<p>Yes exactly, we need to see how your unweighted GPA relates to your class load.</p>
<p>Nope. It doesnât really tell that at all. Because I canât tell if your school offers 2 or 25 AP courses. Nor can I tell how they weight AP vs. honors courses (and how may of those are offered). Colleges, even the top ones, are looking at something really basic: can you do the work there? Are you capable academically of succeeding? Once they determine that, they are off to looking at other qualities your bring to the college, at least all colleges with holistic admissions are. Too many students out here think that if they can just squeeze in ONE more AP class with a good grade score, it will be the key to top college admissions. It isnât, and isnât even necessarily the best use of your time beyond a certain minimum point.</p>
<p>but since some schools dont rankâŠwouldnt a weighted be helpful </p>
<p>@RealTalkdoe The problem is that without a context for a weighted GPA, it doesnât usually do a whole lot of good. I was reading a thread on here where the applicantâs weighted GPA was something ridiculous like 6.98. But without knowing what thatâs out of, it doesnât do much good for anyone. Is it out of 7? Out of 8? Out of 8.5? And in addition, are AP and honors classes weighted the same? Whatâs the difference between the weights they carry?</p>
<p>All of this means that Weighted GPA is usually only useful in the context of your school, and adcoms donât have time to examine every high schoolâs weighting system. They look at your unweighted, see that your guidance counselor said you are taking a course load with a rigor appropriate for the school you are applying to, and they move on. </p>
<p>An Adcom told me last week that they DO recalculate GPA to equalize everyone according to their own scales-- not just to âunweight,â but also to take âunacademicâ classes (P.E., Photography, Home Ec, etc.) out of the equation to see where the true academic GPA falls. They are more concerned with course rigor, however. A transcript with a 3.5 with mostly AP courses in an upward trend is much more impressive to most colleges than a transcript with a 4.0 with all general courses. This is why you see the 4.0 GPA rejections on scattergramsâeven with the GPA, they did not feel the student was sufficiently prepared by seeing the rigor of the course load . They DO know what kind of high school you come from most of the time, and if not, they will find out. They can tell who wrote their own essay and who had a lot of help, they can tell by the guidance counselorâs ârecommendationâ if it was recycled, if he is overworked, or if the student really does stand out. Thatâs what she told me. Every school has variations. There is not one straight process that applies at every school.</p>
<p>Not to scare you, OP-- if you took the most rigorous courses available to you, thatâs all they are looking for!</p>
<p>Lots of universities have formulae for weighting. My son had an unimpressive (3.3-3.4) unweighted GPA, but he got into some highly selective colleges. His weighted GPA was over 4.0. The first thing every college I ever visited said they look for is âmost demanding availableâ curriculum. My sonâs secondary school did not weight grades, which made its Naviance scattergrams somewhat deceptive, but colleges looked first at all the AP and IB classes on his transcript. Nobody should say that weighted GPAs are meaningless. Context is everything, and every admissions officer will respect ambition and risk-taking over pursuit of âeasy As.â</p>
<p>Also, the adcoms know which high schools are more competitive than the others. That is why they have Regional/local adcoms assigned to each region. A student graduated from Mission San Jose, in the Bay Area is not the same as a graduate from Hayward High although they are only 12 miles apart on the same road. A 3.3 gpa graduate form Mission can get into all the UCâs incl. UCB and UCLA whereas a 4.0 graduate from Hayward may be rejected by all.</p>
<p>Good point. Iâm asking from more of a social perspective too though. Iâm not Ivy league caliber clearly, but I am looking for very good, selective schools with thriving social lives and a school on the Eastern half of the country. </p>
<p>bump</p>