<p>Do they weight the GPA themselves or take the GPA that high schools provide?</p>
<p>Today I found out that my school only sends the "weighted" GPA which, in my case is a 3.9. (I think it's somewhere around a 3.3 unweighted). So, obvoiusly, the weighted GPA looks alottttt better. </p>
<p>My guidance counselors are kinda crazy so I honestly don't know what to believe anymore but she was saying that colleges don't really care about gpa etc etc. COLLEGE's DON'T CARE ABOUT GPA?! (or at least the one that is given to them by high schools) I find this so hard to believe. Does anyone have any input on this?</p>
<p>Will the colleges really spend all that time weighting the GPA themselves?</p>
<p>Many/most colleges recalculate applicant gpas using a certain subset of courses that every applicant is expected to have taken. That way, they can compare apples and apples and someone with a bunch of grades in non-academic subjects won't have an artificially high/low gpa relative to the rest of the applicant pool. Schools commonly recalculate applicant gpas using math, English, history, science, and foreign language and leave out art, music, p.e., etc.</p>
<p>I think, when possible, they focus on rank a lot more. Also, things like SAT IIs and APs let them get a sense of your intelligence in particular subjects, which is what a gpa is suppose to convey. When you think about it, gpa's are quite arbitrary, anyway. In my AP USH class, there are people who have never read a single page in the textbook and still manage to maintain a B average. And then there are the people who have read the assigned chapters, but have never taken notes and still maintain an A- average.</p>
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COLLEGE's DON'T CARE ABOUT GPA?! <a href="or%20at%20least%20the%20one%20that%20is%20given%20to%20them%20by%20high%20schools">B</a>**
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<p>If you were actually told that colleges don't care about GPA, period, then you were misled (though I'm not willing to say that you were lied to). But if they're going to recalculate using their own weighting system, which many/most do, then the number your high school sends isn't going to matter too much. It's a rough estimate. It's the recalculation + ranking + rigor of course load + test scores + transcript + whatever that's actually going to give them the relevant info. The number on its own is close to meaningless...too much variance school to school, schedule to schedule. Even colleges that don't re-weight will look at the number within a context.</p>
<p>I assume your GC simply meant that it's the context, rather than the number on its own, that's most important. In general, I'd agree.</p>
<p>Thanks so much guys. yeah, you're comments make a lot of sense. These are the schools I applied to:</p>
<p>Barnard College (my dream school, i'd do anything to go here)
Brown University (5 year duel degree program brown/risd)
Rhode Island School of Design (5 year duel degree program brown/risd)
Georgetown University
New York University
Sarah Lawrence College
Washington University in St. Louis
Wellesley College
Boston College
Swarthmore College
Vassar College
UCLA/Berkeley
Fordham University
Northeastern University
University at Buffalo (in)</p>
<p>I'm just a little curious on each specific schools procedure etc. so if anyone knows anything about any of the ones on my list, THANK YOU! April 1 is so close...</p>
<p>I agree with Godfatherbob about class rank. According to the book A=Admissisions: it says that mostly all of the schools will use your rank if it is listed. If not, it will re-calculate your Gpa to find your rank. FYI. I've read alot of college books the last couple of years and nothing compares to this book (in my opinion) for the knowledge I received. I highly recommend it. Thank you CC!! Also, another one I reference to over and over is: FISKE Guide to Getting into the Right College. All the FISKE books are great. :)</p>
<p>karagon7: Oh boy, do I hope you are right...my d's unweighted GPA is below the average at her top choice schools (3.6ish), but her class rank is top 7%....not ivies, but nevertheless, this is her biggest concern........</p>