NCAA GPA Question

Unless I'm mistaken, they look strictly at GPA. This was a little frustrating for us as my kids attended a school with a rigorous curriculum and the 93-100 grading scale. Their GPA's would have been a good 1/2 point higher using the other scale which also would have qualified them for some grant/scholarship money.
I do remember some college questionnaires asking for their grade score average which I've been told colleges do look at. I will say, attending the rigorous high school did prepare them well for college and I'll take that any day.

If you are talking about eligibilty the requirements are not stringent. The GPA can be very low with a decent SAT and vice versa.

Since your son's school uses 70 as passing see if you can gain access to his numerical grades in addition to his gpa.

Colleges don't care about weighted averages since there isn't a standard. My son's high school didn't weight other than for class rank. A 3.0 was a 3.0 was a 3.0 whether it was college prep, honors or AP. A neighboring district gave a full gpa bonus point for AP.

lhprhp is correct. The NCAA uses a 4.000 scale, and "Pluses or minuses within a grade level shall not receive greater or lesser quality points."

So I am having trouble understanding if you are asking about incoming GPA or GPA at college?

If GPA coming into College, eligibility for the Spring is not based on High School grades. Spring eligibility is based on your first semester at college.

Keep in mind though, some schools have a higher GPA requirement than the NCAA does, so beating the NCAA requirements is not always the goal.

Is your question referring to incoming grades from high school or current Fall semester grades?

Thanks for all the responses. From what I am understanding, colleges will look beyond the GPA to the actual numeric figure, but the NCAA does not (??)

So an 85 can be either a 3.0 or 2.0 in the eyes of the NCAA, all depending on the high school's interpretation. Is this correct?

I really appreciate the wealth of information on this site.

lhprhp - thanks for the feedback re/ academic preparation for college.

Backwardsk - I am refering to incoming grades from high school. I am very new to this, as my son is a 2015, so I am just trying to learn.

I was looking at the sliding scale GPA/SAT requirements and that piqued my curiosity about GPA interpretation.

Thanks!

Ok. Schools may take into consideration the school as well as the GPA, but honestly they will first look at the GPA.

As for the NCAA, their requirements apply to the first semester of college (as I said earlier).

Your son's priorities need to be the highest GPA possible. Doing so will open up more school options to him because they may offer academic scholarships which would make getting a roster spot on the team easier.

BL/TR, to answer your question, yes, the NCAA will take the grades as determined by the high school.

Thanks, Rick!

quote:

Originally posted by Backwardsk34:
.......
If GPA coming into College, eligibility for the Spring is not based on High School grades. Spring eligibility is based on your first semester at college.
Keep in mind though, some schools have a higher GPA requirement than the NCAA does, so beating the NCAA requirements is not always the goal.
......

This seems reasonable, but the NCAA rules say that eligibility for the entire freshman year is based on the high school record. A qualifier is eligible for the entire freshman year. Specifically:
14.3.1 Eligibility for Financial Aid, Practice and Competition. A student-athlete who enrolls in a member institution as an entering freshman with no previous full-time college attendance shall meet the following academic requirements, as certified by the NCAA Eligibility Center, as approved by the Executive Committee, and any applicable institutional and conference regulations,to be considered a qualifier and thus be eligible for financial aid, practice and competition during the first academic year in residence.

14.4.3.3 covers the minimum allowable GPA, and the requirement starts in the second year of enrollment.

I suppose that most colleges and perhaps conferences have their own requirements that take the first semester into account.

quote:

Originally posted by 3FingeredGlove:
I suppose that most colleges and perhaps conferences have their own requirements that take the first semester into account.

Yep that's typically the case. College's tend to set the standards higher than the NCAA (not all but some)

You need to take the grade you earned in HS and 'convert' the score to a 4.0 scale depending on your schools grading scale.
For example, HS #1 has a scale that shows an 82 as a "C". You convert that to the typical "2.0" for a "C". HS #2 has an 82 as a B. Then you convert that to 3.0
Of course you only do this for your 'core' courses as listed on the clearinghouse site. After this you would have the GPA needed for determing inital eligability, and for looking at the sliding scale that includes SAT scores.
That means that the GPA at your HS and the "GPA" the clearinghouse looks at are most often two different numbers since not all courses are included in that "second number".

I have never thought numeric scales make one whit of difference. The teachers adjust how much they take off for this or that to make the letter grade come out as they believe it was earned.

Whenever I hear these types of questions, it sounds like someone who wants to say, "My grades aren't as high as his, but it's not my fault -- it's because of the grading scale."

Which is to say, it sounds like childish whining.

Just do your best work and stop worrying about things like this. And if you don't do your best work and your GPA starts piling up ugly numbers, please don't make all these lame excuses. You aren't fooling anyone.

Wow.
Please don't assume I was making any "lame excuses". I am just trying to learn.
I had heard that colleges ask for numeric grades from our school's college counselor but was not sure about the NCAA. I thought I could find the answer here - and did.
I am very, very proud of my son's academic achievments so far.
I was really just seeking information.
I apologize if it came across as "childish whining."

BL/TR, your questions did not come across as "childish whining." You are to be commended for seeking out this information early with your son being a 2015.

I know a website where you can get information without those types of comments, but if I include a link or anything, the oldtimers tend to get very upset. :-)

quote:

Please don't assume I was making any "lame excuses". I am just trying to learn.

Hi BL - My apologies, if you feel I criticized you. When I added my 100% sign, I really didn't read up the threads for the original questions.... I should have.

My perspective is based on a much broader issue, because I deal with the actual 'gpa whining' day in and day out. I did not intend to imply that you were doing that!

I guess I should have read the entire thread 1st. and written something that refects it.

I work with students in many different districts and there are so many different variations on what gets an A, what is a 4.0, how much weight this class has, etc etc.

I think what Midlo says makes total sense as broad advice, just do your best work and the grades will reflect that, and the colleges will know how to read that.

I can assure you that neither Midlodad nor I are "bashers" offering unconstructive negative comments on here. He is a thoughtful, experienced and helpful HSBBW poster.

Good questions and some good advice here.

Rick- thank you for all the advice you post here. Would love to see your sponsorship on the main page of this website.

Old timers just get upset if someone is advertising their business without contributing to the operating costs of running this website.

But maybe you are donating money to MNmom for the operation of this great site.

quote:

Thanks for all the responses. From what I am understanding, colleges will look beyond the GPA to the actual numeric figure, but the NCAA does not (??)

Quick follow up, on this question. Colleges look well beyond the GPA.

Selective colleges in most cases do not look at GPA as given by the HS. They will often recalculate the GPA to an academic only (stripping out the gym grades and the grades in band or art, for example), unweighted, 4.0 scale GPA in order to compare students on an 'apples to apples' basis.

(Bigger state universities tend not to do this and may accept the HS GPA at face value. But they also understand the variations between grading scales.)

They will look 1st at rigor of curriculum, all 4 years, in academic subjects. They factor a 'weighting' back in by asking: Is the student taking honors classes etc. Is she taking all basic levels and getting As, or stretching to honors and AP? The college will factor in rigor, then the grade trend as rigor gets harder. They decide if the student has taken full advantage of the academic challenges in his/her own school.

Hope this give a little more clarity. Good questions for parents of younger students to become familiar with.

quote:

Originally posted by CaBB:
Rick- thank you for all the advice you post here. Would love to see your sponsorship on the main page of this website.

Old timers just get upset if someone is advertising their business without contributing to the operating costs of running this website.

But maybe you are donating money to MNmom for the operation of this great site.

Rick has been a sponsor with a prominent ad ever since he joined the site. Ironically his ad is showing at the top of this page as I type this. Maybe the ad has been around for so long that you don't even notice it anymore!

Apparently, it's time to think about changing the ad!!

quote:

Originally posted by BL/TR:
In our area, schools have different grading scales. Most public schools and some private schools operate with a 10 point scale. (90-100=A, 80-89=B...)

However, some schools (mostly private) use a much more rigorous scale where 93-100=A 86-92=B...

A student in a public school could receive an 80 which would translate to a 3.0 GPA whereas a private school student who receives an 85 would have a 2.0.

This obviously would put one student at a disadvantage when considering NCAA sliding scale requirements.

My question is: Does the NCAA take into consideration the different grade scales, or do they just look at the GPA generated by the high school?

I hope this makes sense.

If a student scores high enough on the ACT test then GPA becomes secondary at best.

This is not accurate. Different schools use different criteria. It is not reasonable to expect a lower performing student to achieve a high test score.

This aside, high academic schools in particular like to see a “body of work” and being able to get good grades over the long haul mean a lot more than a single high test result. (or lower also) A student who has a history of mediocre grades and suddenly scores an unusually high-test score will have to answer a lot of questions that would justify this. Conversely a student who demonstrates a history of good grades and has trouble with the tests will likely get consideration over the former.

The NCAA limits are much lower than the admissions standards to most schools anyway.

BL/TR,

2014 son has same grade scale. I would recommend having HS GPA, adjusted GPA based on traditional 90/80/70 scale and numerical aggregrate percentage for completed coursework.

Send me a PM if you want a tool that I use for quick calculation of HS GPA to traditional GPA.

quote:

Originally posted by BaseballmomandCEP:

Quick follow up, on this question. Colleges look well beyond the GPA.

Selective colleges in most cases do not look at GPA as given by the HS. They will often recalculate the GPA to an academic only (stripping out the gym grades and the grades in band or art, for example), unweighted, 4.0 scale GPA in order to compare students on an 'apples to apples' basis.

(Bigger state universities tend not to do this and may accept the HS GPA at face value. But they also understand the variations between grading scales.)

They will look 1st at rigor of curriculum, all 4 years, in academic subjects. They factor a 'weighting' back in by asking: Is the student taking honors classes etc. Is she taking all basic levels and getting As, or stretching to honors and AP? The college will factor in rigor, then the grade trend as rigor gets harder. They decide if the student has taken full advantage of the academic challenges in his/her own school.

Hope this give a little more clarity. Good questions for parents of younger students to become familiar with.

Thanks. This answers another question I had, as my son's guidance counselor has signed him up for a "more challenging course load" next year. I was wondering, and asked her if it would be better to take courses that would help maintain his GPA - basic courses and easier electives. (GPA of 3.4, BTW)I also asked a friend who worked in admissions at William and Mary.

Their answers were identical to yours - he needs to stretch himself academically.

I have also taken a look at the actual NCAA Div I sliding scale GPA/Test Score chart. As folks have so kindly informed me on here, the NCAA is not nearly as stringent as most colleges.

Again, I am so new to this and just trying to make sure we are doing what we need to do to help our son reach his academic/baseball goals.

Thanks to all!

"the NCAA is not nearly as stringent as most colleges. "

The NCAA rules are a MINIMUM for ELIGIBILITY, to prevent schools from losing their minds in pursuit of particular recruits. E.g., there was a horrible situation many years ago, prior to these rules, when N.C. State recruited Chris Washburn for basketball and it surfaced that his SAT's were 420. Interviewed, he claimed he just didn't take the test seriously, showed up and played with it, etc. (Remember, you get 400 just for showing up.) Still, it was a big black eye for NCSU and for NCAA sports in general.

Meeting the MINIMUM requirements doesn't mean you satisfy the school's admissions department. In most cases, the admissions department requires far, far more. True, recruited athletes go through the special admissions pipeline along with other situations like children of wealthy donors, children of faculty, affirmative action candidates, etc. But even when you factor in special treatment, there are very few schools who can take you if you only scrape by the NCAA minimums.

Not to mention, the coaches are often reluctant to recruit someone whose numbers are so marginal. All coaches know of, if they haven't experienced personally, the scenario with a kid who comes in, flunks out by Christmas, ties up money and a roster spot but never takes the field for the team. Most slots they recruit for have multiple candidates. Most coaches will steer clear of those with known academic risks and go for Bachelor # 2, to make sure they don't have these kinds of problems.