GPA question?

Applying to College
1

Good morning CC!

'Kay. So. There are a few things that need to be understood before I can explain my problem:

  • I go to an early college high school where we complete all high school graduation requirements in 9th and 10th grade and then take all college classes in 11th and 12th, so we graduate with an AA degree as well. The school is notoriously difficult.
  • We get separate high school and college gpas.
  • Our report cards don't have gpas on them. If you want to see it, you have to ask for it or calculate it yourself.
  • The high school gpa is out of 95 (our school doesn't award A+ grades), the college gpa is out of 4.0.
  • In high school, art and gym classes are all worth .5 credits, as opposed to 1 credit which the core classes are worth.
  • The common app only has room for one gpa, so our CTO (college transfer office) only uploads the college gpa; however, they send in the high school gpa and transcript along with the college transcript to each school.
  • I got a C and 3 C+'s, evenly distributed 1 per semester in 9th and 10th grade.
  • I got straight A's in art and gym. I got A's in other classes, but not that many.
  • I have a 3.66 college gpa.

Alright. On Friday, two of my friends went to see our guidance counselor to see what their high school gpas were. I decided to tag along, even though I was sure I’d be really upset by how much lower mine was than theirs (neither of them had gotten C’s in high school). When we got them and compared them, however, mine was the highest: 90.58.

Understandably, I was really confused. I thought that the post-it it was written on must have been given to me upside-down, or that the counselor wrote the wrong number on it, but I went back to her and she confirmed that it was correct. She said that she had shut down the computer and couldn’t print out my full transcript/breakdown until Monday.

I really have no idea how it’s possible that my number was higher then my friends’, who never got C’s. I’m convinced it must be a mistake, but others keep telling me not to push against it or investigate it. It’s possible that art and gym (which together have the same weight as one class) boosted my grade, but I don’t understand how it could be by that much.

What do I do? Should I investigate, or leave it alone? How much will colleges even care about this gpa in the first place, if it’s (sort of) supplemental?

2

You should discuss further with guidance counselor to verify your actual high school status and how GPA is calculated. I do not know enough about your school to say whether there is any error but I suspect your college courses count toward your overall high school GPA that your counselor gave you. In other words, you still have not officially graduated from high school and the college courses you are taking count both as high school grades for your high school GPA and as potential credits toward a college degree. I believe that may actually be necessary because if you had actually been deemed to have graduated from high school two years ago, you would now have to apply to college as a transfer student rather than as a freshman.

3

Since your school is unique in this, the high school GPA could play a role when admissions directors are reviewing your application. At the same time, since it is supplemental, you don’t really know how they’ll look at it because the admissions process is not transparent.

If it really bothers you, I would ask for the full transcript/breakdown on Monday. That’s what I’d do. I don’t think it would be pushing it to ask for that information at all, since it is personal data.

4

@drusba I don’t think that’s it, as my guidance counselor told me our high school grades are “frozen” after 10th grade. And as for your theory about applying as a transfer, it depends on the school. Most public schools allow us to apply as transfers, while almost all private schools do not. I think it’s because the private schools want the tuition money.

5

you’ll only get guesses here. Your GC can explain how it’s done. Surely, in the past, if colleges called for clarification, the GCs explained it to them. How can we guess what’s communicated? Speak to your GCs