I understand weighted v unweighted gpa but I am having a hard time really determining gpa since all of the schools look at things so differently. My DC’s school gives numerical grades. They weight both Honors and AP. She has an UW93 and a W96 for all classes not just core. Depending on how you look at her grades, could be anywhere from 3.75-4.0.
Do most kids just use core classes when quoting gpa. At some point, you settle on a number…but what number do you use?
Our college counseling office basically said ignore their GPA calculations.
Anyone?
The common datasets for each school will use the unweighted GPA from core classes. Each school will calculate their GPA based on their criteria so using UW GPA is the best way to compare.
I don’t think my kids recomputed their gpa from what is on their transcript to eliminate core classes. D1 took art classes in grades 9 and 10 so she could qualify for 2 AP studio art classes in grades 11 and 12. That isn’t generally considered core but was an essential part of her record. But maybe @Gumbymom is right that for the datasets core classes only are reported?
Our school uses the 4.0 scale UW so I don’t know about converting yours, @alltoomuch, but use the GPA unweighted for all classes unless specifically directed to do otherwise.
On common data set, I did see UVA reporting 4.16. That confused me. That had to be weighted on a 5.0 scale.
Maybe I’ll just use the Naviance number. IDK.
Core unweighted seems to ding those with lots of Honors and AP.
@alltoomuch: For the UVA common dataset, for the GPA ranges of enrolled Freshman the CDS states it is on a 4.0 scale but you are correct that the average GPA is above 4.0 so it is weighted, so UVA has their own critieria for weighting Honors/AP/IB/DE courses. I am most familar with the California schools: UC’s and CSU’s which give their GPA calculation which is based on a-g courses (Core classes including art but not including Health/PE etch) for 10-11th grades only and extra points for UC approved Honors/AP/IB/DE courses up to a limit of 8 semesters. So for the CSU’s and UC’s, it is pretty straight forward on how the GPA is calculated. Again unweighted is still the best indicator on a 4.0 scale. If your D is in the 3.75+ range, then she is in good standing. Each school will send out a school report indicating how their grading scale is reported and it will be up to the colleges to determine the appropriate GPA.
I guess hard to determine which schools are in reach and which are out of reach.
I think if you can’t find the exact calculation for a certain school, you can get a good estimate from using the core classes w/ and w/o weighting (although, it’s not always .5 or 1.0 extra). Yes, it does ‘ding’ for APs/Hs, but that’s the idea I think. Many schools will look at not only GPA, but also rigor. So I would still take AP-level when appropriate.
I noticed some schools freely give out their methodology for GPA calculation. UGA has a lengthy entry in their admission blog on the subject, for example. This included a description of what counts as ‘core’ (example, Art History vs. Drawing)
My son’s HS calculated their GPA 4 different ways: 9-12 unweighted, 9-12 weighted 10-12 academic weighted/unweighted. Their GC stated their true GPA was somewhere in between the academic UW and Weighted, since their school had extra weighting for all Honors/AP/IB/DE courses while some colleges only gave weighting some of these courses. Luckily, both son’s only applied to UC’s and CSU’s so the GPA calculation was straight forward. I have found that only a few of the “honors” designated classes were actually weighted. Their HS offered Honors Bio/Geometry/Alg2/Chem/English and Pre-Calc. Only Honors Chem and Pre-Calc were weighted by the colleges although their HS designated all these courses as Honors and gave them weight on their GPA calculation.
Ok. I will average CORE unweighted and weighted.
3.8/4.0. 3.9
Good as anything, I guess.
Thx!
Chapel Hill reports a 4.59.
Sigh.
Oops. That is frustrating.
According to this (not sure about CDS) they say GPA is unimportant:
http://admissions.unc.edu/tag/gpa/
I guess if you see something above 4.0, assume weighted core for a good estimate, otherwise use unweighted? I’ll admit, I haven’t thought that much about it…I think close enough is good enough for admissions estimates. I can see if you are looking for merit then you want to be sure.