<p>Just curious but how did you balance the 2? W gpa seems to determine class rank(Valedictorian) in most of the HS in this area. So for those of you who were in that scenario, did you load up on honors and AP classes(even for electives) or take electives geared towards your major? Virtually all electives are not honors thus your W gpa falls with each course. Essentially, is it more important to elevate your W gpa or sacrifice the W gpa and take electives you like?</p>
<p>My HS did not have tons of AP and Honors courses. I took what ever courses I was interested in and didn’t worry about class rank. Of course, I knew that I wasn’t one of the top 10 students so I didn’t try to get one of the top spots. Plus most colleges don’t care about W gpa only UW from what I’ve seen and heard, so as long as I had good grades I would take classes that were of interest to me.</p>
<p>According to Michelle Hernandez (if I remember correctly) they first use rank if it is provided by your high school so they can perceive the student in the context of his or her peers. If rank isn’t provided, then unweighted GPA prevails of course</p>
<p>You will be evaluated as an individual. For example, if you are a student who is very interested in art, you will not be penalized because you took your school’s art classes, even if they are not weighted (as long as you did well in them, and as long as the other courses you took were challenging). I do think it matters what electives you are talking about, and what kind of colleges you are considering.</p>
<p>OK…let me clarify a little. The W gpa isn’t a consideration for most colleges…they look at UW gpa and based on core subjects. What I’m asking is for highschools that determine class rank by W gpa(as most here do) how would you balance trying to get the highest W gpa thru honors and AP while also taking interested elective course which then lower your W gpa?</p>
<p>How much are your classes weighted at your school? I heard of schools that weight AP by 1 pt and Honors by 0.5 pts. If your is like this then take every AP class you can if you want your W gpa to be high. In my school, AP was 0.1 pts and Honors was 0.01 pts. which is almost negligible and it would be much riskier. Once you know what the weight factor is then you have to consider the risk and reward factors. If it is a subject you love and know well and you believe that you will get an A in the AP course then take the class. If you think there is a chance that you might get an A- instead of an A and the weight is very low then it might not be worth it. Of course, if your not hooked on rank then ignore the weight and just take what you think you can handle and ignore the fact that you might not get an A.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry about your specific rank too much, unless you’re trying to be in the top 10% in a Texas high school or something like that. Your curriculum is more important.</p>
<p>My d gave up valedictorian to be student body president - STUGO is an elective, and taking it dropped her to #2. It took her a long time to be okay with that. :-)</p>
<p>Much of the weighting is a bit artificial - pursue what you want to pursue - I think that, in most cases, colleges would rather see interested, interesting kids than see kids taking classes just for a gpa bump.</p>
<p>No minus or plus…only A,B, C, D and F. Honors weighted .5 point and AP 1 full point.</p>
<p>Sakacar3…Your statement is a bit conflicting. “pursue what you want to pursue…” and otoh “It took her a long time to be okay with that.” in regards to dropping to #2.</p>
<p>I guess it depends on what you value…Would you prefer to increase your rank (that may help you get into a “better” college) or would you prefer to learn about things of interest even if you do not maximize your rank?</p>
<p>I think kids get very caught up with rank. Ideally, she would have had both, but that just wasn’t possible - taking extra APs, community college courses, or electives all count against you at her school in the gpa race. </p>
<p>Does that mean she shouldn’t do it? No. In the end, she will be better served by taking outside classes and serving in a leadership role. Does she think it’s unfair that she has taken outside classes, earned As, and has earned 4a or 5s on 12 APs while the student who will be valedictorian has only passed 2? Yeah, she does. But that’s the way it is, and if she isn’t admitted to college because she’s number 2 instead of number 1, then I will feel bad for advising her to pursue what she wants rather than the highest possible GPA. :-)</p>
<p>The fact that you are valedictorian feels great on graduation day. (I should know). It matters extremely little for getting into college (at least from my experience with my kids, neither of whom was in the top 3, and that’s all we know in our district). I think angst over being number 1 or 2 is unnecessary. Take the courses you want to take. It makes you look like an interesting person, rather than a greedy grade seeker (if you clearly avoided taking any unweighted classes, by, for example, taking free periods instead).</p>
<p>This is all rather meaningless unless we know what colleges you’re talking about shooting for. </p>
<p>Ultimately class rank means little if you got there by tasking a weak schedule. And truth be told, for the elite schools, there really is very little wiggle room, they expect you to take the most rigorous courses available in a broad liberal arts curriculum - there really is no such thing as “specializing” at the HS level, other than for perhaps art and theater majors. A STEM major may take a few more high level science classes, but they still need large doses of English, social studies, and foreign language. English majors should be familiar with all three core sciences, but maybe not at the AP level for all three, and going as far as possible in math is always a good idea for everyone.</p>
<p>MrMom62??? A little confusing. It would be just the opposite. You can’t a high class rank(Wgpa) by taking a weak schedule. The discussion is do you take tougher honor and ap courses as electives to raise your Wgpa or take electives that will actually lower your Wgpa. As I mentioned previously the HS here determines class rank solely on Wgpa midway thru semester 8.</p>
<p>Colleges pay no attention at all to WGPA.</p>
<p>I realize that…they look at UWgpa but also class rank. Class rank, in the high schools here, are determined by Wgpa as is Valedictorian. </p>
<p>@moscott It depends on the school. Some schools (mostly those that don’t weight honors/AP classes for whatever reason) determine class rank based only on UW GPA. This can mean that a kid who is taking a full AP schedule and gets one or two B+s can be knocked out of the top few % by students who are taking normal college prep classes and getting straight As. From what the OP is saying though, it does not appear that this is the case at his/her high school. </p>
<p>OP, how much do you think your class rank will drop if you take a non-honors elective? If it’s just a few spots (eg going from #4 to #8), then I would advise you to take the elective you are interested in. </p>
<p>butter…I am the op…and class rank at this HS is only done by Wgpa. Add .5 for honors and 1.0 for AP.</p>
<p>Our school does use weighted gpas to determine valedictorian and class rank.</p>
<p>My son was not the valedictorian, but was good friends with him, and with some of the others graduating in the top 10. I think “greedy grade seeker” is a snotty thing to say, really. Try: driven. goal-oriented, and willing to sacrifice. </p>
<p>P… …so are you saying the Valedictorian did choose honors and AP courses over electives to earn that?</p>