How Do Colleges Determine GPA? I’m going to be a sophomore in high school, and I’m unsure on how they see GPA towards the end. Is it cumulative or do they find the averages within all your semesters?
Your “High School GPA” typically includes all of your courses and grades from 9th through 12th grade (or up to the latest you’ve received)
Transcripts typically have a GPA for each quarter/semester/year, so admissions officers can see trends over time.
There’s no single standard way that colleges calculate and consider “GPA”. Some schools exclude early grades (9th grade, maybe more). Some only want to look at core courses (that A+ in gym isn’t very valuable). Some weight in certain ways, others in other ways, others not at all.
Generally they will look at your actual grades, and will also look at your course rigor. This means that they will see every grade for every course that you took. They will also get some information from your high school regarding what typical grades are. They are more likely to care about more recent grades, and grades in core courses, and grades in courses related to your major or to what the school cares about (eg, if you take AP music theory the Berkelee College of Music might care more than MIT would).
Different high schools compute weighted GPA very differently. Thus your GPA might not be possible to compare directly with someone from the public high school in my town.
Mostly take courses that make sense for you, do as well as you can, include some affordable safeties on the schools that you apply to, and try not to get too stressed about it.