In the common data set and other places UNC-CH claims to have an average GPA of 4.7 for enrollees, how is that possible? Does North Carolina high schools (where UNC takes 82% in staters) have a 5.0 grading system? This seems artificially high to me and the highest enrolled GPA in the country, higher than the ivies?
It is likely the average weighted GPA that UNC CH recalculates.
Why speculate? Contact them and ask: https://oira.unc.edu/
Standard North Carolina grading scale adds 1.0 for Honors and 2.0 for AP tests.
Yep, that must be it. At D20âs high school (and many in CA) you only get 1.0 extra point for AP/IB/Honors classes.
@3kids2dogs - No, itâs 4.0/Standard, 4.5/Honors, 5.0/AP. The one point advantage was reduced when they moved to a 10 point scale from a 7 point scale (An A was down 90, instead of 93). The average grade is a reflection of the number of Honors and AP courses students take, and get âAâ s in- Our son had 13 APs, 3DEs, 12 Honors courses, all âAâs. Heâs not an outlier at UNC. Almost half the students share similar stats. An Honors GPA (4.5) is considered to be bare minimum, if youâre looking at UNC or NCSU, at my kidsâ high school.
Just to reiterate @Essel , in NC it is 4.0 for regular classes, 4.5 for honors, and 5.0 for AP.
Itâs because the people in there come from high schools in NC with rampant grade inflation and incredibly low standards.
In other words, when you go to a trash high school itâs easy even for a mouth-breather to get a high GPA.
My mistake. I had emailed Elon about their recalculation. I thought the response said that they used North Carolina calculations, but it didnât. Sorry about that. For what itâs worth, if you are interested in how Elon recalculates GPA itâs 1.0 added for honors and 2.0 for AP 
I am interested in that, as S20 is applying to Elon and it is high on his middling-long list. I did not know Elon calculated the GPA that way, but it moves his GPA into a much more comfortable area. Thanks.
Note there can be significant differences in how admissions staff consider GPAs when making decisions vs. the way a schoolâs institutional reporting might calculate an average class GPA
The class of 2019 was the first to go on a 5.0 weighted scale. If you are looking at a common data set before then, then the GPA will be a lot higher because schools in NC were on a 6.0 scale. 4.7 was the GPA of our valedictorian (very large class) so the number is not reflective of what the average GPA will be for students that graduated last year and onward at UNC
Thank you, makes sense. I was a little concerned as my CA, D20 who has had straight Aâs in high school and a 4.6 gpa would be BELOW average at UNC-CH which seemed very odd.
Thanks for clearing that up.
Yes that is odd. The change was a result of the state BOE changing the grading scale to a 10 pt. one and the graduating class of 2019 was the first to have that change all 4 years.
Just curiousâŠare all required courses in N,C, schools offered at honors levels? It seems so, if its true (as stated in a post above) that 4.5 is a basic honors straight-A GPA and (implied) not considered especially high.
In my daughterâs school, there are a number of required courses (health, P.E, personal finance, and the first two years of FL and arts) that are not offered on the honors level. This limits how high a weighted GPA can be even though an honors A earns 4.5 and an AP A earns 5.0 here.
Scary for those of us at smaller OOS high schools that only offer college prep and AP for seniors (no honors after junior year). There are college prep courses taught at AP course level of difficulty and semester intro courses that are required before the 2nd semester AP course can be taken. I hope the recalc considers all of that gently.
You will be looked at within the context of your high school.
Not all classes in NC have Honors options. I donât think any PE classes have Honors options. The Big 4 (Math, Science, SS, Eng) often have Honors options for each year. Band and Art classes donât have hardly any Honors options. Thus, many electives for many students may not be Honors classes. Music Theory is one that has an honors/AP option.
I guess if a student decides to chase that honorific GPA, they could replace many electives with second SS or Science classes that are Honors options. Also, once a student can take AP classes, the big 4 classes might all be AP options as well.
It wouldnât be unusual for a mostly straight-A student (who wasnât overloading on Honors classes just for the GPA boost) who took normal electives like Band and/or Art, and two-or-three AP classes in each of the last 2 or 3 years could end up with a 4.3-4.7.
What I personally see as grade inflation is when a kid is enrolled in Honors classes for every big 4 class from freshman year onward, gets a couple of As and a couple of Bs in those each year, and ends up with an A average. Iâve seen my sonâs classwork assigned by the teachers in those H classes and most is not really Honors worthy to me.
In fact, most of the Honors classes are taught in the same classrooms as the non-Honors classes â the teachers simply give a little extra homework to the H students, and they take slightly different tests. IMO, the Honors classes are regular-load work, and the non-H classes are for those working slightly below regular-load level. AP classes are definitely a high level of work.
@inthegarden - Most kids (at least, in the larger cities) looking at UNC or State take Honors core classes in the 9th & 10th grades, and level up to APs in the 11th and 12th grades (AP Lang & Lit, APES, AP Bio/Chem/Phys, APUSH, APCalc AB/BC & Stat). In addition, theyâll take one AP in the 9th, two in the 10th. My kids, and almost all of their friends, only took AP/DE in the 11th and 12th grades-the only exception was Band/Orchestra, and those were Honors (the designation is awarded on the level of music they perform at the MPAs). So, in all, theyâd have a maximum of two FL, one PE, and maybe one to two other electives in standard, which more than average out to a 4.5+ weighted GPA, especially if they mostly end up with "Aâs. This is possible (maybe even needed) because the High Schools offer around 15 AP courses. Of course, where the schools donât offer so many APs, or where students donât have access to DE, the GPA would be lower, and students would still get in, because, at the end of the day, they are judged in their environment. You cannot take challenging courses you have no access to.
Just wanted to add that they do look at the your schedule in comparison to what your school offers. We live in a very rural county so we donât have a lot of the AP classes the other, bigger school districts offer, so itâs almost impossible to get a 4.6 GPA where I live.