It’s clear from past discussions that McGill only looks at unweighted GPA. That’s straightforward enough. But how does McGill make that calculation?
My DS’s school does not calculate a GPA of any kind; it only reports letter grades (+/-). But it does assign different credit hour values to core classes. So, for example, “regular” classes are .5 credits per semester, while AP classes are .75 credits. It doesn’t make a difference to course load - students take 5 core classes per semester.
Looking around online, some GPA calculators consider credit hours, while others just count each “class” as 1 unit.
Which approach does McGill use?
Given that McGill already doesn’t give any positive consideration to AP rigor, if it also uses credit hour allocation in its calculation, an AP course load would further depress the unweighted GPA.
I’m not sure McGill calculates GPA, but reviews all grades. They are strict about their requirements. They can be found here: https://www.mcgill.ca/applying/requirements
Generally, an A- average is required for the more competitive colleges. That translates to a 3.7. McGill doesn’t look at freshman year grades. The higher the grades/scores above minima, the quicker the acceptance.
I see your point about GPA versus average, but that’s really a semantic issue.
The calculation question remains.
In calculating the “average” letter grades for the year, does McGill treat each individual class as 1 unit in the average, or does it use the credit hour allocation in the calculation?
Call McGill - they are very helpful over the phone. My hunch would be they don’t use credit hours in their calculation, but I do believe they take rigor into account - at least other posters have indicated that they do.