<p>This is something I never thought about...my d is in the same situation. She has algebra and biology on her transcript from 8th grade and these grades are calculated into her gpa and rank. She is 2 spots away from the top 10%...Her top pick is not highly selective like the schools you read about on CC, but that top 10% rank would be so nice!</p>
<p>There is a major difference in our d's situations, though. My d goes to a large suburban hs, and there are probably 25 kids that took 2 hs classes in 8th grade. I doubt they would recalculate ranks because so many kids are affected.</p>
<p>OP- I assume you aren't in cali, as the uc policy on this is: high school courses in algebra, geometry, and foreign language taken in 7th and 8th grade should appear on the transcript, but not in gpa; when applying to UC's the grades for these courses are asked for but not computed into gpa. So in other words, students received credit for the semesters of high school prep courses taken, but no impact to gpa.</p>
<p>From the numerous private schools we visited 2 years ago when d was applying, we learned that many schools recalculate gpa with their own formula and those grades as well as sometimes 9th grade may be completely ignored, depending on the school. Its worth it to ask at prospective schools-- we were shocked at the differences in the answers as to how gpa is calculated between highly selective colleges.</p>
<p>So many thoughtful comments!</p>
<p>Midmo - I'm not sure how it works at my daughter's high school, but so far they've been pretty accommodating. One of the three dual enrollment courses she is taking does fulfill a requirement, but she also has the option of testing out of the high school version of the class--I think. Keeping the University grades off her hs transcript may be another good reason to test out (beside being able to use the college credits).</p>
<p>Bunsen - I'm glad I did start the thread. I actually had started it another time in a less receptive forum and it just died.</p>
<p>Chocolate - One of the reasons the guidance counselor advocated for my daughter is that she feels our school does not weight the few honors and AP's it offers enough and that to also include the 8th grade grades adds additional disincentive to take the rigorous courses. I get the impression she was glad we pointed out a strategy to give a little more credit where credit is due.</p>
<p>OCmom - My daughter was born and lived in CA until she was 12 and would like very much to go back. It was the UC way of calculating GPA that got me thinking about the way her school does to begin with. Unfortunately, as an OOS, I don't think there's much hope for UCSD (which is her first choice--these days maybe even ahead of her ED school! <strong><em>insert rolling eyes here</em></strong></p>
<p>Rodney - Thanks for the encouragement early on in the thread!</p>
<p>An admissions rep from a top LAC said that his college will not allow a student to “double dip” – that is, if a student receives high school credit for a college class, the student cannot receive college credit for the same class in his LAC. By excluding college classes from his HS transcript, my S hopes to make it clear that he has received no HS credit for his college classes. We do not know how many colleges have the same no-double-dipping policy.</p>
<p>This thread makes me happy that my kids' high school does not rank.</p>
<p>My son's university also does not allow "double dipping." His college courses appeared on his high school transcript, fulfilled graduation requirements, were not figured into his GPA, and he was not given college credit for them. The classes were used for placement, however; he is taking upper level classes (as a freshman) since he already took prerequisites while in high school.</p>
<p>Most of the schools I know do not allow this "double dipping" whether they are highschools or colleges. It is very difficult, if not impossible to translate a grade in one system to another. There are highschool courses that are more rigorous than the same courses at a local college. The fact that a student has taken courses at a local college is indicated separately on the college app and is taken into account favorably. The only exception I have seen to that is if the highschool has some contract with a college and farms out many students to a college for certain courses and it is prearranged that those grades will go into the gpa.</p>