QPA

[Jess]

I just got my final report card today, my QPA is 3.9384. is that a bad QPA? :/ and my ranking is 188/658....my brother says that's bad too...what do you think? :/ I think he's just saying that because he got a QPA of 4.3 and Rank of 35/621.

[Sith Lord 13]

QPA?

If that's the same thing as your GPA, how the hell did your brother get a 4.3?

As far as rank goes, it depends on what you're looking at. You're in the top 29% of your class. That's pretty good, but how good depends on what you want.

[Jess]

um I don't know if QPA is GPA but I don't think it is..........he did get a 4.3.....he got high B's (3) and the rest are A's....

[Sith Lord 13]

Describe exactly the process for calculating a QPA please. Can't help if I don't know whatit is.

[INFERNO]

I've never heard of a QPA, I think you mean a GPA, unless Pennsylvania has invented a new term. POSSIBLE QPA MEANINGS (http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/QPA).


If that's the same thing as your GPA, how the hell did your brother get a 4.3?

Certain schools may place higher weightings on certain courses, such as AP courses, and some high-schools use a different GPA ranking for each grading but same calculation method. It's odd to me too because I'm used to the GPA system with max of 4.0.

[CaptainObvious]

Given that you are capable of getting above a 4 in your system, it's not a standard GPA calculation and therefore how are we supposed to tell you?

[Bougainvillea]

Yeah, the only thing about QPA I know is an award that recognises good patient care by medical staff. And that's not even in America.

I'm really interested to see this.

[Jess]

I don't know how it's calculated...........I will have to ask, but I'm sure it says QPA not GPA. I will also ask if GPA is the same as QPA.

[INFERNO]

I don't know how it's calculated...........I will have to ask, but I'm sure it says QPA not GPA. I will also ask if GPA is the same as QPA.

Apparently though, it seems to use a different method of calculating because according to Clarion University, GPA is only an estimate of QPA. HERE (http://www.clarion.edu/84631/)

It's kind of a weird calculation method whereby each course gets different weighting depending on the hours and grade. HERE (http://www.lynchburg.edu/documents/currentstudents/advising/how%20to%20raise%20your%20gpa.pdf)

However, nothing from what I've found suggests it's used in high-school, it seems to be used in colleges and universities, so I'm confused how it's on a high-school report card. As the method of calculation shows, it depends on the courses he took.

[Jess]

Yes I think so he took AP and Honors so maybe that's why it's so high?

[Antares]

What does QPA stand for :P ill google it nm

Anyways, so your school has a higher grading scale thing that normal schools. Usually the max is like 4.
So I think that your GPA is fine. You are in the top 1/3 of your class which is a good position.
Depending on the college you want to get in, that is sufficent to get accepted

[Sith Lord 13]

It depends on what your dreams are. I was in the top 10% of my class (30/300) but that wasn't good enough for me, since to get into Harvard you have to be in usually the top 1%. I know people who were under the 50% mark and were happy and proud because they were still able to go to college. It all depends on what you want.

[Jess]

I guess so, I'm definitely won't make it to a very good school :P

last year I did a lot better

[Sith Lord 13]

I guess so, I'm definitely won't make it to a very good school :P

last year I did a lot better

Oh, you'll make it into a good school, assuming you do well on your SATs. Just maybe not Ivy League.

[ShatteredWings]

I've never heard of a QPA, I think you mean a GPA, unless Pennsylvania has invented a new term.
not as far as I know....i live in PA too.


but your class rank is pretty good...

[CaptainObvious]

It depends on what your dreams are. I was in the top 10% of my class (30/300) but that wasn't good enough for me, since to get into Harvard you have to be in usually the top 1%. I know people who were under the 50% mark and were happy and proud because they were still able to go to college. It all depends on what you want.

Is that a goal of yours or just something you strive for?

It's not totally accurate anyways; top 5-10% is normally good enough for Harvard and its peer schools: with schools like that any single statistic like class rank can ruin you but really you need every statistic to be excellent and then one or two things in which you really stand out.

[Sith Lord 13]

Is that a goal of yours or just something you strive for?

It's not totally accurate anyways; top 5-10% is normally good enough for Harvard and its peer schools: with schools like that any single statistic like class rank can ruin you but really you need every statistic to be excellent and then one or two things in which you really stand out.

10% isn't good enough.

I was scouted by them because of my SAT scores, but you also need to be in the top few of your class. 30 out of 300 wasn't good enough, even with extra-curriculars, volunteer work, and 1520 out of 1600.

[CaptainObvious]

10% isn't good enough.

For someone with an otherwise compelling application, being in the top 10% of their class is certainly good enough. It won't be a standout asset on an application, but it's definitely good enough if the rest of the application would otherwise be an admit. I know this to be empirically true, whatever else you say.

I was scouted by them because of my SAT scores,

You mean they sent you a mailing? Schools send tooonnnns of those out, they don't mean anything.

but you also need to be in the top few of your class. 30 out of 300 wasn't good enough, even with extra-curriculars, volunteer work, and 1520 out of 1600.

Did you apply to find out that it wasn't good enough? Even if so, it's really a holistic process, so you can't point to one aspect of your application like that and assume it was the deciding factor. Especially since there "good enough" and "good enough to admit" are two entirely different things in the context of these schools: admissions officers regularly note that they could admit several full freshman classes' worth of excellent, fully qualified candidates, so one might easily be far more than good enough and still not get in.

[Sith Lord 13]

You mean they sent you a mailing? Schools send tooonnnns of those out, they don't mean anything.

Invitation for a dinner at the Harvard club, along with an interview.



Did you apply to find out that it wasn't good enough? Even if so, it's really a holistic process, so you can't point to one aspect of your application like that and assume it was the deciding factor. Especially since there "good enough" and "good enough to admit" are two entirely different things in the context of these schools: admissions officers regularly note that they could admit several full freshman classes' worth of excellent, fully qualified candidates, so one might easily be far more than good enough and still not get in.

I applied and was rejected. I'm using "good enough" in the "good enough to admit" sense. And you can point to one thing and say that's the reason you didn't get in. No matter how holistic a process, you can see what one part of your application was weakest. Had I been in the top one percent,I would have made it. That simple.

[CaptainObvious]

Invitation for a dinner at the Harvard club, along with an interview.

Ah, OK. Still essentially the same thing, since everyone who applies gets an interview and those dinners are like mailings on steroids, but yeah.

I applied and was rejected. I'm using "good enough" in the "good enough to admit" sense.

The problem with "good enough to admit" is that is entirely dependent on your application as a whole, and on every other student they have - or will - admit to a given class.

And you can point to one thing and say that's the reason you didn't get in. No matter how holistic a process, you can see what one part of your application was weakest.

That is precisely what I meant you couldn't say with any confidence. It's comforting in that it makes you feel as if only one part of your application wasn't good enough, but it's a false sense of security. In reality, you have little to no idea why you didn't get in over someone else; maybe your application as a whole wasn't as strong as you think or maybe you had no single standout thing that made you a compelling person to admit. Or maybe something that you thought was strong wasn't as strong as you thought (ECs are a good candidate for this category). It's completely impossible to tell unless you were sitting in the admissions committee meeting.

For reference, I had even better stats than you and still didn't get in everywhere. One really, really cannot predict these things like you say you can.

To say

Had I been in the top one percent,I would have made it. That simple.

as if it's certain is simply untrue.

[Antares]

It really is a holistic approach. If you think that you need to be top 1 percent of the class in order to get to harvard, you need to look at the stats.
Although they are distributed at the top of the class, some people with a 3.5/4 gpa get in.
Its because there are other things to look at other than GPA and SAT


and screw that paper letter things.
i get probably hundreds a month.
they all mean nothing.