<p>“^^ WOW! Even schools that weight GPA do it differently. Some count A in AP class as 4.5, others as 5, yet others as 6. UofM is comparing apples to oranges.”</p>
<p>They’re not comparing apples to oranges, they’re still considered in the context of the school. If they were looking at a number only then the only people who would ever get in would be people who came from schools which used a 100-point GPA scale.</p>
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<p>But how do they compare kids from different schools if they don’t recalculate school’s GPA? Anyway, I agree that the problem is not that the school is not weighting GPA, but that it uses UW GPA for the ranking. Ranking is never fair, no matter which GPA is used. I would like to see it go away, just like other posters.</p>
<p>My kid’s school has a really weird weighting system:
For AP classes they take your grade, subtract it from 100 and multiply the result by .5 to determine “weighted points”. They then add those points to your unweighted grade.</p>
<p>Two examples: my kid’s lowest AP grade was a 74 in AP US History as a sophomore (he’s a math and science geek, not so much for humanities). 100-74=26, which gave him 13 “weighted points”, bringing the grade up to a respectable 87.</p>
<p>His highest AP grade was a 92 in Physics. 100-92=8, which gave him 4 “weighted points”, bumping the grade up to a 96.</p>
<p>Honors classes use the same formula, but instead of multiplying by .5 they get a .4 multiplier and regular classes get a .2 multiplier.</p>
<p>Both the weighted and unweighted GPAs appear on the official transcripts.</p>
<p>Actually I just realized that I’m wrong about what the weighting is for honors and regular classes. What I wrote above would make them get more weighting than AP, and they don’t. (Unfortunately I’m now at work so I can’t take a look at Kid’s transcript to correct what I wrote.)</p>
<p>ProxyGC, where can I get a copy of the NACAC survey. I would like to show it to the Principal at our S school. If they really care about the kids, I don’t why they should not change their methods to help kids get the best opportunities out there. I’m not too hopeful because this is the same system that cap the amount of kids that can take Algebra in 8 grade to 60 students…</p>
<p>It would be good to see a national movement to try to get student rankings eliminated from the transcripts.</p>
<p>I would love all districts to go to a 4.0 unweighted GPA or a 0-100 scale and eliminate ranking on the transcripts. Colleges can clearly see AP classes and can clearly look at a school profile to gage how competitive a student is. It is silly to have these 5 pt. and 6 pt. scales and all the variations of weighting schools ascribe.</p>
<p>I agree that GPA is something of a minefield. My son’s high school does not weight the GPA they report on the transcript. My son is a junior and right now the problem for him is not being admitted but self selecting the schools he wants to apply to. He looks at the GPAs of admitted students from a particular school and decides he won’t even bother because his isn’t as good. I have explained that GPA is a lousy way to compare yourself because the many different ways it is figured and you can’t really trust the numbers. But, he is sixteen and is pretty sure he knows all he needs to know…</p>
<p>On the other hand, his high school does not use the GPA to figure class rank - another important part of the picture presented to an admissions officer. The school uses QPA (quality point average) - which is a weighted average. EX. An A in an AP class is worth 34 points whereas an A in a CP class is worth 28. </p>
<p>His guidance department makes all of this clear in the package they send out to schools - so in the end I think it works out.</p>
<p>My school release an unweighted gpa but class rank is done by weighted gpa. Which I like since it helps the strong students in hard classes</p>
<p>That’s not a bad alternative, it is a step forward…</p>