Anonymous
Post 09/29/2025 21:13     Subject: Straight As versus almost straight As
Anonymous wrote:Anyone think it really matters all that much? Anyone think almost straight As may look even better to some admissions folks? My junior never had anything below an A- in his rolling gradebook the last two years and ended both years with all As (no A-), but he currently has a B in Calculus and while I understand in September this is pretty meaningless, he is pretty upset about it and feeling like he won't be able to pull off an A in the class. Anyone have any thoughts on this?


Op, please give weighted and unweighted GPA, rigor, no of AP courses and testing results or we can’t help. For example, last year UVA’s entering class had a 4.5 at the 75th percentile and very high SAT and ACT scores.
Anonymous
Post 09/29/2025 21:08     Subject: Straight As versus almost straight As
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:A few more A minuses will really decrease the overall GPA and therefore the acceptances (from a top private--I don't know the public world).

My child had about half A minuses, half As and an overall GPA of 3.84. He did significantly worse in admissions than kids who had fewer A minuses and an overall 3.94.
My kid: into places like Michigan, UCLA, Emory, WashU. Denied at lower ivies, etc.
3.94 kids: HYP and other top 15s.

I'm not going to share specific extracurriculars but my kid's were really good. Applied as a humanities major, had a narrative, testing was over the threshold (35), etc. The GPA (more A minuses) was really a huge differentiator.


Michigan recalculates +/- to the flat letter grade. B+s hurt, A- does not.

Cornell cares a lot about unexplained Cs. We were told that at an admissions presentation. Sounded fairly disqualifying barring a major life event.


In the UC system, A- is recalculated to be the same as an A, and a B+ or B- is recalculated to the same as a B. In other words, A- does no harm, B+ pulls down the GPA. Also they only look at 10th and 11th grade to calculate the UC GPA, and there is capped weighting for honors (you can’t weight more than 8 semesters with an extra +1 for honors or AP). Bizarrely, doing more than 8 honors weighted semesters will actually pull DOWN the UC GPA because any extras are averaged in as a 4. Combine that with UC Test blind policy, and over reliance on foreign grad students to
actually teach the courses
and you get much much overrated undeserved
reputation.


The first part of this (about calculating the UC GPA) is true, the second part is not. Doing more than 8 honors courses does not pull down your GPA; it just doesn't affect it. In theory, taking fewer courses overall can inflate your UC GPA because more courses dilute the effect of the extra honors points. However, all the UCs look at more than the capped GPA so this doesn't actually matter. Cal and UCLA in particular care a lot about uncapped weighted. But none of them cares about freshman-year grades or plusses/minuses.
Anonymous
Post 09/29/2025 21:06     Subject: Straight As versus almost straight As
Anonymous wrote:Yes - I read somewhere the best combination is 1500+ and one B.


Absurd statement
Anonymous
Post 09/29/2025 21:06     Subject: Straight As versus almost straight As
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:How could almost straight As look better than straight As? Given the same rigor, straight As always looks better. But no school requires straight As, kids get into every school with less than perfect grades.


Grades that are too perfect feel somehow off to me (like cheating is involved or something) but I think that is because literally not one person in my graduating class (small private) had straight As. Having seen my son get through two years with straight As, I can see how it is possible. But calc is definitely challenging him.


This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen on the DCUM college forum, and that's saying a lot.


I agree!!
Anonymous
Post 09/29/2025 20:02     Subject: Straight As versus almost straight As
I thought Michigan and UVa also recalculated to make A- count the same as As. As a PP said, B+ also went down to a B, so those should be avoided.

With that said, I guess it matters how popular the school is at your HS. If you have a bunch of A- but many others applying don’t, then you’ll could be at a disadvantage. Otherwise; your A-s will just count as As and compared that way with the broader applicant pool.
Anonymous
Post 09/29/2025 19:50     Subject: Straight As versus almost straight As
Anonymous wrote:Yes - I read somewhere the best combination is 1500+ and one B.


That was my kid and got into all top publics…Mich, UVA, UNC, and UF. They had no desire to go to an Ivy or go out West to CA, so didn’t apply to those.
Anonymous
Post 09/29/2025 19:44     Subject: Straight As versus almost straight As
Yes - I read somewhere the best combination is 1500+ and one B.
Anonymous
Post 09/29/2025 19:34     Subject: Straight As versus almost straight As
Anonymous wrote:A less than perfect grade is only is a problem at reach or super reach schools.

Your goal should not be to train your kid into doing everything possible to avoid a single B. Your goal should be to help your kid see the value in finding a long list of schools to potentially fall in love with outside the reach or super reach schools. Then he doesn't have to walk on eggshells terrified over very normal occurrences like getting 1 or 2 Bs. Getting less than perfect grades is normal and healthy during high school. Focusing outside the most popular 30 colleges that allow flaws is liberating.

If they worked hard, celebrate the B.


+1
Anonymous
Post 09/29/2025 19:31     Subject: Straight As versus almost straight As
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Anyone think it really matters all that much? Anyone think almost straight As may look even better to some admissions folks? My junior never had anything below an A- in his rolling gradebook the last two years and ended both years with all As (no A-), but he currently has a B in Calculus and while I understand in September this is pretty meaningless, he is pretty upset about it and feeling like he won't be able to pull off an A in the class. Anyone have any thoughts on this?


I think it matters on when the B's were earned....if it's early on in Freshman year, then they show improvement and are straight As Junior year with a rigorous schedule, that's totally fine. I would be more concerned about the B Junior year in a core class like Calculus. It's still early in the year though, maybe get a tutor for a little bit to get over the hump?


Well, in reality, Junior year is when GPAs are most likely to drop. Taking 5+ AP classes is no joke. People going on about A-s— colleges recalculate the GPA. A- will generally be an A. People on DCUM like to think that if their kid never gets a B, they’ll get into an Ivy, and if their classmate gets a B, they’re doomed. Guess what? The majority of kids with straight As will not get into ivies. And for sure some kids accepted to ivies had a B at some point.
Anonymous
Post 09/29/2025 19:25     Subject: Straight As versus almost straight As
Anonymous wrote:A few more A minuses will really decrease the overall GPA and therefore the acceptances (from a top private--I don't know the public world).

My child had about half A minuses, half As and an overall GPA of 3.84. He did significantly worse in admissions than kids who had fewer A minuses and an overall 3.94.
My kid: into places like Michigan, UCLA, Emory, WashU. Denied at lower ivies, etc.
3.94 kids: HYP and other top 15s.

I'm not going to share specific extracurriculars but my kid's were really good. Applied as a humanities major, had a narrative, testing was over the threshold (35), etc. The GPA (more A minuses) was really a huge differentiator.


I agree with this, most top schools still rely primarily on gpas, within a range. Top ten percent of class, based in weighted gpa, is going to have a different range of acceptances than second tenth.
Anonymous
Post 09/29/2025 19:17     Subject: Straight As versus almost straight As
Anonymous wrote:Anyone think it really matters all that much? Anyone think almost straight As may look even better to some admissions folks? My junior never had anything below an A- in his rolling gradebook the last two years and ended both years with all As (no A-), but he currently has a B in Calculus and while I understand in September this is pretty meaningless, he is pretty upset about it and feeling like he won't be able to pull off an A in the class. Anyone have any thoughts on this?


I think it matters on when the B's were earned....if it's early on in Freshman year, then they show improvement and are straight As Junior year with a rigorous schedule, that's totally fine. I would be more concerned about the B Junior year in a core class like Calculus. It's still early in the year though, maybe get a tutor for a little bit to get over the hump?
Anonymous
Post 09/29/2025 17:23     Subject: Straight As versus almost straight As
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:A few more A minuses will really decrease the overall GPA and therefore the acceptances (from a top private--I don't know the public world).

My child had about half A minuses, half As and an overall GPA of 3.84. He did significantly worse in admissions than kids who had fewer A minuses and an overall 3.94.
My kid: into places like Michigan, UCLA, Emory, WashU. Denied at lower ivies, etc.
3.94 kids: HYP and other top 15s.

I'm not going to share specific extracurriculars but my kid's were really good. Applied as a humanities major, had a narrative, testing was over the threshold (35), etc. The GPA (more A minuses) was really a huge differentiator.


Michigan recalculates +/- to the flat letter grade. B+s hurt, A- does not.

Cornell cares a lot about unexplained Cs. We were told that at an admissions presentation. Sounded fairly disqualifying barring a major life event.


In the UC system, A- is recalculated to be the same as an A, and a B+ or B- is recalculated to the same as a B. In other words, A- does no harm, B+ pulls down the GPA. Also they only look at 10th and 11th grade to calculate the UC GPA, and there is capped weighting for honors (you can’t weight more than 8 semesters with an extra +1 for honors or AP). Bizarrely, doing more than 8 honors weighted semesters will actually pull DOWN the UC GPA because any extras are averaged in as a 4. Combine that with UC Test blind policy, and over reliance on foreign grad students to
actually teach the courses
and you get much much overrated undeserved
reputation.


If a kids has all As and 2 A- in the most rigorous classes in 10th and 11th grade from a good high school, are chances really good to get into UC perhaps even Cal and UCLA? If they are test blind and don't care about legacy and ECs, what else do they consider?
Anonymous
Post 09/29/2025 17:17     Subject: Straight As versus almost straight As
No room for error-just awful for the kids.
Anonymous
Post 09/29/2025 17:14     Subject: Straight As versus almost straight As
Also check out on UCLA reddit, where there is a thriving secondary market for students selling their
registration spots for popular oversubscribed courses, and forced
triples in single rooms
originally meant to be doubles. I’m a california
resident and discouraging my kids from applying to UC even with the instate tuition.
Definitlely
NOT worth the OOS tuition.
Anonymous
Post 09/29/2025 17:14     Subject: Straight As versus almost straight As
The shame of even a single B on the high school transcript will follow your child forever. It is an indelible stain on his or her permanent record that no amount of standardized test or extracurricular pixie dust can erase.

The Scarlet B. Shameful. Blatant. Embarrassing.

You have failed as a parent. College doesn't matter any more. Your kid might as well get some face and neck tattoos and start learning to turn tricks for a pack of smokes in prison.

Those are the college admission stakes. And you have been weighed in the balance and found wanting.