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Post by LAM88 on Jan 23, 2015 13:38:24 GMT
My boys are only freshman in high school so I still have time to think about this, but they told me something yesterday that I had never heard before and I wanted to run it by the Peas. They said they were told that their quarter grades don't matter and that colleges only see their semester grades. I always thought that colleges saw your entire transcript. My son is very upset because he got an A both quarters in honors biology, but only got an 85 on the midterm which pushed his semester average to A- by .02. Personally I don't remember ever caring what my semester grades were, but for my boys that seems to be more important than anything else. Is this the case today that colleges don't even see your quarter grades, just your semester average?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2015 13:40:15 GMT
That's how it is, yes. Transcript will show the semester grades. I feel bad for him.
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peppermintpatty
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Post by peppermintpatty on Jan 23, 2015 13:44:15 GMT
I wouldn't worry about an A- as compared to an A. One grade is NOT going to make any difference in the grand scheme of things. They only want to see how you do overall and to make sure your grades stay on trend. But he is right, they don't look at quarter grades, only semester.
My dd got A's in an AP class but got a B on her final, She had so few quarter assignments that the final pulled her down to a B. That was really annoying. They only had 4 grades one quarter
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2015 13:45:30 GMT
What they see depends on what the transcript shows. You'll need to know if his school transcripts only by semester grades or if mid semester grades are also included. Most schools only show end of semester but there are a few who do show all the mid terms too. We don't pay attention to freshman grades a whole lot. It can bring his overall gpa down but we look at the bigger picture and how he was doing as a junior and senior.
eta: Some schools have an unofficial or advisor's transcript that shows everything. His high school will use that "in house" and then they may have an official one that only shows the semester end. That is what gets sent to colleges. Ask his school how they are set up.
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Post by peasapie on Jan 23, 2015 13:50:26 GMT
is he worried about his GPA? Because honestly, A vs A- on grade transcript is no big deal. Schools are looking for trends. If he has As as a freshman and Bs as a junior, that would be trending in the wrong direction. An A- is still a good grade.
We only show yearly grades on our transcripts-one page, all four years, plus another page for books read. (That's optional, but we like to add it.)
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grinningcat
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Post by grinningcat on Jan 23, 2015 14:02:21 GMT
I have no idea but I hope it all works out. My question is: what's the difference between a semester and a quarter? We only had semesters in any of my schooling, so is a quarter greater or less than a semester?
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peppermintpatty
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Post by peppermintpatty on Jan 23, 2015 14:05:06 GMT
I have no idea but I hope it all works out. My question is: what's the difference between a semester and a quarter? We only had semesters in any of my schooling, so is a quarter greater or less than a semester? 2 Quarters = semester. If you have an A one quarter and a C the next you would get a B. It also depends on the grade on the final.
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grinningcat
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Post by grinningcat on Jan 23, 2015 14:07:19 GMT
I have no idea but I hope it all works out. My question is: what's the difference between a semester and a quarter? We only had semesters in any of my schooling, so is a quarter greater or less than a semester? 2 Quarters = semester. If you have an A one quarter and a C the next you would get a B. It also depends on the grade on the final. Interesting. So I guess it sort of corresponds with the release of report cards. It was never called a quarter, we just got 2 report cards every semester, one halfway through and one at the end. Thanks.
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Post by happymom on Jan 23, 2015 14:22:03 GMT
It depends on how the high school reports it. When my student starts orientation for high school each year, They give him an unofficial copy of the transcript to check for errors.
I disagree with the above poster, an A vs. A-. One is a 4.0 and one is a 3.7. Very different for a student with a goal of valedictorian or a top 10 rank in a competitive school.
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Post by happymom on Jan 23, 2015 14:24:42 GMT
My dd got A's in an AP class but got a B on her final, She had so few quarter assignments that the final pulled her down to a B. That was really annoying. They only had 4 grades one quarter That's how college is. Very few assignments, and a lot of weight for the exam.
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Post by LAM88 on Jan 23, 2015 14:30:04 GMT
It depends on how the high school reports it. When my student starts orientation for high school each year, They give him an unofficial copy of the transcript to check for errors. I disagree with the above poster, an A vs. A-. One is a 4.0 and one is a 3.7. Very different for a student with a goal of valedictorian or a top 10 rank in a competitive school. That's definitely part of it. He has a lofty goal of straight As in high school and has done it so far through his 2 quarters. I'm not sure his goal is realistic since he's in all honors classes and will eventually move up to AP, but I was proud of him for setting a goal and working so hard to achieve it. He was so proud of himself but now he's feeling a bit defeated since the first 2 quarters didn't count on their own. He's not one of those naturally brilliant kids, but no one works harder than he does.
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Post by peasapie on Jan 23, 2015 14:42:30 GMT
It depends on how the high school reports it. When my student starts orientation for high school each year, They give him an unofficial copy of the transcript to check for errors. I disagree with the above poster, an A vs. A-. One is a 4.0 and one is a 3.7. Very different for a student with a goal of valedictorian or a top 10 rank in a competitive school. Of course, just as honors and AP can also affect GPA if a school counts that as part of the equation. That is why I asked about whether he was concerned about GPA. What I was discussing was grade trending.
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Post by anxiousmom on Jan 23, 2015 14:54:38 GMT
Good question-I am going to ask the boy when he gets home. He is in 11th grade and to date, has two quarters where he made B's, but his semester grades are all A's. The B's bugged him to no end, but he doesn't seem all that concerned and puts most of his weight behind his overall GPA which is pretty good (4.0/4.5) which he seems to think is what is going to be the deciding factors for colleges.
Honestly, I stay out of it. He is the kind of kid who doesn't require any input from me as far as school is concerned and he just does his thing. I do think that if he knew the semester grades counted more than the quarter grades it would make him happy, but I don't think it would change what he does.
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Post by auntkelly on Jan 23, 2015 15:43:34 GMT
I agree w/ those who say it's however the high school chooses to report it, and I've learned different high schools do different things.
I was surprised when I learned a few years' ago that my daughter's high school did not recalculate class rank and overall GPA after the final semester of senior year. For example, I learned that if you had a 3.85 GPA and you were ranked 150/2000 students after the first semester of senior year, and then you made a 4.0 second semester of your senior year, your overall GPA on the transcript remained 3.85 and your class rank remained 150/2000. While this quirk would not have affected most people because the college application process was over by the time the final transcript was released, it affected my daughter who was applying to a special program at her university and acceptance to this program was based on overall GPA and class rank and every little improvement would have helped her to be accepted.
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peabay
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Post by peabay on Jan 23, 2015 17:23:44 GMT
It also depends on the size of the university. A small liberal arts college may pore over the transcript a little more carefully than a major university. They just don't have the manpower to look at 40,000 applications that carefully. They just plug numbers into an algorithm.
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Post by littlemama on Jan 23, 2015 17:31:05 GMT
The only grades that factor into gpa are the semester grades, so it wouldn't matter what the school sends, the college cares about the semester grades, as I understand it.
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PaperAngel
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Post by PaperAngel on Jan 23, 2015 18:20:35 GMT
While elementary & middle schools report grades on a quarterly basis, both private & public high schools in our area use semester grading periods due to official transcript reporting. It is my understanding that area public high schools currently use a strict 7 point scale (which will change next year for incoming freshman), while private schools use a 10 point scale with or without + or - (e.g. a 92.4 average in public school = B/3.0; in private school with +/- = A-/3.7; private school without +/- = A/4.0). I would expect university/college algorithms to consider grading scale/weight differences among high schools during the admission process.
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Post by peasful1 on Jan 23, 2015 19:00:46 GMT
Yup. My kids' transcripts show a semester grade for every course, and those grades follow them throughout high school and are what GPAs and ranks are based on. Luckily, he can take an extra science beyond what is required to graduate, get a better grade and it won't figure into his rank at all.
There are a lot of things that schools look at when figuring out acceptance. One foible in a semester grade isn't the end of the world. They also look at what kind of electives they take, how difficult is their course load overall (this is where the weighted GPA comes in), how balanced is their life? ACT/SAT scores figure in there as well. My son's rank/GPA/scores got him a nice scholarship. So, it is something to think about, but not get too worked up over if overall, he's doing well and enjoying himself. That last part, is really, really important.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2015 20:46:56 GMT
I have no idea but I hope it all works out. My question is: what's the difference between a semester and a quarter? We only had semesters in any of my schooling, so is a quarter greater or less than a semester? This is totally not mean-spirited, rather a little friendly funny. I hope that's how you interpret it.I take it neither math or language were your strong suits? semester = half quarter = one-fourth
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Post by ktdoesntscrap on Jan 23, 2015 21:33:21 GMT
^^^ I would consider that neither Friendly or Funny! I take it humor and kindness are not your strong suits!
To the OP I would encourage my child not to stress about an A-. My nephew just got early admission to University of Chicago with a very generous grant, to study in the Physics Department and Music Department.
He got plenty of B's in high school. And did not get early admission into a number of less prestigious schools. 4.0 or higher does not guarantee you anything. Its all relative to who else applies to the program you choose. I encourage my daughter to do her best and focus on what she is doing the results of her efforts, are out of her control.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2015 21:40:26 GMT
^^^ I would consider that neither Friendly or Funny! I take it humor and kindness are not your strong suits! I take you to be cowardly (for not quoting me, presumably in the hopes that I wouldn't see your comment), and completely lacking a sense of humor. Pull the stick out and relax a little. Oh, wait! You also said I wasn't kind. Okay, then, PLEASE pull the stick out and relax a little. Better? (Seriously, I'm just kidding. Sarcasm just happens to be my second language.)
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Post by ktdoesntscrap on Jan 23, 2015 21:44:28 GMT
^^^ I would consider that neither Friendly or Funny! I take it humor and kindness are not your strong suits! I take you to be cowardly (for not quoting me, presumably in the hopes that I wouldn't see your comment), and completely lacking a sense of humor. Pull the stick out and relax a little. Oh, wait! You also said I wasn't kind. Okay, then, PLEASE pull the stick out and relax a little. Better? (Seriously, I'm just kidding. Sarcasm just happens to be my second language.) Is that better? I wasn't being cowardly I was being lazy and snarky. I think you were being mean. Still do! making fun of people at their expense is not nice.. and calling you on it is not being humorless.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2015 21:51:02 GMT
I take you to be cowardly (for not quoting me, presumably in the hopes that I wouldn't see your comment), and completely lacking a sense of humor. Pull the stick out and relax a little. Oh, wait! You also said I wasn't kind. Okay, then, PLEASE pull the stick out and relax a little. Better? (Seriously, I'm just kidding. Sarcasm just happens to be my second language.) Is that better? I wasn't being cowardly I was being lazy and snarky. I think you were being mean. Still do! making fun of people at their expense is not nice.. and calling you on it is not being humorless. So in your world, snarky is better? Maybe you were offended because you're insecure about your own grasp of vocabulary? Snarky - sharply critical; cutting; snide Either that or it's a bit of the pot calling the kettle black. And, at least I'm not lazy
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grinningcat
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Post by grinningcat on Jan 23, 2015 21:52:11 GMT
I have no idea but I hope it all works out. My question is: what's the difference between a semester and a quarter? We only had semesters in any of my schooling, so is a quarter greater or less than a semester? This is totally not mean-spirited, rather a little friendly funny. I hope that's how you interpret it.I take it neither math or language were your strong suits? semester = half quarter = one-fourth Yup. You're right. I'm a basic skill flunky. We never used the term quarter so I was trying to figure out exactly what time frame it included. My apologies for not be so up to snuff on the terms. I"ve heard some schools using semester for three or more periods of time. Is that acceptable or am I still an idiot in your eyes?
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Post by ktdoesntscrap on Jan 23, 2015 22:19:26 GMT
Is that better? I wasn't being cowardly I was being lazy and snarky. I think you were being mean. Still do! making fun of people at their expense is not nice.. and calling you on it is not being humorless. So in your world, snarky is better? Maybe you were offended because you're insecure about your own grasp of vocabulary? Snarky - sharply critical; cutting; snide Either that or it's a bit of the pot calling the kettle black. And, at least I'm not lazy I was right you are mean. I am perfectly clear on my vocabulary. I was just replying to your snark with snark. I was not pretending to be funny. The lowest form of conversation is someone who says mean things and then says.. don't be offended I'm just being funny.
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peabay
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Post by peabay on Jan 23, 2015 22:42:30 GMT
This is totally not mean-spirited, rather a little friendly funny. I hope that's how you interpret it.I take it neither math or language were your strong suits? semester = half quarter = one-fourth Yup. You're right. I'm a basic skill flunky. We never used the term quarter so I was trying to figure out exactly what time frame it included. My apologies for not be so up to snuff on the terms. I"ve heard some schools using semester for three or more periods of time. Is that acceptable or am I still an idiot in your eyes? Not getting into this fight but just saying that when it's three periods, it's usually called trimesters. (putting on my helmet and backing out slowly while waving my white flag.)
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grinningcat
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Post by grinningcat on Jan 23, 2015 22:44:06 GMT
Yup. You're right. I'm a basic skill flunky. We never used the term quarter so I was trying to figure out exactly what time frame it included. My apologies for not be so up to snuff on the terms. I"ve heard some schools using semester for three or more periods of time. Is that acceptable or am I still an idiot in your eyes? Not getting into this fight but just saying that when it's three periods, it's usually called trimesters. (putting on my helmet and backing out slowly while waving my white flag.) I've heard both, thus why I am asking. That's all. Not trying to make a point but there are many different terms used. Just trying to make sure I'm on the same page. Term is another word used for semester or trimester.
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peabay
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Post by peabay on Jan 23, 2015 22:45:28 GMT
Not getting into this fight but just saying that when it's three periods, it's usually called trimesters. (putting on my helmet and backing out slowly while waving my white flag.) I've heard both, thus why I am asking. That's all. Not trying to make a point but there are many different terms used. Just trying to make sure I'm on the same page. Term is another word used for semester or trimester. It is. And you're right - all of the different words for it can be confusing.
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grinningcat
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Post by grinningcat on Jan 23, 2015 22:53:42 GMT
I've heard both, thus why I am asking. That's all. Not trying to make a point but there are many different terms used. Just trying to make sure I'm on the same page. Term is another word used for semester or trimester. It is. And you're right - all of the different words for it can be confusing. So now that that's taken care of, if I understand the OP correctly, she thought that the universities looked at all quarters not just the summary? When I applied and my nieces and nephews applied, they just looked at the mid-year grades for probational acceptance and then our year end grade for final acceptance (there are proper terms for these acceptance modes, but I can't remember them). Why would they need to or want to look at grades quarter by quarter?
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peabay
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Post by peabay on Jan 23, 2015 22:55:13 GMT
Because some transcripts report them that way. My school does not.
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