<p>Do academic-ish electives count toward GPA? I'm thinking of AP Psych, journalism (not newspaper), debate class (not debate club) and Theory of Knowledge. Thanks so much.</p>
<p>I think it depends on the school.</p>
<p>Totally depends upon the school - both your child’s high school as well as the colleges who are evaluating the transcript. </p>
<p>At my DD and DS high school there are multiple GPAs that are calculated - 10-12 Academic only, 9-12 Academic only, 9-12 overall - and all of these have weighted and unweighted versions. All of the courses you mention above would be in the academic GPA at their high school (assuming the course were offered).</p>
<p>Some colleges in turn calculate their own GPAs for evaluation purposes. Given the number of different grading systems out there, they need some way to get everyone on the same scale. The UCs are probably the most formulaic about this since they have a list of required classes that you must take - and that is all they evaluate from a GPA point of view.</p>
<p>In my D’s school, all electives (even choir that she comes in early for and the school musical that she stays back later for) are counted as unweighted classes and are factored in when calculating the weighted GPA. AP Psych in her school would be weighted like any other AP (as it should be). I am not sure if sports are graded, D is not remotely involved in sports.</p>
<p>If a college wants to recalculate the GPA, it will have to do that on its own. The high school only reports one weighted GPA.</p>
<p>At my D’s high school, they count just about everything other than drivers’ ed and gym n calculating GPA. There are colleges that simply take the GPA on your transcript and others that recalculate. Even at a college that only counts “core” classes in recalculating GPA, I would think Journalism would count as an English class and AP Psych as a social studies class, and therefore be included in GPA. At D’s school, those classes are considered upper level courses in English and social studies rather than as “electives.” Debate seems to me like a public speaking class (English); I have no clue what Theory of Knowledge might be.</p>
<p>Yes, it depends on the school. IB program?</p>
<p>As has been said, it’s all in what your own particular school does and it should be listed in your handbook. Here they don’t count a ton of classes such as any of the fine arts (choir, theater, band), PE/sports, newspaper/yearbook, or aide or assistants. Many tech (computer, video) classes aren’t counted either, nor are any aide or assistants. Honors, AP, and dual credits are given an extra half point. </p>
<p>Colleges do their own thing as well. YMMV.</p>
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Yes. Thanks much everyone! I don’t feel quite so stupid now as there doesn’t seem to be a set answer.</p>