In California, if I took college courses would they boost my high school GPA?
College courses are considered Honors courses by the UC’s and Cal States, so yes they would boost your GPA if they fulfill the a-g course requirements. Also they will help with your HS course rigor.
@Gumbymom Would it be appropriate to take these courses solely to boost your GPA? Could it be a way to guarantee to be first in your class and valedictorian?
I would not take college courses for the purposes of boosting your GPA to reach Valedictorian status especially since being your Valedictorian does not guarantee admission to elite schools. There are far more HS Valedictorians than there are seats at the top colleges. I would take college courses if you are really interested in a subject, need to supplement your HS course rigor (courses not available at your HS) and if you are maxing out on the available courses at your HS.
College courses will be different than even AP courses, so you will want to make sure you will be able to get good grades (A’s) in these type of courses. You will have to submit your college course grades to any college you plan to apply to and they will always be on your permanent college record.
College classes can be pretty fun, it depends on your professor. Take something you’re interested in.
Sure you can take college classes and graduate near the top of your class. Sure you can take college classes and graduate near the bottom of your class. Merely taking college classes will not make you valedictorian.
But, I’m tied with four other people for the valedictorian spot currently
@MissFlowerPower, you are only a rising Sophomore so you have 3 more years to go in regards to being named Valedictorian and many things such as ranking can change. As I stated in my above post, take College courses for the right reason such as interest but not just to try and game the system in being named Valdictorian. There are many schools that have several Valdictorian’s and to most colleges, it really is not a big deal anymore, so aim to do your best and everything else will fall into place.
Valedictorian status is determined by your high school’s calculation of class rank, presumably dependent on your high school’s calculation of GPA. So this is a question specific to your high school. Other forum posters who do not know what high school you attend cannot help you with your question (and may not be able to even if they knew, since not all high school put this information on the public web). So you need to ask your high school.
However, you may want to reconsider whether valedictorian status or class rank is really that important. If you are in California, class rank from your high school is not considered for admission purposes by UCs and CSUs.
So these college courses will not factor into my high school GPA?
If the college courses cover a-g CSU/UC requirements, they will factor in your UC/CSU GPA at your California HS. Private and OOS schools will have their own policies in regards to what college courses they will accept for credit and if they will part of your GPA when you apply.
@Gumbymom So if I take those college courses, I can raise my GPA and guarantee my valedictorian spot. Also, I’m taking all of the AP and honors courses offered at my school. Honestly, being valedictorian is the reason why I want to take these courses, it’s all I care about
You can’t “guarantee” anything. You can certainly maximize your own GPA (or at least attempt to), but you have no control on how the other students’ GPA will rise/fall over the nest three years. It’s way too early in the process to be obsessed over this. At the end of the day, for the most part the only people who will care about val ar you and maybe your parents. Colleges will generally not care is you are ranked 1 vs 4.
Good luck.
But no one else in my class I’m taking college courses
Yet
As stated by @skieurope, you can take the college courses but being Valedictorian is not guaranteed. It will depend upon how your HS determines their Valedictorian. Is GPA the only criteria? And why is it so important to be Valedictorian since this does not guarantee you a place in any specific college??? What is your motivation??
I’ve always wanted to be valedictorian. Like saying saying an inspiring speech to my fellow graduates.
My high school determines valedictorian by weighted GPA
So is the Valedictorian the only student that is allowed to give a speech during commencement? At my son’s HS, the Valedictorian’s (3) and Salutatorian’s (2) were allowed to give short speeches. Also the HS had a speech contest specifically for graduation and the winner was also allowed to give a much longer speech than the Val’s and Sal’s.
There are other ways to inspire your fellow HS students in the next 3 years without the Val status…
@Gumbymom Your son and I don’t go to the same high school