Apologies if this question has been answered before, but I cannot find a concrete answer on CC . . .
Some colleges list GPA ranges in their common data sets (section C11), showing what % of enrolled freshmen have 3.75 to 4.0, what % have 3.5 to 3.74, what percentage have 3.0 to 3.5, etc. Because it states specifically that it’s “on a 4.0 scale” and there are no ranges given for GPAs higher than 4.0, I’ve been assuming these are unweighted GPAs. But even allowing for some variations in how unweighted GPAs are calculated (e.g., including nonacademic courses or not), I’m finding some of the figures in the 3.75 to 4.0 range hard to believe. Are some colleges fudging this data and lumping everyone with a weighted GPA of more than 3.75 in with the 3.75 to 4.0 range? I would also expect colleges whose reputations and U.S. News ranks are significantly better to have a higher percentage in the 3.75 to 4.0 range, but that is not always the case.
Also let’s leave the UC schools out of this discussion, since I gather they have a particular way of calculating GPAs that might make their percentages difficult to compare with non-UC schools.
Note that USNWR rankings use class rank, not HS GPA, as part of the “student selectivity” part of its formula (but most of the “student selectivity” part of its formula is SAT/ACT scores). So reported HS GPA is not a factor in the rankings.
That explains why a number of private colleges can get away with not reporting those GPA percentages in their CDSes–it doesn’t matter for USNWR. But my initial question remains–should I accept the reported percentages as real, unweighted figures?
Thank you, @alooknac. That thread somehow did not come up in my CC search. It is inconclusive as you point out, though I think it’s fair to say that I shouldn’t be using the common data set GPA figures to compare colleges. @ucbalumnus, I wish USNWR did factor GPA into their calculations, but I also realize they would have to somehow get colleges to all use the same formula.
The direction colleges get to fill out the CDS states they are to use UW GPA. However, I know I’ve seen at least a couple of schools listing over a 4.0 at times so that direction is not always followed. I still use CDS info to help inform school selection. We’ll be going through that with my S (last one left).
You can’t assume it’s a uniform practice across colleges. The CDS is all self-reported, unverified data produced by the colleges themselves. And the CDS instructions make it pretty clear that schools are free to use either unweighted or weighted GPAs: They define “grade-point average” as follows:
This suggests colleges are free to use unweighted GPA; report weighted GPAs as submitted by students at face value; or do their own recalculation and re-weighting of GPA, as some do for admissions purposes.
I always assumed that it was unweighted, although like Erin’s Dad I’ve seen a few over the years with over a 4.0 which isn’t possible unweighted. A=4, B=3, C=2 etc. so clearly colleges do it in whatever way they feel it is advantageous. To me, it was safer to research colleges and help the kids pinpoint colleges assuming that the GPA was unweighted as their transcripts were unweighted since our public apparently likes to do things the way UofM wants to see it LOL or so that is the explanation they give when you ask why they don’t weight classes on the transcripts. It only hurt S1 with one college of lower selectivity he had on his list that was unwilling to weight up his AP classes so he would qualify for a higher tier discount. It wasn’t his first choice so while it bugged me back then, it wasn’t that important. Where i really notice it is in the UofM forum where kids really do need around a 3.8 or better unweighted to be a serious contender for admission and you get kids where 3.8 is their weighted GPA…that’s an ouch.
CDS Section C11 states on a 4.0 scale so I have always used the unweighted GPA. Section C12 which is the average GPA many times is over 4.0 so I assumed weighted but then again unless you how the weighted GPA is determined, not always helpful.
Sounds like I can avoid some overreaching by my D by assuming all CDS GPAs are weighted, but other overreaching is more difficult to gauge because of different weighting and calculating methods (by both high schools and colleges). Sometimes it’s obvious that something is askew. Maryland is a fine institution that I would gladly send my D to if admitted, but it should not have a higher CDS average GPA than Stanford.
Actually, minimizing the risk of overreaching with respect to GPA assumptions would mean using or recalculating the student’s unweighted GPA for all GPA comparisons unless you find out otherwise how the GPA in a college’s admissions stats is calculated (in that case, recalculate the student’s GPA that way for comparison to that college’s admissions stats).
@ucbalumnus, I did say “some” overreaching, but you are correct–to truly minimize overreaching, it would be best to use my D’s unweighted GPA in all comparisons. I also assume it would be best to recalculate the unweighted GPA so it only includes academic subjects, rather than using a figure that factors in all her As in Choir.
Music is commonly considered an academic subject (after all, colleges commonly teach it).
Are there many colleges that disregard high school music courses when evaluating a frosh applicant’s high school record? If so, it may be worth calculating GPAs with and without music, and choosing which GPA to compare with college admission stats based on whether the college includes music courses when evaluating the high school record.
@ucbalumnus, if only we lived in a world where colleges gave a full accounting of how they calculated GPAs down to that level of detail. I believe strongly that colleges should reward EC achievement in music, but if I were a college admissions officer I would not take choir/band/orchestra grades too seriously. At some schools (including my D’s) choir grades are mostly based on participation and two or three simple assignments a year. Of course many of the more selective colleges are looking at the grades individually, not just the GPA, so they will figure out if the GPA is inflated by good grades in choir/band/orchestra.
@“Youdon’tsay”, I am definitely leaning in that direction given all the problems discussed above with using the CDS data . . .
We were told at some of the STEM focused colleges that they will only use academic classes in their GPA calculations so music, art, PE and stuff like that were excluded from their calculations. My daughter also has four years of mandatory theology and at some schools, that was not included either.