Maximum GPA question/thoughts

<p>Anyway: I'm wondering about maximum GPA (which is asked for on various recruiting sites) as there are only so many AP and honors courses in my son's school. Freshman year, they have only Honors Math and Honors Science. Every year a student must take PE (can't be honors). Every student must take electives (can't be honors except for band, and you can't use band for all elective types).</p>

<p>There would both be the maximum GPA possible by a single student who got straight As and took every Honors and AP class possible (they are weighted the same at my son's school). But it is a lot below 5.0, and can never be 5.0 in any particular year because PE is required.</p>

<p>Academic is a different story, academic weighted could have a maximum of 4.5 freshman year (Honors in only two academics available), and then be 5.0 weighted each year after that. But still no one could possibly have a 5.0 overall because of PE and electives. 4.6 is a reasonable guess for my son's school as the highest weighted GPA.</p>

<p>If I had the time, I'd calculate it like this:
Find total maximum credits (assume no study halls)
Put in 4.0 for all PE classes, multiplied by the credit hours.
Put in 4.0 for all electives, multiplied by the credit hours (assuming no honors or AP available; honors band and AP Music Theory are exceptions to that rule at my son's school)
Put in 5.0 for all AP or Honors possible.</p>

<p>4.875 would be the maximum every year if PE is required in your state, AND all of the electives have honors available. If the electives aren't honors, that brings the max down, maybe to 4.750 at the absolute max.</p>

<p>This is exacerbated by the school not doing rankings but listing their maximum GPA as 5.0 which is completely impossible. I was wondering if other schools post 5.0 (or 6.0 for schools who give AP 2 extra points) as their maximum GPA, or actually bother to calculate it. What should he be posting as the maximum GPA at his school?</p>

<p>Just use the UW GPA and a 4.0.</p>

<p>If the highest possible for any class is 5.0, then it is 5.0 although one may not take all advanced level classes. That would be my understanding for maximal possible GPA for that school. Anyway, uwGPA would be less complicated as all classes has the same max scale.</p>

<p>@rhandco: don’t fret. Colleges know what to sift out and what to count. There are bajillion GPA scales out there. Although irritating for colleges, they manage just fine.</p>