

 

So, now, what you really need to find out is when is the earliest you can apply for acceptance to the school (but make sure it's not the type of early application where if you get accepted you have to go b/c you may change your mind. I know I did. I thought for about 2 years I was going to the Univ. of Mississippi (Ole Miss), but ended up liking UT a ton better after visiting), and when is the earliest you can apply for housing. Housing is something that's very important that most people don't think about right away. They're so worried about getting in to a school that they forget how important it is to have your pick of where you want to stay. You want to be happy/comfortable with the residence hall you choose.

 

Anyway, I highly recommend you visit the places you're looking at before deciding on a school. If I had never toured UT (twice) and really done my homework on it (asking other people that already go there as well), I don't think I would have chosen to go there. My Bro and Sis both went to Ole Miss, and I've been there countless times, so I know the lay of the land. I thought it would be a perfect place for me, and while I would have been happy going there, I think I'm going to be even more happy at Tennessee.

I'm going to visit GVSU in the next few weeks and if I fall in love with it, will visit a 2nd time before the summer is out.

[WCSox]

(btw LUC is 34k/yr... not much better than 40)

 

Holy crap!

 

Man, I can't imagine what tuition will be like when my kids go off to college. I might have to send them to community college for two years in order for it to be affordable!

[Pale Hose Jon]

Holy crap!

 

Man, I can't imagine what tuition will be like when my kids go off to college. I might have to send them to community college for two years in order for it to be affordable!

 

 

Just send them to a public school. It only costs around 4,500 to go to school at Illinois State. And we are as good if not better in most fields than private schools.

[Reddy]

That's counting boarding, isn't it? I don't intend on living on-campus, so that'll shave off nine thousand for me.

 

yeah good call, thats including room and board. so yeah, taking 9k off is about right for freshman year dorms.