Incorrectly Calculated GPA?!?

Applying to College
1

<p>Hello all,
I am a rising senior and I just got my report card for my last semester of junior year and I think that my cumulative GPA is calculated wrong.
Before the last semester of junior year, my unweighted GPA was 3.71 and my weighted was 4.21 (my first semester of junior year was atrocious with 5 Bs, 1 C, and only 1 A, but this was due to the fact that my untreated mentally ill brother was living with us and then our house burnt down. In short, I was miserable!, but that's all water under the bridge now.) Sorry to get a little personal, but I just want to present the facts to ask if colleges will be sympathetic to that as I am applying to schools.</p>

<p>Anyway, my unweighted was 3.71 and my weighted was 4.21 which was based off of freshman and sophomore year which each had 7 credit hours, my first semester which was 3.5 credit hours, plus one more credit hour from an eighth grade math class totaling 18.5 credit hours. </p>

<p>This semester, I got all As in 6 of my classes, and a B in one of my classes (a semester GPA of 3.75). This semester was also 3.5 credit hours, so the number of credit hours in my eighth grade/high school career is 22. For some reason, when my school calculated my cumulative GPA, it went down from a 3.71 to a 3.67, which confuses me because my last semester of junior was my best, if not tied with, my best semester of high school. Also, my weighted GPA took a huge jump from 4.21 to 4.29 (out of my seven classes all but one are weighted).</p>

<p>When I do the calculations myself, it seems that my new cumulative GPA should be 3.73 not 3.67. What went wrong!?! Am I wrong or is my school wrong? I would really like to get an accurate representation of my GPA as I need to start seriously thinking about what colleges to apply to.</p>

<p>Thank you for all your help!!!</p>

<p>p.s. If you all have any suggestions of good schools I can get into with my GPA I would appreciate it!</p>

2

<p>Why not ask your school how they calculated the GPA? </p>

3

<p>@GMTplus7‌ we usually would do these things through our assigned counselor, and mine is on maternity leave this summer. I could ask the front office, but I must admit that I’m just a little anxious about it all and when I have dealt with them in the past they were quite difficult. Plus we do the standard A=4, B=3, C=2, D=1, E/F=0 which we add up together and divide by the number of classes we have taken, which for me now is 22.</p>

4

<p>I wouldn’t worry about it too much, go see your GC first thing in the fall. The difference is not so great that it is going to make a huge difference in your college list.</p>

<p>Regarding college recommendations, we would need a lot more info before making any meaningful recommendations. This would help:

  • Standardized test scores (SAT or ACT, any subject test)
  • State of residence, and any geographical preferences for schools
  • Financial situation - what can you and your parents afford to pay, and would you be eligible for need based aid?
  • Major preferences/possible future plans
  • Preferences in college size
  • Any preferences in college atmosphere (Greek vs. non-greek, sports, specific extra curricular activities you want, urban vs. suburban vs. rural)</p>
5

<p>Just ask them to explain it to you, without sounding accusatory </p>

6

<p>I’ll take a wild guess and say that they removed your 8th grade class from the GPA. You still get credit for it, but it shouldn’t be part of your HS GPA if you took it at the MS. If it was an A, that would have lowered your GPA.</p>

7

<p>Possibly along those same lines maybe they removed your gym classes if you counted that in your calculation?</p>