How do things work at your school?

Applying to College
1

<p>Hey, I've read through a bunch of people's stats on this site,
&I was curious as to how certain things work at other high schools.</p>

<p>I go to a private/catholic high school, and I know that we're slightly different/more difficult than normal schools.</p>

<p>Okay, so first of all, I've noticed a bunch of people on here say:
"I have a 3.2, but I've taken ALL honors and AP classes"</p>

<p>Can ANYONE take honors/AP classes at other schools?
Because I would certainly take as many honors/AP classes as I could, if that were the case.
But they all require a certain GPA at my school.
And some of them require you to sign up, and write an essay to get into.
So basically, if you have a 3.6 or lower at my school, there's only a few Honors/AP classes you qualify for.</p>

<p>Also, I'm SOOO envious to the people who say that they have a 3.6 GPA and are ranked 60/350 or something.
That is SUCH a good ranking.
I have a 3.5 and am ranked 130/260ish.
So, w/ a 3.5 I'm JUST INSIDE the top 50% of my class.
And this may sound like it's easy to get good grades at my school,
but that's totally not true.
I heard at other schools that sometimes there are 10 or more valedictorians because they all get a 4.0
But at my school, not even our valedictorians get a final GPA of 4.0
It's usually like... 3.9982 or something.</p>

<p>Sometimes I WISH it were easy to get good grades at my school....</p>

<p>Sorry, this is pretty much a pointless thread.
But I'm so intrigued and slightly jealous of the way things work at schools other than mine.</p>

2

<p>I understand where you're coming from. I go to a top school in my state but we only offer AP's starting junior year (ranging from 1-3, depending on what language you're taking). I took 1 AP junior year and am taking 3 AP's senior year, which is about the average for seniors. Colleges do try to keep track of how each high school is in terms of difficulty, etc, but obviously they won't get it perfect. I think that when you apply to colleges, they'll know about your school and will know how difficult it is for you guys.</p>

3

<p>It's strange at my school. You must have a B or better in one class to move from CP to Honors for the next year, but there is no GPA requirement for taking an AP. However, guidance sends out letters to students who have signed up for AP classes with less-than-stellar grades, warning them about the rigor of AP courses.</p>

<p>My school normally has some pretty smart cookies for an average, VERY small public HS, but this year we're kind of lacking. I have a 4.09 W, 3.7 UW and I'm 6/154. We also give really little weight to AP/Honors courses though, so a B in an AP is the same as a B+ in a CP class. Therefore, our valedictorian has a 4.3 W - and this year, she's taken nothing but CP music classes and has straight A's in them. Grr.</p>

4

<p>cheriella: you have company here; not everyone is permitted to take honors/AP's; also high GPA required...the one difference here, though, is that 50% is more like 3.1-3.2ish......</p>

<p>and AP's don't even start until senior year, except for the 6 people in APUS.....</p>

<p>Eliza: If only a B in CP would permit you into honors!! we'd be very happy!!</p>

5

<p>I know EXACTLY what you mean! I went to a private Catholic school K-8, and have gone to a private Catholic high school also (currently a junior). To be able to take an AP or honors class at my school, you have to have had a B+ in the previous class and a teacher recommendation along with that. By the time I graduate I will have taken 3 AP classes and 4 honors classes, which doesn't seem like much but I only started taking AP classes this year unfortunately. I also know what you mean with the rank thing. I have above a 3.7 right now and am ranked just inside 50% as well. I'm glad you wrote this though, cause I feel the same way!</p>

6

<p>My school has SERIOUS grade inflation.</p>

<p>You need to go 200 students deep to get past a 4.0. Meaning 200+ students are at 4.0+</p>

<p>A friend of mine has a 4.2ish GPA and is ranked closed to 100/600. My public school offers 22 AP courses. Mos every class you can take with a C or B as a prereq. The only requirement is the teacher signs your paper- or you have initials by the course on your course selection form (whether forged or not lol). Thus- teachers end up signing for under qualified students, or rejecting qualified ones.</p>

7

<p>Ughh.
You need at least a 3.6 in most of our Honors/AP
And for AP US History, you need a 3.8 & to write an essay to get in!
And they reject a bunch of people.</p>

<p>Also Mall77, she's ranked 100, but that's out of 600!
She's in the top 6th of your class.</p>

8

<p>In regards to the ALL honors/AP classes, I don't understand that.</p>

<p>I don't understand how it's possible to get a 5.0 W GPA, unless you don't take a music/art/newspaper/yearbook class... but then your schedule would be all academics, which is boring.</p>

9

<p>hilsa, I don't get what you're saying.
Are you saying it's impossible to get a 5.0 unless you DON'T take an art/yearbook/newspaper?
So, in order to get a 5.0, you shouldn't take an art?
That doesn't make sense to me.
Isn't art the easy 4.0 class?
Or is that something ELSE that's different about my school?</p>

10

<p>I feel your pain, or rather, my daughter does. She goes to a Catholic HS - Good school, but with some requirements to take AP. (She'll graduate with a total of 5 AP courses taken - not bad, not spectacular - plus loads of other honors classes.)</p>

<p>But this whole 5.0 weighted GPA thing is nuts to me. Her school only weights a little bit in comparison to many others - If you get an A in an AP class (and some of the Honors courses, but not all), that class only counts as 4.25. Other honors courses only add .125 to the GPA for that class. So straight A's in ALL AP and high honors courses would net a 4.25 weighted GPA. Of course, that's not possible, as there are some required classes not available in honors. And obviously, a B in AP is nowhere near as good as an A in a regular class.</p>

<p>So it'll be interesting to see if the rigor of her courses makes up for the B's she gets sometimes. No 4.0 for her.</p>

11

<p>Also, can anyone join honor society?
We need a certain GPA & essay and stuff.
They reject more than half of the applicants.</p>

12

<p>I'm not so sure I know how everyone's GPA is weighted and all of that but there's a somewhat simple system at my school (using simple quite lightly):</p>

<p>For a STANDARD class that isn't adjoined with the status of either "honors" or "Advanced Placement", the following is what our grading scale with regards to GPA looks like:
100 - 93 = A = 4.00
85 - 92 = B = 3.00
84 - 77 = C = 2.00
76 - 70 = D = 1.00
69 - 0 = F = 0.00</p>

<p>For a class that is adjoined with the status of "honors", one [what our school district calls a] "quality point" is added so the grading scale in regards to GPA looks like:
100 - 93 = A = 5.00
85 - 92 = B = 4.00
84 - 77 = C = 3.00
76 - 70 = D = 2.00
69 - 0 = F = 0.00</p>

<p>For a class that is adjoined with the status of "Advanced Placement", two [what our school district calls a] "quality points" is added so the grading scale in regards to GPA looks like:
100 - 93 = A = 6.00
85 - 92 = B = 5.00
84 - 77 = C = 4.00
76 - 70 = D = 3.00
69 - 0 = F = 0.00</p>

<p>So basically, my school (computers) take your GPA earned from each class you've received a grade in so far and averages them. So like my freshman year when I was enrolled in 5 honors classes and 3 standard classes (total of 8 classes per year) and got A's for my final grade in all of them meant (5 x 5) + (4 x 3) = 37 and 37/8 = 4.625 Weighted. Unweighted is simply 4.00 because the different classes are all weighted the same. My school then ranks by weighted GPA so your GPA is compared to everyone else and that's simply how its ranked.</p>

<p>Requirements to enroll in each class are actually interesting. From what I can tell, you can take any class you want as long as you have credits from the prerequisite classes no matter what grade you made in it (assuming you passed) and no matter how strongly your teacher/counselor may recommend you not be placed in that specific class. Some classes do require a teacher recommendation but that's the worst of it. So yeah, people at my school can take any class they have the prereqs for, but because of that we have a 63% pass rate in our AP classes (our school just released a report). Of course that doesn't stop counselors for trying. Tons of smart kids every year get screwed over because their counselor takes the liberty in changing their schedule behind their backs when they could handle the harder course offerings. I think you should be allowed to go into the class and excel or fail to the best of your abilities.</p>

<p>The "honor society" from school to school aparantly really differs from a social club for slackers to gather to a high strung extremely rigorous club for only the best. My school actually is closer to the latter extreme and it is difficult to get into the National Honor Society. There's a GPA limit I think that's 3.5 and you have to show community involvement and apply. But the key to actually getting in is to make a great impression on the teachers who advise it (both of the teachers love me so I'm in next year :) ) but you can only get in junior and senior year. That's what I hate about a lot of our clubs. I mean, practually everything is restricted to upperclassmen which is annoying so I have few EC's to my name. Not that I can pin the blame entirely (or to any large extent at all) on my school. Oh well.</p>

<p>What hilsa was getting at I think is like my situation. An "easy" 4.00 class right now, would shoot down my GPA. Because when you have a 4.625 and you add another 4.00 to the mix, your GPA drops a bit (in my case it would fall to 4.555 which isn't too bad). This is actually why I'm wary about running for student council. I'd make it if I ran, but the year you serve on student council you take a mandatory "student council" class where you simply discuss stuff about it and occasionally have a party. It's a total BS class and it's only worth 4.00. Not only does that drop my GPA because it's a 4.00 it takes up the spot of another class that could have boosted my GPA. More importantly, it'd take up the slot of a class I'd actually want to take, rather than an annoying student council class (though student council does get some things done, it's mostly for show).</p>

<p>So basically if I plan everything right I'll have had:
3 standard and 5 honors classes in 9th grade
6 honors and 2 AP classes in 10th grade
7 AP and 1 honors class in 11th grade
6 AP classes and 2 (undecided) courses in 12th grade</p>

<p>Of course there's the task or keeping up with all the reading and the work. But meh.</p>

13

<p>At my school, we only have a few honors and AP classes. Those are either open to everyone or require a signature from your previous teacher in that subject. For IB classes, I think for most of them anyone can request them when they register, but IB Diploma Candidates get first dibs on the spots.</p>