<p>DS goes to a school which does not weight any courses in the GPA, and does not release any ranking information. Their position (stated in the school profile) is that ALL of their courses are essentially honors courses. They offer almost no AP courses, so colleges don't have that to go on either (although DS is taking AP tests on his own). The school profile does include information about the distribution of junior year grades only - strikes me as a bit odd, but that's what they do... </p>
<p>How will admissions officers look at his GPA? It's a bit lower than we and he would like, although rising (he's a junior, and a year young), but I think his scores will be quite high (he just missed our state's NMSF cutoff score last year as a sophomore). He'll probably be applying to some schools that have looked at lots of students from his high school, but probably also some that have very little experience with his high school. I just don't want him to get that "smart, but lazy" tag - he is indeed a bit of that, but it's more still maturing, a boy, and has no patience with anything that even looks like "grade grubbing".</p>
<p>I should add that it's a private school that sends a handful of kids to the Ivies every year, and almost everyone else to at least a "decent" 4-year.</p>
<p>Thanks - enjoying learning as he and we start down the road.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry about it, PghMomof2. QMP attended a public high school with no weights and no ranking, and things turned out fine. The school did have some courses designated as honors, but in weird patterns. So there was honors chemistry, but no honors biology, and no honors physics. There were two levels of physics, but it was quite hard to tell from the titles which was the more challenging. There were honors courses in some languages, but not others. No honors in English or history. The admissions committees seemed to figure it out.</p>
<p>Don’t worry. Colleges are very adept at using the school transcript to evaluate the rigor of his classes and using other information to infer a ranking. This will not be the first time they’ve run into that problem.</p>
<p>Adcoms know more than you’d guess about individual high schools- whether they are top notch, evolving, have many APs, a few or none, how difficult it is to achieve top grades, etc- some details come from the school profile, some from observation or research. (It’s part of regl reps job to know.) </p>
<p>It’s not uncommon, at a rigorous hs, for grades to fall below scores. Adcoms know how to view applicants. My guess is he is ok. Just keep plugging. Make sure he has the whole picture- ECs, some leadership, some vol work, etc. Good luck.</p>
<p>Colleges often have officers that specialize in particular regions, and part of their job is getting to know the high schools in their area, particularly the ones with special grading practices. Those reps will weigh in on the applications from their area, so admissions officers are often very informed. I would not be worried. He should just focus on keeping his grades moving in an upward trajectory and doing the activities he enjoys.</p>
<p>My D went to what sounds like a similar school with a similar system. Kids got in lots of different places in lots of different parts of the country. I wouldn’t worry about it at all.</p>
<p>Fewer high schools report rank every year - it’s just too problematic. I would not worry about that issue at all. And many high schools do not provide weighted GPAs. Every college has their own system for recalculating GPA. And they know the rigor of your hs relative to other hs - both from the hs profile and from talking to the gc. I think I would only be concerned if your son was applying to a college that had never had an applicant from your hs before and whose regional rep did not call on your hs - but unless you have that unusual situation - this is not something I would worry about.</p>
<p>Even though your HS doesn’t report class rank it exists somewhere (mine did not report it either) and they probably give it to colleges. Son’s HS did not weight grades (no weighting in my day), some colleges use unweighted grades so it was easy to know his gpa for colleges (although all schools will calculate the gpa they want to use from the grades submitted- such an academic gpa that eliminates some classes the HS includes in the gpa- phy ed, etc).</p>
<p>One reason for the standardized tests (ACT/SAT) is to be able to compare kids from all sorts of grading systems and courses. AP test results will be a concrete proof of his degree of mastery of AP subject material. Glad you realize one doesn’t need to take an AP course to take (and do well) the test. A student can get A’s in AP classes but do poorly on AP exams (or, like my gifted son, get a C in AP Chemistry his final HS semester the month after taking the AP exam he got a 5 on- didn’t like the teacher/doing the work, senioritis… better than an A and a 3).</p>
<p>Don’t worry about your son. Junior year PSAT scores are used for NMS and he likely did better this year with that extra year of learning. Also don’t worry about him going off to college at a younger age. My son has a fall birthday with a Sept 1st cutoff, went early and compressed/skipped an elementary grade- entered a large U at 16 and did fine with it. There are others on CC with similar ages entering college and doing well. Nice thing is the current age 21 for alcohol nationwide- avoids being the only one not able to legally do things as a freshman (in my state and day age 18 was the beer rule, then changed to all alcohol at age 18, so son would have had the awkwardness of not being able to go to bars- the cutoff was also Dec back then which excluded some).</p>
<p>@bovertine, as originally intended QMP = QuantMechPrime, as in “distinct from QuantMech,” (like P vs. P’), or as in “the derivative of QuantMech–groan”. Thanks for asking. QuantMechProgeny is more distinguished–I like it.</p>
<p>Not to worry. The admissions committees have plenty of ways to determine your student’s strength of schedule and academic success based on the information they get from the h.s. (transcript and GC assessment of strength of shcedule, school reputation, etc.) At the end of the day, there is that additional tool . . . the national standardized test. And remember - they will use a “holistic approach,” so have S put a little time in on that essay.</p>
<p>DS’s school did not calculate GPAs, class ranking or offer AP courses. The school offered “advanced” courses, I think because they did not subscribe to the AP curriculum. The school was highly effective and graduates are well regarded. It all worked out fine in the end. Everyone got accepted and went to college.</p>
<p>The upside is he has learned that mastering the material and developing a life long love of learning is the goal of an education. The downside is he is absolutely ambivalent about his GPA.</p>
<p>DS needs to maintain a certain GPA to maintain his scholarship and be eligible for his department’s accelerated BS/MS program. I’m absolutely sure he’s never bothered to calculate it.</p>
<p>I’d find this all very refreshing if he were not my kid.</p>
<p>Not to rain on everyone’s parade, but having an S who goes to a school that doesn’t weight or rank was a big issue in applying for some merit scholarships with specific gpa requirements. His school helped him out by writing in a weighted gpa. His school is very rigorous with the top student having only a 93. Most private college Adcoms are familiar with the schools, it’s at large publics that you may have an issue or with privates with gpa requirements for scholarships that aren’t familiar with the school.</p>
<p>If you aren’t looking for merit aid and/or applying to colleges that are familiar with your school than it won’t be an issue.</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone. Financial aid will be an issue, so we are really hoping that NMS/F will come to pass - we’ll see. We did make him do some prep this year and he felt good about the test. I know we won’t know for sure until next fall, but I’m hoping his score will be high enough that we’ll have some sense what we’re dealing with by winter.</p>
<p>He has a very specific academic interest (linguistics - truly his passion), so his college list will be interesting and will include both of the kinds of schools ldinct notes: large publics and privates that don’t know his school. I guess we’ll just have to see, keep working at that developing maturity, get the gpa as high as he can, and hope that colleges see and like the trend. He’s also a truly gifted writer, so his essays should be strong.</p>
<p>For those commenters on his “youth” - he and we are keeping the gap year option in mind, not so much for college admissions purposes but just so that he has that extra year to grow into himself. With his language interests there are lot of good gap year options that wouldn’t be just marking time.</p>
<p>Hadn’t thought of that! I know that D was awarded one scholarship based solely on grades and test scores. Glad your S’s school was able to help out on an individualized instance. I would hope all schools would help out their students in like manner.</p>
<p>A bit off subject, but if you son is interested in Ling,search for posts by Keilexander. She is a frosh at Swarthmore this year. She did in depth research for Ling at LACs last year and was a wealth of information to me.</p>
<p>My son’s private school didn’t rank either but they do provide a Weighted GPA Distribution chart in the school profile (every school sends one. It goes out with every transcript):</p>
<p>For example, 5 out of 100 students had a 4.0
10 out of 100 students had a 3.5-3.9
20 out of 100 students had a 3.0-3.4</p>
<p>This is pretty common for schools that don’t officially rank. Very easy for the colleges to figure out what percentile your child fall into. Ask your school’s GC. Ours actually has it on the school’s website under the college counseling section.</p>