When I see people posting their weighted GPAs, are they including honors courses or only AP courses? Also, when colleges ask for the weighted GPA, are they including every single honor and AP course? I know that the UCs have a cap on GPAs but do other colleges do that too? There are many people that post their WGPAs in this site, and I have no idea of what their standard is. Please help me to answer this question. Thanks 
<p>oh
and does the freshman year GPA count for the overall GPA in an application? in my school there are two different GPAs, one is the cumulative and the other is the academic. the only difference between the two is that one counts the freshman year GPA</p>
<p>People who are posting weighted GPA's here are generally posting them according to whatever weight system their high school uses and those vary, including as to whether they include honors and AP or just AP for weighting. When apps and transcripts go to colleges, it is the same thing and then colleges determine what to do with the varying grading and weighting systems and what they do varies almost as much as the weighting methods; for example, some just accept grades they get and evaluate based on what they know about different schools; some basically ignore the grades and go by class rank; some eliminate all weighting; some do that and then apply their own weighting system to honors and AP's; some do any of the above but also toss all + and - grades and just go by A,B, C etc.; most that do any of the above will also toss grades that are not in core college prep courses. </p>
<p>As to your question about freshman grades, you get the same answer. There are many colleges that count freshman grades as any other grades, there are many that chuck them altogether, and there are many that give freshman grades less consideration than later years. If app asks for GPA, it is likely asking for whatever your school gives you as weighted. In your case there are two -- adding of course to the confusion and putting on my list one more way that high schools muck up everything with their different weighting sytems-- and likely if I were applying to a college that does not consider freshman grades, I would probably give the one without them and otherwise give the overall one.</p>
<p>Usually weighted GPAs include both honors and AP classes.</p>
<p>There's a lot of variation in how schools handle GPAs in general. Some schools use the unweighted GPA ONLY in making decisions, others reconfigure the GPA based solely on "core" academic classes (i.e., math, english, science, etc.) and drop "electives" like PE, Art, and religion. Other schools, like the UC's, only use grades from sophomore and junior years. Still other schools just use whatever cummulative GPA is shown on the transcript. </p>
<p>So, it's important to ask each school exactly what they use for the GPA. Nearly all will tell you IF you ask but they don't necessarily volunteer the information if they are not asked.</p>
<p>Sorry, I meant to add that you should probably ask your guidance counselor about the GPAs that are shown on your transcript. I suspect - but don't know - that the GPA that you say is based on "academic" grades may very well be the "UC GPA." If so, and you are planning to apply to non-UC or Cal State schools, it would probably be a good idea to have your guidance counselor note this on your recommendation.</p>
<p>By the way, if you haven't already, you can find full details on how the UC's calculate GPAs at <a href="http://www.ucop.edu/pathways%5B/url%5D">www.ucop.edu/pathways</a>.</p>
<p>Personally, I like that my school does not weight GPA's. I know this opinion is not a popular one, but I think unweighted GPA's are much better to have.</p>
<p>I am taking a number of Honors and AP courses. If my GPA was weighted it would go up by a lot. However, weighting has problems. Even when the school provides the weighting system the GPA is still suspect. An unweighted GPA just seems more legitimate and valid - no questions have to be asked - the GPA is there. Also, they see the courses you took. If you took a bunch of AP's they'd see that and realize that your GPA would be higher if you didn't take them.</p>
<p>The only thing weighting should be used for is class rank, because then you are at a loss if you take harder classes.</p>
<p>hey thanks for the posts guys.. i learned a lot
by the way,
our school doesnt weigh GPAs either..</p>
<p>Most colleges do not look at weighted GPAs themselves..
Most high schools use the Weighted GPA to rank you in your class..
Colleges look at your class rank a lot..</p>
<p>Unweighted GPA is used to determined your ability to suceed in the courses that you take..
Class Rank shows how much more you can learn than other schoolmates.</p>
<p>Different Schools have different weightings for either courses but unweighted is all similar..</p>