<p>Middle schoolers taking high school classes has only become commonplace recently. And it seems unfair to penalize kids for doing so. </p>
<p>Suggest negotiating with the high school to make such accelerated classes taken in middle school graded pass/fail, or they can indeed sabotage the high school GPA. </p>
<p>Although a much smaller deal, my D was not awarded academic honors at 8th grade graduation because she was taking classes at the high school and got a B there in physics.</p>
<p>For other readers of younger students, also be careful with how the credits are recorded. We switched into a different high school and no credit was transferrable from any middle school classes, so D had to re-take classes in those subjects. </p>
<p>We get warning letters from the district that hs classes taken in ms WILL impact hs GPA and class rank. </p>
<p>Personally, I like class rank. In a world where everybody gets over a 3.5 uw (my employer doesn’t use weighted grades), I can look at rank in a student admissions folder and get a better idea of what the GPA means. A few places either way, though, doesn’t matter. As your school said, it’s more about the percentage, and really, the student in the top 5% isn’t at a huge advantage over another student still in the top 10%.</p>
<p>But oh, I hear you on the competitiveness for rank. Our district has very few weighted classes (doesn’t weight honors, offers very limited AP, weights a few DE but not all), so no one can avoid taking a large number of unweighted classes. Still, those last two years, I swear, families must have the calculators out while the kids pick courses. The questions are how many other unweighted courses will “the competition” have to have. </p>
<p>Anyway, there,s little you can or should do. Your child took the classes. He earned the grades. Why should they be ignored now because other students don’t have to take them? Let it go. This battle isn’t worth fighting as the “honor” of a class rank a few spots higher isn’t much of a prize.</p>
<p>There are definitely students who game the system. They’ll try to take unweighted classes elsewhere, to get them excluded from GPA calculation. </p>
<p>Still today seems more fair than my own 1980 hs class (with number grades, no weighting) - Val often went to business students not taking AP.</p>
<p>^^ ordinarylives, wow, the district actually send letters to warn that kids’ taking high school courses while in middle school can impact their high school GPA & Class Rank. Yes, some middle school kids take high school math while in middle school and get a grade lower than an A, and regret to find out later that it did lower high school GPA. But my kid’s high school has a policy to record grades into the high school transcript, only when you take high school courses as a high school student. It also has its own pros and cons, I believe.</p>
<p>Yes, musicians are disadvantaged in many schools due to their participations into orchestra, band, chorus.While those musicians take such non-weighted music classes and lower their GPA all by themselves, non-music kids take one AP classes instead and increase their GPA. So I would say, musicians are doubly disadvantaged. It’s the reason, no wonder, why my child’s school’s Val are always non-musicians. Sadly, school leaderships have no understanding about this undesirable consequence.</p>
<p>Oldest son took high school math and spanish class in middle school. Got A’s but it wasn’t counted in his GPA. The District changed it’s policy starting this year. So now when my youngest takes them they will count toward high school GPA. I’m not sure I like that idea. If he gets A’s great but what it he doesn’t? I feel like it’s rolling the dice and hoping for the best…</p>
<p>Yeah, nature7, they do. It comes to the house and says your child has been recommended for ____ (Spanish or math). Please be advised that these are high school classes and as such will appear on the high school transcript (and they do) and be calculated into the high school GPA. </p>
<p>And then they give you the option to wait and take those courses freshman year.</p>
<p>^ yes indeed, you will like or dislike school policy is that, whether a middle school kid get an A or not in a high school class, once it affect high school GPA.</p>
<p>ordinarylives, so your kid’ district is quite responsible. NatureChild took some advanced high school math while in middle school ( got As), but it’s not recorded in high school transcript, nor counted toward graduation required math credits.</p>
<p>My very small private HS didn’t even have GRADES, nevermind rank or weight or anything else. We got a written evaluation from each teacher every trimester in lieu of a report card. Somehow competitive colleges “got it”.</p>
<p>OTOH, my kids’ public HS doesn’t weight or rank, the only GPA is the UW and if you took AP classes, good for you, but it doesn’t affect your GPA. </p>
<p>That is going to change next year, as parents complained about that system hurting their kids for scholarships and our public U system’s automatic admit/scholarship system. So beginning next year, all APs and "II"s (like Chem II) will be weighted and that weighted GPA will determine rank. I am sure there will be parents complaining that “pre-AP” isn’t weighted at all, or that music/art affects rank, or that APs taken in the past will not be weighted, etc. I am kind of sorry they moved to this system for that reason…we didn’t have a system to “game” before and now it seems we do.</p>
<p>Still no val/sal, though, thank goodness. Seniors can submit a request to speak at graduation with an outline of what they’d say and two are chosen based on that.</p>
<p>The college admissions folks I know personally say they recalculate GPA on their own anyway and weighted GPA doesn’t mean much to them. I suppose as it affects rank it does, but not beyond that. They can see what classes were taken and what grades were earned.</p>
<p>Are there parents here who would discourage a kid from taking Algebra in middle school or a language beginning in 7th grade, because those grades may affect GPA? I think the benefit of being ahead in those disciplines - being able to be in the 5th/6th year of language or 5th year of HS math (meaning Calc) as a senior, would outweigh the benefit of the somewhat higher GPA but less advanced courses.</p>
<p>There isn’t a fair way. We moved before DD’s senior year. She had 2 B+s from her old school (93s in in an Honors and AP course the new school didn’t even offer), which would have been As at the new school. Her GPA was calculated using those grades as B+s. She did dual enrollment that year and took 10 courses, including calc, which very of the kids did at that time. She wasn’t even in the top 10 percent because there was also no weighting and those two B+s, plus a B+ in calc dragged her GPA down enough. However, she received her college acceptances from rolling admissions school well before some of the other classmates did because her transcript showed she had taken more difficult courses. </p>
<p>It also works in reverse for kids who move from an “easier” grading scale to a tougher one. Their As remain As, even though they would be Bs in the new school. </p>
<p>You can only worry about so much and the schools can’t start recalculating for every case; the best you can really do is have the guidance counselor explain.</p>
<p>I haven’t read this whole thread so excuse me if this is already covered.</p>
<p>Many colleges recomputing the GPA using the college’s formula for doing so. Many will not use any courses taken before 9th grade at all in their computations. And as noted, the high school will send a profile so the college will know the range of GPAs.</p>
<p>What would you be saying if your student’s middle school high school level courses actually raised their GPA? It can go both ways.</p>
<p>I’d let this one go. Any college will note that your kid took advanced courses early on…and presumably more advanced courses as he progressed through high school.</p>
<p>If you are concerned about class rank…and potential Val/sal ranking…I would definitely let that one go. The day after high school graduation those don’t matter any longer.</p>
<p>thumper1 wrote : “Any college will note that your kid took advanced courses early on…and presumably more advanced courses as he progressed through high school.”</p>
<p>Well, that’s true in most cases. If a freshman is taking foreign language level 3, or AP calculus BC in high school, then we all know what this kid had done while in middle school. But, if a kid took AP foreign language, or AP Calculus BC, something like that as an 8th grader, then high school has no post-AP on those to take, and the high school has a policy not to record those grades in high school transcript because it’s done pre-high school, then college would not know.</p>
<p>" But, if a kid took AP foreign language, or AP Calculus BC, something like that as an 8th grader,"</p>
<p>Trust me, if an 8th grader took AP Calculus BC, she/he would already be on colleges’ radars. Presumably they would be at some college taking upper level math classes.</p>
<p>Nature. The concern of the op is one of class rank,and GPA. Taking AP courses as an 8th grader is not the concern here. Plus you say that the high school would not have post AP courses to report? Why not? Perhaps this student was taking dual credit college courses, or higher level content courses that do not have AP exams. Also if a student maxed out on AP courses in middle school…either that student would graduate high school early OR the school counselor would mention the APs in MS in the counselor recommendation.</p>
<p>If DD is in the top 5% either way, she is fine. it is not worth getting all upset. Focus on other parts of the college application. None of this will matter in 15 months.</p>
<p>If a kid did manage to take an AP in 8th- and didn’t progress further- that can be a problem. Depends.</p>
<p>But is this thread about electives? Ime, adcoms don’t worry about them, unless there is some problem. Those and special requirements (local history, religion, etc,) are pretty easy to spot and usually detailed in the school profile. Not all schools recalculate gpa, but they do look at the transcript. They’re going to know if there is rigor or you’ve taken the easier route. </p>
<p>If we are talking about delaying rigorous cores, it can also be an issue if you delayed one that relates to your proposed major, unless there is a school restriction. Or you had a prior schedule conflict. </p>
<p>If you are worried about an 8th grade class that is relevant, some schools will include it on the transcript, even at N/C. You can note it in Addl Info. But, really, all this fuss about rank?</p>
<p>" musicians are doubly disadvantaged. " - True. But music makes my son tick, so we’d probably do it all the same even if we knew more. For other students less passionate, I suppose they’d need to consider the tradeoffs.</p>
<p>Our school district does the same thing as ordinarylive’s. They only recommend kids for high school level courses in middle school if they think they’ll get at least a B, and they warn everyone that the courses will be counted in the high school transcript. I think it’s a reasonable policy.</p>