@jlhpsu
also I’m confused by your post that penn states middle 50% posted gpa is believed to be unweighted?
But then later in that same post you say that the gpa on the “website” and the common data is “usually believed” to be converted by penn state?
Sorry if I’m being dense, It seems to be another area of mystical admissions info
Anyone ask admissions about the weighted vs unweighted gpa?
@ziveli513 There is much confusion around this question. I think the “believed” response is because many people assume that is weighted. However, it is virtually impossible on a 4.0 scale for it to be weighted (imo). Many people don’t believe that the top of the middle 50% GPA is 3.97 - that means to be in the top 25%, you basically have to have a 4.0. Is that true? I don’t know.
@jihpsu I’m not trying to put words in your mouth, just chiming in.
What I believe happens is that the SRAR makes everything more consistent and reliable for Admissions. You enter - by class and year - what your grade was. You enter how your school grades, and the level of the classes. I recall one of the questions being “how many H/AP classes have you taken?” and the highest category was “19 or greater”. (slightly fuzzy on this, so might be off a little) So, if you have taken every core class as H or AP, then you are at the maximum rigor. Since you have then filled out the SRAR with your specific data and weighting scale, Admissions can convert it however they wish to compare students. As as add-on, different high schools are known for being stronger and sending good candidates, so a lower GPA from that school may be admitted over … what appears to be … a higher GPA candidate.
If you would like to call Admissions and ask, we’d love to hear the response!
The bottom line is: take the highest level of classes that you can be successful in and get A’s. Don’t assume taking AP’s and H’s with B’s will cut it.
I also heard that the closer you are to 20 H/AP classes the better. Having more As then Bs in higher level classes certainly must help. How Penn State converts the GPAs to their own scale remains a mystery to me.
If I remember properly, i think the weighted 4.0 was a 2.8 unweighted. It was that type of ‘weight distortion’.
My question is also specific to unweighted
Is an unweighted 4.0 a 4.0 universally?
I understand that weighted gpa varies
Guys, my school’s weighted gpa can go as high as 5. So a lot of students say that they have a weighted gpa of 4.11/5, etc. however, the counselors have told us that while it seems like the scale is out of 5 because that’s the highest gpa you can have it, it is actually based on a 4.0 scale. That’s why I think that when they publish the middle 50% gpas, it is actually weighted (they just state it in a confusing manner). I’m almost positive that my counselor actually asked one of the admissions counselors from penn state about this!
hoping @jlhpsu will clarify her specific post when possible
But all the other info is helpful !
I don’t think even an unweighted 4.0 is universal. It seems that some schools require you to have a 95% to get a 4.0, but for others it might be a 93% and others it’s only a 90%.
Really the best thing to do is to use the Naviance scatter plots to see the stats of other accepted students from your own school (assuming your school uses Naviance and has a decent number of applicants at Penn State).
@2019gradsmom thanks for the reply
Are you saying some high schools add up the percentages of each class grade and then calculate the unweighted gpa based on that?
So someone with all A’s but varying percentages (all at least 90) gets lower unweighted gpa from some high schools ?
So even unweighted isn’t apples to apples?
If I may respectfully ask how do you know that is the case?
I thought at least unweighted was apples to apples
My d has an unweighted cumulative 4.0. Since 3rd grade btw
She has received final grades of an A-, A or A+ in every class
If she had a B+ in a marking period, her gpa was a 3.98 but always by the end she had at least an a- so back to 4.0
Unweighted
If she had several A+, still 4.0 because it was unweighted
Her weighted is 5.1, due to rigor and higher percentages as calculated by her school
who knows what psu weights her hs
Does anyone recall if the Srar had us put percentages for grades ? How would psu know if a 90 or a 93 is the grade if we didn’t input?
Or did we enter srar with A-, A or A +? I don’t recall
If we entered minuses and pluses, I don’t recall being asked what the cutoff percentages were
I guess penn state gets that level of detail from our high school guidance counselors?
I’m surprised some high schools don’t count a 90 as at least an A-?
Some schools give percentage grades. Other schools give letter grades.
@2019gradsmom on our Naviance about half of students who applied from our pa high school were accepted at Psu
My d stats are higher than the posted stats on Naviance of students accepted so I’m not concerned about the gpa for admissions for her
I’m trying to learn and understand in depth how all this works 
@amomoffour I had applied 10/30
Anyone know when next wave of decisions is?
They should be starting to release decisions again shortly because the Early Action deadline is approaching (Dec 24). I believe the office closes for the Christmas/Winter break so we should hear before then. In the chance that any of us end up being moved from Early Action to the Regular Decision round then we would have to wait until Jan 31st the latest to hear.
Does Penn state do rolling admisssons? It seems like they release them in waves, hoping to get mine soon applied earlier November!
@ziveli513 , we have a few people who have been on here a while and unfortunately I’m not sure we will ever figure it out with 100% confidence. Grade inflation is such an issue that it’s nearly impossible to get a true apples-to-apples comparison even with an unweighted system. And by virtue of it being flawed, the process can’t be fair. And PSU has made numerous changes to the process in the last two years, making it even more of a challenge to nail down their system.
I believe we may be getting too concerned w/micro managing the GPA idea. An AP class is weighted, if you have 20 AP/honors classes you’re great; so they say. If your GPA is 4.0/5.0 or percentage, they can see what you’ve taken, how you performed, etc. They most likely aren’t looking at individual High Schools offerings, but assuming you could have taken AP or Honors if possible. (I would guess all high schools are required to offer a decent amount of each). If you SAT is low, that’s not going to change. The admission rep told me they will send acceptances the first two weeks in December, as they are closed the third week. She said they weren’t accepting any 50th percentiles as of last week - like those who don’t fit their mid range on the stats I suppose. Honestly, hang in there, I think it will all work out and it just may take longer than expected!
@specialist009 and you heard the next day?
@amomoffour wait, what? An admissions rep told you they aren’t accepting any in the 50th percentile as of last week?
Or below the 50th percentile? As of last week?
Please explain, that’s news?
And supports the cutoff info given by an admissions rep for early action posted earlier
@amomoffour I think you may be saying only those with scores in top 25% of gpa and sat are being admitted as of last week?
From an admissions rep?