<p>What is my cumulative GPA if these are my grades:
4.0 (unweighted) freshman year
4.0 (uw) sophomore year
4.2 (weighted) junior
4.6 (weighted) senior year, first quarter (assuming my courseload will remain the same)? </p>
<p>Is it 4.2 out of 5?</p>
<p>The post above is a hypothetical situation.....</p>
<p>Just remember that weighted and unweighted grades are separate. Our high school transcripts list BOTH the weighted and unweighted GPA for the whole high school career. Someone might have a 95 unweighted GPA and 117 weighted GPA (on a 100 point scale).</p>
<p>The colleges almost ALWAYS ask for UNWEIGHTED GPAs because THEY make their own decisions as to how many points to award for honors or AP classes. I have never seen one that accepted the weighted GPA without stripping the weight off to make their own decisions - and I interviewed for an Ivy for many years, with many friends in the business at other colleges.</p>
<p>Your guidance counselor should be able to tell you how your transcript will look. In our school, students get their GPAs at the end of each semester beginning junior year, and both weighted and unweighted are listed. To get your overall unweighted GPA for college admission, remove the weight for the junior and senior year grades and recalculate. </p>
<p>To answer your question, the weighted GPA could NOT be called 4.2 out of 5, because the first two years were NOT out of 5.</p>
<p>Thanks, nedad. </p>
<p>So it is better to write down an unweighted GPA on the app?
I always thought that writing down an unweighted GPA was a bad idea because colleges might assume that I took only the easiest classes and got perfect grades (there is no such thing as taking a "easy" or "hard" class in my school, but I don't think my counselor is experienced enough to explain that situation in the report...that's why I'm the one calculating my own GPA..ughh).<br>
What's one way to show that both of my weighted and unweighted GPAs are far, far higher than those of my senior classmates? I don't have to?</p>
<p>Your "high school profile," which is sent by the GC along with your transcript, etc, is supposed to cover all this. Ours is very, very detailed. The GC is specifically asked by the college if you took the hardest courses available, as well.</p>
<p>To put your mind at ease, I would include a SHORT cover letter that gives both weighted and unweighted GPA (or hand write them on the app if you are not applying online). I don't think you have to tell the school how hard your course load was. By looking at the transcript, they can see if you took Honors and AP, took bio, chem, and/or physics instead of "environmental science," took at least precalculus if not AP calculus, whether you loaded up your schedule with gut courses or took five academics, etc. etc.</p>
<p>Don't worry too much! And good luck!</p>
<p>also, don't forget to back out non-academic classes, such as PE, health, basketweaving, TA, etc. (Colleges only care about academic classes.)</p>