My weighted GPA (4.05) is very low compared to the average for students from my school at all the places I’m applying (the averages are 4.16-4.3). My unweighted gpa is 3.92. However, grade inflation at my school is high and I have only ever gotten 2 Bs. They were both in non APs so I got 3 quality points and it brought my weighted gpa down like .15 points. I know people with 4.15-4.3 gpas at my school who have more Bs than me, just in AP classes. These people also have lower test scores than me (like 29-31 act where I have a 34, which is a higher than average test score everywhere I’m applying) and I think their unweighted gpas would be lower too, because they have more Bs. Basically I’m worried about being compared to these people and I’m wondering if te gpas will be unweighted because I think it makes me look better.
I think it depends on the college. In my college visits at some schools, the admissions counselors told me that they use the GPA that would help me the most in getting into the college. The schools that said this were Purdue , UIUC, Rutgers-NB, and Penn State.
It sounds like you did not take many honors or AP/IB classes. That will hurt you. The excellent ACT score will help. I would not be concerned about others from your school, you are competing with students within your state, nationally and globally and your HS is tiny,tiny fraction of admits.
Actually I’ve pretty much only taken honors and AP classes–my school just doesn’t weight honors classes with an extra quality point. The only classes I’ve ever taken non honors have been health and personal finance. I’ve taken 4 AP classes in past years and I’m currently taking 5 for senior year. This whole thing just confuses me, but thank you. I guess there are many other students but my school is just so competitive it psychs me sometimes.
Selective colleges will generally focus on your transcript rather than the GPAs sent by your school (since different high schools often calculate GPA differently), although some colleges recalculate GPAs using their own method. In any case, they’ll see that you have two Bs on your transcript and it’s unlikely that those would make a difference either way. Colleges may also take class rank into account if your school provides it.
I can only speak of Harvard, but the admissions office does their own GPA calculation.