I found something about this in an old thread, but nothing recent. Do any of you know how USC calculates the weighted core gpa for admissions purposes? I saw something about a point added for honors and AP, is that correct? What about dual enrollment classes?
I don’t know officially how they do it nor anything about dual enrollment, but your assumption about adding a point for honors and AP is what I hear from USC officials during a visit. In general terms, I believe a 2.9 out of 4.0 in all honors classes would be a 3.9 out of 5.0 in the eyes of USC…in general terms.
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I recently emailed about this question,this is what they said:
"We add weight to the core classes on a student transcript. For every honors, pre-AP, and pre-IB course we add an additional half (.5) of a point and for every AP, IB, or dual-credit course we add a full (1) point to the GPA. I do not know if all universities and colleges use the same calculations but we use the same gpa calculations that the high schools in south Carolina use.
When looking at your students’ transcript, please use the “rules” above."
I also found this: https://ed.sc.gov/scdoe/assets/File/districts-schools/state-accountability/NEWUniformGrading.pdf
Thank you, do you think they only look at core classes in the gpa calculation, or are they saying they use all classes, but only add weight to core classes?
Great question - I do not know what counts as core. For example, AP studio art. I wouldn’t consider art class in gneral to be a core class, but I also think if a course carries an AP designation, it should be considered a core course. You should probably email admissions and ask. Please post what they say.
I just want to update this thread for future searches: There have been 2019 updates to the Grading Policies:
https://ed.sc.gov/districts-schools/state-accountability/uniform-grading-policy/
My daughter is starting at USC next week and I had this same question last year. I emailed an admissions rep and her response was this:
“We recalculate GPA on a universal scale based on the required core courses and the level at which those classes are taken. All AP, Honors, IB and dual enrollment courses are weighted with an extra point.”
The “required core courses” that they use for GPA calc can be found here:
https://www.sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/undergraduate_admissions/requirements/for_freshmen/required_high_school_courses/index.php
I had also asked for confirmation as to if Gifted and Honors were there same as my daughters HS uses “Gifted” naming on courses and she said yes. So Gifted and Honors are same and get an extra point added. So a Gifted/Honors/AP/IB or dual enrollment course with an A would be 4.0+1.0 = 5.0
USC uses the SC UGP system. All of the high school classes here in SC will give you a number grade instead of an A-F. So your 6 classes can look something like 84, 88, 89, 92, 94, 95 (3 As, and 3Bs). An 84 will read as 3.4 for a core class, 3.9 for honors, and 4.4 for AP/IB/dual enrollment (although I don’t know if USC counts out of state honors in the same light).
Using that example, 3 As and 3 Bs (as long as each course is worth 1 unit each) would give you the usual GPA of 3.5. But with the SC UGP system, those grades would give you a GPA of 4.03. South Carolina has this system because of the cut-off in state scholarships.
So if they are using the classes in the list provided about, what happens if you have 4 units of social studies instead of the required 3? Do they use the 3 best grades? Or use them all? Trying to figure out DDs GPA for USC purposes.
@mn2020jn2023 , They would use them all. My kids have 5 years of english, 6 years of math, 4 years of social studies, and 4 years of science. SC UGP calculates all of them together. And that 6 years of math starts from Alg1, Geo, Alg2, Alg3 Pre-Cal, AP Cal AB.
Actually, we are in SC and the weighted GPA is on a 6.0 scale. A 100 in a regular class is a 5.0, a 100 in a Honors class is a 5.5 and a 100 in an AP class is a 6.0. My daughters weighted GPA is a 5.2 which is super confusing for most people.
I thought I read where U of SC recalculates so that: A=4, B=3, C=2, D=1, but A in Honors: 4.5, etc. A in AP=5. Is that not right? If you look at the Class Profile, they are reporting a 3.78-4.5 as the Middle 50%. I’d be surprised if that is on a 6.0 scale. Seems closer to a 5.0 scale.
From the explore Carolina sessions we went to this summer, honors courses are weighted and additional .5 and AP/IB/dual enrollment an additional 1.0
And UpstateSCmom is correct, SC’s scale runs up to 6.0
That sounds right but I don’t know if that is how it works at USC. I am interested to figure that out myself. I was just explaining how the weighted GPA in SC High Schools is calculated.
Thank you! Do they only use core classes plus language for their calculation and is an A always 4 pts plus whatever adjustment for Honors or AP, no matter if it is a 90 or a 100?
Thank you! Do they only use core classes plus language for their calculation and is an A always 4 pts plus whatever adjustment for Honors or AP, no matter if it is a 90 or a 100?
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we were told that they only use core classes…unfortunately they didn’t say if all As are 4s, etc. or if they go by the SC scale
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I was told that an Honors class adds .5 and AP adds 1 on a 4.0 sca;le at USC for recalculating
I was told the same thing as @jgwolf . I understand the high schools in SC might operate on a 5.0 scale, but the U of SC told me that they recalculate everything a certain way to a 4.0 scale.