Final Grades/GPA thread/School/University Discussion

[billymills]

Originally Posted by Fat Killah

Just curious, how does the GPA system work for other universities? At Georgia Tech, and all schools in GA (I think?), A's are worth 4.0 points while B's are worth 3.0. Ended with a 3.7 this semester because I was 0.52 points away from getting an A in one class :x Seems to me like a more fair system would award, say, 4.0 points for an A or A+, 3.7 for an A-, and 3.4 for a B+ or something to that effect =/

Mine is just like that, except 3.3 for B+ instead of 3.4.

[JimBob]

yeah, mine is the same as billymills. And I just got my grades back from my third semester at Virginia Tech.

C++ - A
Statics - A
Differential Equations - A
Physics - A
Manufacturing Lab - A-
Mechanical Engineering Design and Economics - A-

My cumulative GPA is a 3.91, and I am pumped. I got way better grades than I thought I would get. Next semester I've got Dynamics, Deforms, Fluids, Statistics, Electrical Theory, and Psychology. Full fucking plate.

[Arctic Eclipse]

During the first half of the semester I got a 4.07 GPA. During the second half (December) I think my GPA is going to be 4.01 or 4.0. I'm only a High School Freshman.

The classes I took are:

Spanish - A+
NM History - A
Weight Training - A-
Honors Science - A+
Honors English - A-
Honors Interactive Math - A+
Graphic Design - A+

[Polis4rule]

3.0

CS (MATLAB) - B
Calc II - B
GT 1000 (freshman seminar) - A
English 2 - A
Chem - C

Fuck chem and that hard ass final.

[gene]

Energy Systems - A
Fluid Mechanics - A-
Intro to Instrumentation in Computers - B-
Product Design in a CAD Environment - B+

those last two really blow. they're not even hard, just time-consuming and tedious. i can't help but blow them off, and it's ruining my gpa.

next semester i'm taking:

Heat Transfer
Systems Analysis
Gas Dynamics
Space Dynamics and Control

My cumulative GPA is a 3.91, and I am pumped. I got way better grades than I thought I would get. Next semester I've got Dynamics, Deforms, Fluids, Statistics, Electrical Theory, and Psychology. Full fucking plate.

all those classes at once, ouch. i'm assuming deforms is something like solid mechanics, probably one of the hardest classes i've taken so far.

[toshimelonhead]

3.05ish at Wisconsin. 1st semester

Econ 101 AB :(
Spanish 204 B
Math 234 (Calc III) C
Weight Training AB ;(
Materials Science Intro A

Next semester:
Poli Sci 104 (US Gov)
Media Ethics (English)
Math 340 (Linear Algebra)
CompSci 302

Hoping for better. Is it normal for an improvement from first to second semester freshman year?

[Jimbo]

Speaking from (projected) experience and from the looks of my friends' schedules, I'd say it really depends on your class situation on whether your GPA will improve or not. I think if you were still testing the waters and "finding yourself" first semester and have decided what you want to do by second semester then yea, your GPA will probs increase. (For example my friend was in Engineering and got destroyed by Physics, now he switched to business and his GPA will probably increase since he actually will enjoy the classes).

On the other hand if you knew what you wanted to do first semester and now are taking beyond-entry level courses then your GPA will probably fall. I was taking mostly intro level courses first semester and now I'll be taking Calc 2/Chem 2 (and Bio) which will definitely be harder than first semester, so my GPA will probably fall.

Another factor that plays into this is whether you were uncomfortable first semester. By now you probably have a group of friends, know where everything is and developed good study habits so those things may help you.

[Roy]

First semester of sophomore year at Texas A&M:

Financial Accounting: A
Some basic chemistry class: A
Chem Lab: B
Business Law: B
Securities & Commodities Trading: A
Some nutrition class: A
Running: A

3.73 GPA for the semester, 3.92 cumulative

[mtr]

Science majors typically have lower GPA's than other majors. That was another reason I chose to switch to a History major rather than being in Biochem.

[Polis4rule]

They don't have lower GPA's than engineering majors.

Next semester I have:

Bio
Calc III
Survey of OrgoChem
Intro to biomed
Some bullshit special topics class about science and learning

Originally Posted by Fat Alan

I'm assuming you're american, maybe its different up north, but in the south it pretty much only matters if you go to a big school. We had this discussion in my World Civ class on the last day. I go to UCF. Second largest school in the country with some 55,000+ students. Yet, we are largely: unknown; although this year with our football team getting ranked and our basketball team being 10-0 and ranked 24th, its helping (thank you donnie jones). But my teacher made a good point, when you go to apply for a job, the H.R. guy doesn't know what school is amazing at <degree>, or what school isn't. He just has to know, did you a) get a degree in said subject b) have a decent GPA c) graduate in a decent amount of time. He doesn't likely know ISU from UC Boulder from a hole in the wall in terms of what is excellent at <degree>.

That's simplifying things very much so. It all depends on your major. For instance, in engineering there is a fairly large pecking order. Employers know what school has a good program in what, and will look more favorably if you have a degree from MIT or Stanford than a degree from some ole Florida school. Of course, there are more factors involved as well, like you said. Employers want to know what work experience you have and/or any research experience you have. If you worked on a big research project for your school, and actually contributed to it, then that will help more so. Or if you had a great internship, you'll be looked upon more favorably than someone who has just received his degree from a more prestigious university. And also depending on what degree you're going in to, employers don't give two shits about graduating in a decent amount of time. Engineers regularly graduate in 5-6 years, yet that isn't hurting their chances at a job (it might help them, as they could have had extra internships or research opportunities than those that graduate in the "traditional" 4 years). GPA's are also quite relative, as employers do know the reputation of employers.

Also, reputation of a school means nothing in terms of school size. Reputation is due to perceptions in the quality of education.

[ChaosNebula]

Something went wrong with the computers so someone apparently hacked it, or some difficulties. Thus I couldn't get my score from last year.

Although I want to fix airplanes. Become a Airplane engineer and work for the government.

[Midnight Show]

First semester, freshman year:

Public Speaking: A
Organizational Communication: A
Intro. to Philosophy: A
Current Issues in Government and Politics: A

Next semester's schedule:
Mass Communication
Interpersonal Communication
Classical Rhetoric
Intro. to Religious and Theological Studies

Two classes per day, none before 11, and Friday off.

[whistle]

2nd year, 1st quarter @ uchicago

microeconomics II: A
cell and molecular biology: A
ochem: A
mind: A-

next quarter's schedule

genetics
ochem
mind
analysis in rn

still unsure about career direction fuk

our gpa system is 4.0 for A, 3.7 for A-, 3.3 for B+, 3.0 for B, etc... i wonder what the rationale for not using +/- is?

toshimelonhead, most of what jimbo said is the same as my experience, but i think the most important factor there is that classes get harder as you go through the intro sequence. e.g. last year my 1st quarter calc chem and physics classes were pretty hard but they were mostly a review of everything we'd learned in high school (albeit a bit more rigorously). in 2nd and 3rd quarter of those sequences we got a lot of stuff we'd never done before so the class felt a lot harder, but keep in mind that the majority of your classmates haven't learned that either so that doesn't necessarily mean your grade will be lower (teacher will teach accordingly, curve may be greater, etc). usually humanities/social science classes don't change much difficulty-wise because there isn't really anything to "review" as it's all "new" material.

[JimBob]

Originally Posted by Fat G80

all those classes at once, ouch. i'm assuming deforms is something like solid mechanics, probably one of the hardest classes i've taken so far.

Yeah, they're pretty much the same thing. I'm usually pretty good in technical classes, though, so I hope I'll do well. The school newspaper published a table of average GPAs of the "hardest classes", and Statics was like 1.0, C++ was 1.3, and Calc 2 was 1.7 or something, and I got As in all those. I'll just have to keep working hard.

[Commander Blue]

B+
B+
B+
C-

[The Necromancer]

Hmm... only marks I have are midterms of Grade 9. Here are my marks:
French Academic Geography - 95%
Academic Math - 88%
Music - 86%
Academic English - 86%

I would love to land everything in the 90%s. Who knows, I might :D

[TsukasaSIGN]

Totally messed up my 3.85 this semester...

AP World History: 79 (3.0) <---depressed me that she didnt bump it up
Honors Chemistry: 75 (2.5)
Comprehensive Art: 99 (4.0)
Gifted Film Studies: 87 (3.5)
Honors Spanish 4: 98 (4.5)

Not very proud of my grades this semester

[Lamppost]

Have you guys noticed that people who play pokemon are generally pretty smart for the most part?
anyway here are my grades:

A+
A+
A
A
i ended up with around a 4.1 but my classes were pretty easy.

[toshimelonhead]

Have you guys noticed that people who play pokemon are generally pretty smart for the most part?

This is generally true for most online games. Smart people have to put their intelligence to use somewhere.

[Bartman101]

Originally Posted by Fat TsukasaSIGN

Totally messed up my 3.85 this semester...

AP World History: 79 (3.0) <---depressed me that she didnt bump it up
Honors Chemistry: 75 (2.5)
Comprehensive Art: 99 (4.0)
Gifted Film Studies: 87 (3.5)
Honors Spanish 4: 98 (4.5)

Not very proud of my grades this semester

Well come to England, where the term 'semester' is non-existant, no GPAs, and lots of 'U's in words. Just straight hard levels given out in front of you, oh and A+ is A*, which is cool becuase its a star, which makes you sound like a star if you get one ;)

[TsukasaSIGN]

Originally Posted by Fat Bartman101

Well come to England, where the term 'semester' is non-existant, no GPAs, and lots of 'U's in words. Just straight hard levels given out in front of you, oh and A+ is A*, which is cool becuase its a star, which makes you sound like a star if you get one ;)

I'll pack my bags now. I'll leave my house, family, and friends just for that A*

[Bartman101]

Originally Posted by Fat TsukasaSIGN

I'll pack my bags now. I'll leave my house, family, and friends just for that A*

I shall be waiting for you...

Asides from that, I've got some exams in January-
Additional Biology
Business Studies Unit 1
Some Statistics thing

Got some revision booklet to do for Biology for next Tuesday when I go back to school, just looked over it now- I seem to have forgot it all, only Electrons and calculations like moles and stuff from Chemistry in my head....

Can't really revise for BS, as I sometimes call it, as I forgot to pick up my folder from the room on the last day :/

And I'm generally good at Statistics stuff, never got less than a A- when I've done some revision (Like 10mins in the morning) in the practice tests.

[Dark Talon]

I finished applying to college two days ago. Twelve damn schools. I'm glad it's over though, now just to wait 3 months for decisions.

[Bam]

Ended my first semester at USNA with a 3.44 - they have the system set up so that classes with more credits count for more when calculating the overall gpa.

English - A
Seamanship - A
Calc - B
Chem - B
Leadership - B
Russian - A
PE (boxing/wresting, the first PE class I've taken where you actually have to work for your grade) - A

[Xing]

I finished applying to the following schools yesterday:

Princeton (crapshoot but better than not applying...)
Stanford ^ditto
UPenn ^ditto
Tufts
UMichigan
BU
Colgate
Carnegie Mellon
UChicago

I addition to 4 UCs: Berkeley, LA, SD, Santa Cruz. I will be applying to UWisconsin soon.

I really hope my 2300 SAT will make my pathetic 3.55 look nicer...