@mountainsoul in our district we we have Regular, Pre AP (equivalent to honors) and then AP or Dual credit…They are weighted as:
Regular: 1.1 multiplier
Pre AP: 1.15 multiplier
AP and Dual Credit: 1.2 multiplier
Only core subject classes and foreign language are counted towards GPA and class rank, weighted GPA is what is reported …our competitive Texas school district is pretty cut throat and playing the GPA game is rampant. In order to stay within the top 10% and have auto admittance to our Big state Flagship schools (and UT Austin is top 6% for auto admit!) you can’t really take anything less than PreAp for core classes.
@mountainsoul our school only weights for AP classes…no weighting for honors.
The way they do it is not with a multiplier, but rather by adding 10 points to the grade. So if a student earns an 82 in an AP class, they get a 92. Therefore instead of a 3.0 in that class affecting their GPA, they’d have a 4.0 for that class affecting their GPA. Since I haven’t been through this yet, I guess I’m not sure how it works if the student had a 91…10 points added to 101 - would that give them a 5.0 in the class ? I’m not certain.
Our school ranks based on percentage average, though, not on GPA. (So that a 97 in a class affects rank more positively than a 92, for example, although they are both 4.0s when added to GPA). But no extra points or weighting for honors…just for AP.
Our HS also offers both IB and AP but pre-IB or “intensified” (term they use instead of “honors”) classes are not weighted, only IB, AP and Dual Enrolled classes. They get a 1.0 bump.
I think D23’s sophomore schedule will be less demanding than this year’s. She’s mostly taking what her brother took last year except doing the intensified science while he always does regular science. He did not seem overburdened with the schedule and had taken a much lighter schedule than her in 9th.
She’s taking/planning on…
Intensified English 9 → Intensified English 10
AP World History → AP Government (nearly all students take AP Gov for the required government class and based on S21’s experience it’s a lot less work than the AP World she’s in now)
Algebra 2 → Not sure yet which level, but likely DE Pre-Calculus (not the highest level of Pre-Calc but gives a GPA boost and S21 and his friends thought it was pretty easy)
Intensified Biology → Intensified Chemistry (have to take the regular or intensified class before taking the AP/IB level)
Interesting to read about weighted grade policies at other high schools. To clarify, our high school weights all AP, pre-IB, and IB core and foreign language classes. 1.0 is added across the board making a 5.0 the highest weighted GPA.
@Momof3B I can imagine the fierce competition for GPA/class rank among students competing for admission to UT Austin. Our high school is quite competitive too and kids pack in as many weighted classes as they can to increase GPA. Our state flagship, CU Boulder, is not as sought after as Texas but our GC still tells students not to consider it a safety because there are so many qualified in-state kids applying.
@Mom24boys Our district stopped reporting class rank in 2009 with a goal of preventing students from taking harder classes just to increase GPA. From what I can tell, eliminating class rank hasn’t made any difference at our competitive high school.
Our HS only weights AP courses (additional 1.0). I do not think that 9th graders are allowed to take AP courses, and sophomore opportunities are limited due to prerequisites. My S20 is not going into STEM in college, he has taken APUSH, AP Micro, AP Macro, AP Gov, and both AP English offerings.
It will be interesting to see what S23 gravitates to. He’s strong in math and science, but loves the social sciences. I’m guessing his 10th grade year will look like this: Pre-Calc, German, English (honors maybe), Bio (maybe both bio/chem), world cultures, PE (1 sem), band, and maybe a business class of some sort.
@mountainsoul our school district also stopped reporting class rank on transcripts…the caveat being top 10%…those are automatically reported due to Texas’ screwy policies. We get in updated class rank after each grading period ends and Anyone outside of top 10% has to request for their class rank to be released on their transcript. Counselors start meeting with Juniors the last grading period of the year to help them decide.
We have a college fair at our high school tonight coinciding with Spring Open House and my main point of interest and questions for both the Admissions Reps at my juniors’ target schools and our counselors will be to release class rank or not to release!
We are in a lull/ holding pattern while we wait for more news from D20’s applications so I’ve enjoying reading thru all these posts for D23!
Our District weights +.5 for Honors and +1 for AP. We haven’t done scheduling yet but know most of what she’ll be taking:
Currently:
Eng 2H
AP Human
Algebra 2H
Biology H
Spanish 3
Web Design
PE
Next year:
English 3H
Chem H
Pre-Calc H
Spanish 4
AP US
And not sure what the other 2 will be yet, possibly an Art/Drama class (her 2 loves), knock out a grad requirement like Econ/Gov or she has the option to start dual credit courses next year too.
Her only ECs are both drama related (teacher asst/co-director for a middle school drama program + drama club/performances at her school. We’ve talked about trying to find at least one other activity, service club etc that interests her for next year but we learned from D20 not to overload and that most colleges really don’t value a long list of activities - they prefer to see investment in a few.
I didn’t find CC until this year for D20 so I’m glad to have more time with it (and you all!) for D23 - it’s been a great source of info for us!
Our High School does have weighted GPA but I have no idea how much weight is given to Honors or AP classes. Only unweighted GPA is reported in the online portal and there is no information on the website or in the handbook about how grades are converted to GPA. Working in education myself, I find that odd. I suspect this is an effort to diminish student and parent focus on GPA.
Another aspect that is new to me about our high school is that it has A+ grades, which seem to be given a 4.33 on the unweighted GPA scale. My previous experiences have been that an A or 4.0 was the highest possible grade.
There has been some discussion about eliminating class rank and Val/Sal but community (parent) opposition has led to that being on hold for the time being.
At our school district, the weighted GPA goes to 6.0 with .5 bump in Advanced classes and 1.0 bump in Pre-AP/DC/AP classes. My S23 is in all Pre-AP for his freshman year, he wants to take AP Human Geography next year but I read somewhere that Texas requires BOTH World History and World Geography for admittance to public colleges/universities. So he may have to change his tune and take World History - and I am going to encourage him to stick with regulars for this class. My older two didn’t take WHAP due to horror stories they heard, and honestly, with athletics (S23 is in basketball) and on STEM track, I don’t think it’s necessary to take the AP version.
My D23 came home yesterday wanting to sign up for classes; we have block scheduling with 8 classes; 4 per day.
She will take her 5 core classes pretty much as @mebmama above – and then she’ll have room for three electives. She wants to add some AP classes, but I’d like her to take a cool elective like culinary, fashion design, web design, aeronautics, woodworking, choral classes, etc. etc. I want her to do well in her core classes - but to learn something new along the way. HS is the time to try a few classes of interest.
Any neat electives your kids have taken or will take?
D23 has limited ability to take AP classes, now that I think about it. She’s in performing arts high school, and her “elective” will always be a theater class, which is her chosen “vocation” at this school. She has block scheduling, 8 classes (4 per day), but 2 of those classes will always be vocation, 4 classes for the core subjects, 1 for language and 1 for PE. All her classes at this school (a magnet high school) are honors level, and AP can only be taken following taking the pre-AP class in the same subject. The only class she will get to take as AP before starting to apply to college will be AP Calculus, in her junior year. Senior year will be at a local university, which could look great for college apps, but she will only have had one AP class prior to senior because of the way the class schedules are set up for the four years.
D23 has the option of returning back to local high school at any time (also great high school, but the academic atmosphere is not as “challenging” as the magnet school). Advantage of returning to local high school is that she may have more electives to play around with and may be able to take one or two more APs by end of junior year.
I know she really wants to go to this one super competitive college. Any advice? Should I try to get her to go back to local high school for the extra opportunities in APs? Or have her stay at magnet for the atmosphere she prefers and college classes in senior year?
@bgbg4us I agree that high school should be a time of exploration. S23 is taking web design this year. His siblings took pottery, yoga, and culinary arts. I think he would enjoy those classes too.
@graphitemovermom - I’m not at all an expert at competitive college admissions; my kids have all gone for merit - at non competitive colleges. But that’s an interesting question; and hopefully more will chime in.
Here’s my thoughts: would a transfer hurt her GPA or class rank - and if that would drop, how does that affect admissions? And, what does the admissions office for that college say about AP classes and how important they are? do they look at kids in the context of their HS; or in context of all kids applying? And, do they even take AP class credit?
@Graphitemovermom My experience is that colleges will evaluate your child in comparison to her peers at her school. If she takes the most rigorous schedule allowed then that will check that box no matter how many APs/IB classes she takes. My D17 went to the same high school that my D23 is now attending. It’s a special admissions high school that has a project-based curriculum with an emphasis on collaboration an divergent thinking. Due to this there are no AP course, no IB program, no class ranking, no weighting of GPA, etc. There is also very limited class choices for 9th and 10th grade. Math is basically the only thing that can be accelerated. The top students do take courses at local universities especially higher math. My D and many others have done very well with admissions to highly selective schools. I don’t think it’s a disadvantage and possibly it’s good to have a curriculum vitae that doesn’t look like so many that come from standard high schools. If she’s happy at her school there is no way I’d remotely consider moving her.
@Graphitemovermom Colleges will review her based on the classes available to her at her school. If she wants a very selective college, you want to know that her GC has selected “Most Rigorous” for her schedule on his/her school report. If APs or Dual Enrollment credits are important to reduce the time in university, then transfer schools. Many top schools don’t accept APs for credit, but all schools are transparent about that on their website.
@Graphitemovermom I agree with previous posters that your daughter will be evaluated relative to her school peers and getting the “most rigorous” designation will be important for selective colleges. At my daughter’s T10 college, no credit is awarded for college-level coursework undertaken at other institutions while a student is enrolled in high school.
If the performing arts high school is truly a better fit for your daughter, then she may have to adjust her college goals. You should check the websites of her potential college targets to get an idea of where her high school curriculum could be an issue.
@bgbg4us I agree about the high school years being a time for some exploration. In fact, my D23 homeschooled for 3 years (late elementary through early middle) specifically because we wanted to get off what we felt was a track of too much pressure, too much focus on timed math facts, etc. and pivot to days with more time for exploration and experience. Learning was focused on her interests. We didn’t grade or test. Our philosophy was centered on learning for learning’s sake. She’s been back in the public school system since partway through middle school.
Given the fact that her dad and I are really invested in our kids learning what’s of interest and not for a grade or to check someone else’s box on a checklist of what you’re “supposed” to do, etc. this transition to high school has been somewhat tricky to navigate. We’re trying to follow her lead, letting her know that we’ll support her, trying to show her varying perspectives and pros and cons of the options available to her, and letting her steer the course as much as possible. Yesterday she came home with an application for a selective program at school that will lead her on a path that is so AP-heavy…it concerns me. But we talked it through in detail, and she wants to go for it.
So her schedule leaves little room for those fun and interesting electives. This year, she is going to have a 6 session mini-course on creative writing, but that’s about all she’s been able to fit into her schoolday schedule. Next year she hopes for a full year elective in either creative writing or graphic design. She’ll also take Japanese which she is excited about. Her school offers a variety of fun stuff - but given my D’s motivation to fill her schedule with so many core classes and APs, those electives often don’t fit in her schedule.
@dfbdfb (and daughter) - kudos for not knowing or caring about the weighting system. I was good with the idea of my kids completely opting out of traditional school curriculum, grades, testing, rankings, etc. all the way through high school so it’s been challenging to adjust to a school system and college application process which weights all of these things so heavily. I keep trying to figure out how to de-emphasize those factors which acknowledging the fact that by going back to the public school system and D23 electing a path towards some relatively selective colleges, we’ve opted to be a part of this system and therefore will be aware of the game and how to play it (but hopefully on our own terms to the extent we can). I’m sure I’m blowing it daily. ? But each of my kids individually affects that path - my son, who still homeschools, guides it in a different way than my daughter does. His high school experience is completely different, his list of colleges will be less selective, he doesn’t care about weighting or rank, etc. D23, on the other hand, is interested in it and motivated by it, as much as I try to provide balance by de-emphasizing it. Her report card came earlier this week with her class rank printed on it, and I was completely torn as to whether to share that info with her. It was a great rank, and she is a kid who loves to see the results of her efforts in that way. But she’s halfway through 9th grade, and it seems so early to be thinking about class rank! Sigh.