Clueless college student-to-be needs some help

[Ionless]

Hi everyone!

So as the title suggests, I need a lot of some help.

I'll be attending college later this year, most likely at University of Virginia as an international student.

However, my school life has mostly been spent in an education system completely different from the US one, so I have no idea how the US system works. (e.g. I don't know how GPA works, how to choose courses, how to almost anything )

I'll appreciate if anyone can explain (or link me somewhere that explains) the college system in US.

Feel free to share any information because I probably won't know about it

I can help with the GPA system!

In most colleges this is the grading scale:

A (90 to 100%)
B (80 to 89%)
C (70 to 79%)
D (60 to 69%)
F (0 to 59%)

Usually in college, you get no credit for a class if you get a D or F. Some professors might give you credit with a D. I know a lot don't. F is universally failing.

Now for the GPA.

The GPA scale ranges from 0.0 to 4.0 (can go higher, but 4.0 is basically 100%)

A = 4.0
B = 3.0
C = 2.0
D = 1.0
F = 0.0

Let's say you're taking 4 classes.

Class 1: You get an A.
Class 2: You get a C.
Class 3: You get an A.
Class 4: You get an F.

Now, you replace the letters with the numbers: 4, 2, 4, 0 respectively. Add them all up, and divide by the number of numbers added. When added, you get 10, you divide by 4 and you get your GPA for all your classes which is 2.5. 2.5 is a high C, and passing overall. However, you still have to make up the class you failed.

[TheRoof]

above poster's grading standards that he described are mostly the case, but sometimes it really depends on the university, and or the course you are taking. And sometimes, the grades are not absolute-number based, meaning that they might grade you based on how well you did in the test compared to other students. For instance, if the average was 70, and you got 80, and they set the average as B, then chances are you'll get at least B, and possibly higher grade than B.
But once again, it really depends on the uni and the course you are taking, (and every course tends to have diff grading systems) so it would be best to ask once you get there. Also international students office in the university, I suspect, would be having orientation meetings in the beginning of the semester to help students like yourself, so I advise you to check out those kinds of info meetings. And of course, you are going to be assigned advisor (and possibly student advisor, who is a student himself/herself in the uni)so you can definitely ask that person once you get there.
Good luck

[frostreaver]

For my college, the grades are broken down into

A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D
F

A=>90% doesn't always hold and it depends on how the professor gives the grade breakdown. Also, some might curve the grades at the end of the semester. Generally, it is highly dependent on the professor.

Another thing in my college is that the GPA at the end of the semester depends on the credit hour of the class. For example, an A in a 4 hour credit class is worth more than an A in a 1 hour credit class.

Choosing classes are probably done online now. As for what classes to take, it'll depend on your major. You should have an outline of the recommended/required courses to take in your major's website. For my school, the greater your number of completed credits, the earlier you can enroll for classes.

[Kidd]

I'm a university student right now and your school will absolutely take care of you, so don't worry about anything. You'll have an adviser assigned to you that will help you map out your courses and to help motivate you and stuff. If you need anything at all, you can contact that person and they will help you as much as they possibly can, they're almost like a parent, but not really. Your school will definitely have an international students/diversity club that you will be able to attend too, and it will help you network and meet people.

[Nodnarb]

As the above poster said, universities have this down pretty good. You'll be taken care of and there will be plenty of people around to help you out if you need it. If your school is like mine, there will be a big orientation program, and you get to meet with your Academic Advisor, and they help you decide what classes to take and create a "Four-Year Plan". I'd imagine as an international student there will be even more help available to you to make sure things go smoothly in adjusting to the US.

Grades-wise, things could be different at UVA than they are here at ISU, but I think most places are pretty similar. Grading scales vary by class. Some use the traditional A (90-100), B (80-89), etc. scale, but I had a class last semester (it was a pretty difficult class...) that was something like A (86-100), B (76-85), etc. The syllabus for each class should state what grading scale they're using.

As for GPA, an A is a 4.0, B is 3.0, etc. But then you have to take in to account the number of Credit Hours the class is worth. So, let's say you got a B in a 3 credit class. That would get you 9 "Quality Points" (I think that's what my university calls them...). An A in a 4 credit class would be 16 points. Then you have to take the total of the quality points over the total credit hours to get your Cumulative GPA. So just for example, here's a hypothetical semesters worth of grades:

B in a 3 credit class: 3*3 = 9
C in a 3 credit class: 3*2 = 6
A in a 3 credit class: 3*4 = 12
D in a 3 credit class: 3*1 = 3
B in a 4 credit class: 4*3 = 12

So you have a total of 42 "Quality Points". Take that divided by total credits for the semester (42/16) and you get your Semester GPA of 2.625.

[Ionless]

Thanks everyone for the quick responses.

I suddenly realise there should be 1 more thing I have to ask.

What's the heating situation at most unis during winter? (especially dorms)
This coming from someone who has yet to spend more than 2 weeks of his life consecutively in winter

[U N Owen]

I'm looking at UVA too and have been on the tour. If you are really lucky and manage to snag the traditional rooms they come equipped with a fireplace. The rest of the dorms appeared to be well heated using more modern methods. Of course I come from Alaska where it is winter for six months.

[Chip]

I went to school in northern Ohio where it got cold as fuck in the winter (My hair, which was down to my shoulders at the time, actually froze between my front door and the door to my car.)

However, the school's dorms and buildings were toasty warm always. Unless you go to some uber hippie school that only heats with wood stoves or something, I'm sure you'll be fine

Edit: UVA is an excellent school with an outstanding reputation. That part of Virginia is also really pretty. And it doesn't get all that cold in Charlottesville compared to a lot of other places, though you will definitely get some snow.

I am not sure how much of a LGBT community there is at UVA, and/or how open the campus is toward LGBT people on the whole. I'm sure there's some, and perhaps now there's a large community and a lot of acceptance, but years ago, when I had friends there, it was pretty conservative (as is true of many parts of Virginia outside of northern VA.)

It also has quite the reputation as a heavy party school, heavily driven by frats. If that's what you're after, then you'll be right at home. If you dont' see yourself as wanting to be part of the Greek system and/or not so much into the party scene, then you might find it challenging to find people you connect with there.