Need to implement 10-point scale
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Our daughter is an alpine ski racer and a member of the Whitetail Ski Team. She races in Pennsylvania and hopes to ski in college. So, as you might imagine, we are looking at schools up north. I have spent hours on the phone with admissions counselors, assistant directors, etc. With so many different grading scales each college has a different formula for their initial screening.
However, every school says the same thing. If your county has a 90-92 as a B+, then it is a B+ and will not be considered as anything but a B+. The GPA is the final number. How this affects admissions, I am not certain because of the many different ways colleges work. Logic tells us, with all things being equal, except that her competition is from a 10-point school district, she may be at a disadvantage. This may affect students at all levels, not just the ones with the higher GPA.
At this point, the school she is favoring does award merit scholarships. The amount of this scholarship varies and can be thousands of dollars. The students considered/awarded this scholarship are the students with a 4.0 GPA or higher. We have just received our daughter’s report card. At this point, her cumulative GPA is 3.99. Her final grades for this year (with the exception of AP World History at 91) are a 94 or higher. People must understand that there are colleges for which there is a “NO EXCEPTIONS” rule to the 4.0 requirement for entering the merit scholarship pool. That rule may also pertain to scholar programs and honor programs.
According to my research, this grading scale also affects NCAA qualifications, but that is another story. It does hurt the “gifted athlete” who may not be the “gifted student.”
It’s obvious that the teachers and administration that support the current grading scale have the best interests of the students in mind. I would simply ask them to consider the possibility that in the current environment this scale is working against the students instead of for them.
Tom and Mary Spitz
Sterling
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