How do colleges calculate your GPA? Since different schools have different ways of weighing grades, how do colleges bring it all on the same level? Do they just use your school’s GPA?
I switched high schools for my junior and senior year, so how can I find out what my GPA would be from a college’s standpoint?
I believe most colleges accept your unweighted GPA on a 4 point scale. If you request a transcript from your high school(s) then for every A, give yourself 4 points, 3 points for a B and so on. Then average the points. That should be your GPA.
Is it that A+,A,A- are all 4 or is it by the scale on which A+and A is a 4 and A- is 3.7 and so on?
Actually most colleges weight your GPA depending on the classes you took.
Honors classes give an extra 0.5 (a B would be a 3.5 instead of a 3) and AP/IB classes get a whole extra point (a B would be a 4 instead of a 3).
Also, some colleges only count your academic courses. So electives such as art, band, gym, etc. will not count.
No they are unweighted
I think it might depend on the high school’s policy a bit when it comes to electives. For instance, I KNOW that my high school averaged in my art classes but not gym, and if my grades in gym had been part of my GPA there’s no way I could’ve gotten into the school that I’m attending now lol. My high school was on a 100-point scale, so I think they just divided my GPA by 25. As for the letter grades, 4.0 is an A, 3.7 is an A-, and so on. I believe APs will get weighted…but I think it might depend on the high school’s policy (I’m not sure though).
Because “weighted” GPA varies throughout schools, most colleges use your unweighted GPA on a 4-point scale, and the take into consideration what courses you took. But also keep in mind, college applications aren’t like a calculator, most people at admissions offices can pretty much figure out how you stand academically by simply skimming through the letter grades on your high school transcript. Also some colleges (like Princeton) don’t consider freshman grades.