<p>I know people say middle school grades don't matter, but the grades from certain honors classes I took in 8th grade (Earth Space Science and Algebra I) are factored into my high school GPA. I honestly never studied or cared in 8th grade :l My GPA would be like a 3.9 if I didn't get Bs in these classes. Would colleges recalculate or disregard them at all?</p>
<p>bumping this up, all answers are appreciated :)</p>
<p>My daughter took the same 9th grade honors classes in 8th grade. I do not think that colleges will ignore these grades, and the grades are factored into your GPA, but I think they will take into account the fact that you were in 8th grade at the time.</p>
<p>There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question.</p>
<p>For one thing, not all high schools and school systems do the same thing as your school. My kids’ transcripts show credit for Algebra I, Geometry and French I taken in middle school, but no grades. So clearly, they’re not in my kids’ GPAs. Your school seems to work differently.</p>
<p>Furthermore, not all colleges and universities do the same thing. Some ignore grades from ninth grade and earlier; others do not. Some recalculate applicants’ grade-point averages using a method of their own; others do not.</p>
<p>Here are the only things that I think can be said with certainty. </p>
<ol>
<li> Your grades are your grades, and you can’t do very much about the ones where the ink is already dry.<br></li>
<li> All colleges and universities will examine your transcript closely because it tells them more fully than any other document what kind of student you have been.<br></li>
<li> Most colleges and universities will care more about what kind of student you’ve been recently than about what kind of student you were in middle school, and most colleges and universities will care most about how you did in your 11th- and 12th-grade classes because the will approximate most closely the level of work you’ll be asked to do in college.</li>
<li> A few really famous colleges and universities have extremely competitive admissions, where students can fail to gain admission for no good reason whatsoever. It’s possible (though I like to think it’s unlikely) that eighth-grade grades could become an issue at such a college. On the other hand, if you don’t get into one of these colleges, there will be a thousand possible explanations (including, “We like you, but our class is already full,”), and you’ll never know why they made the decision they made.</li>
<li> There are also scores, if not hundreds, of really good, really well respected colleges and universities with admissions standards that are a little more forgiving. All of these schools can offer you both a first-rate education and an exciting, life-altering undergraduate experience. From what you’ve written, it sounds as if you’ll be a great candidate for any of these colleges–and quite possibly for those insanely competitive ones in #4 as well.</li>
</ol>
<p>Best of luck to you.</p>