Should I just give up?

Applying to College
1

<p>I changed high schools a few months ago due to my family moving from FL to CA. In FL, I was in the full IB diploma program but, due to the move, I have had to drop it. I went in to talk to my counselor today to see how the school was going to recalculate my GPA and come to find out it dropped form a 4.2W to a 3.55W! Their explanation was, that because all my IB, pre-IB, and even my AP European History classes are not offered at my current school, that they would not weigh any of my classes; they claim they don't want to mess up the class standings of the current students.</p>

<p>I'm trying to resolve the issue with the school principal, but I really don't know what is going to happen. My ultimate dream schools are Brown and Columbia but now I don't even think I could get into UCLA or any UC at all for that matter.
I am basically being told now that I should look into going to community college for 2 years then transfer out. I really don't want to do that because I feel that I really have busted my a** taking the hardest courses offered and I did relatively well in them.</p>

<p>Can the school really do this? Do I really have to just give up now and go to community college?</p>

2

<p>Well it’s not like your GPA dropped because you received C’s, D’s and F’s. Just make sure the situation and change in GPA is carefully explained to the colleges you apply to. Maybe you can send a copy of the transcript from your original school?</p>

3

<p>You do have to understand where the school is coming from on that - Say the Valedictorian would be knocked out of his/her spot because you came in with courses that he/she never had the opportunity to take. It’s not necessarily fair to students at the new high school.</p>

<p>But yeah it doesn’t seem like you got bad grades in those classes. Finding out a way to communicate that situation to your schools will probably be the best bet, because I don’t think the school is going to budge on recalculating your GPA and messing with their ranks, especially if you’re entering as a Junior or Senior.</p>

<p>Oh, and you can get into plenty of schools with a 3.5 GPA. Its not ivies or bust like most people on here seem to believe. You don’t HAVE to go to a community college like its your only option. Just because you might not be able to get into some of the most selective universities in the country shouldn’t mean you have 0 options other than a community college.</p>

4

<p>You will send in both transcripts, not just current school. So college will see old gpa and classes etc. It will be fine. When it’s time to apply, contact old school and they will send in transcript, and school profile.</p>

<p>Colleges are savvy to how the whole system works and will see what’s happened.</p>

<p>Don’t stress nor over react. Its lfe and you will be fine.</p>

5

<p>

Somehow I doubt anyone has actually “told” you that; I think it’s you leaping to a conclusion (which IMHO is a bigger problem). Putting 1 and 1 together to make 5 is going to come back to haunt you just about every time.</p>

<p>And the funny thing is you are getting stressed over absolutely nothing! </p>

<p>For the UC system, your school does not calculate your UC GPA. The UC system figures it out on its own, thank you very much. Take a look at the UC page [University</a> of California - Calculating GPA](<a href=“http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/counselors/q-and-a/calculating-gpa]University”>http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/counselors/q-and-a/calculating-gpa) which explains it all. As post #4 says, they will calculate your GPA from the courses you report on your app using the UC rules given on that link; when the UC school verifies it should you accept admission they will do so using a transcript from every HS you attended.</p>

<p>Now you go off and look how the other schools you care about calculate weighted GPA; somehow I doubt any of them just go by what your school says.</p>

6

<p>The link in #5 includes this:</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Although you may become a resident of California, it is likely that your record from a non-California high school will be treated similarly.</p>

<p>For courses at California high schools, look in <a href=“http://doorways.ucop.edu%5B/url%5D”>http://doorways.ucop.edu</a> to determine which ones are counted for honors points for UC and CSU admissions GPA purposes.</p>

<p>While class rank may be important for some schools, it is not considered by UC and CSU. (ELC compares your UC admissions GPA against a benchmark UC admissions GPA set by previous classes at your high school – not sure how students who changed high schools are handled).</p>

7

<p>

</p>

<p>Don’t forget that UC-Riverside and UC-Merced (shudder) are UCs too. UCs with about 3.5 averages for admitted students and 75th percentile SATs as low as ~1700.</p>

8

<p>K your transcript from you old school will have the gpa from that school, weighted and all, and the classes will appear as they did there</p>

<p>Yur new school can’t change the name of the classes or the grades</p>

<p>When you do applications, calculate the gpa and put both on forms, you can figure out how</p>

<p>Don’t overreact and give up, kids move all the time, and colleges pay attention to that when they see two transcripts, they will see</p>

9

<p>Sorry for bumping my old thread. On the common app there is a place for a self reported GPA. Can I get my counselor to give me a rough calculation of what my GPA would have been had I kept the weighted credit, or do I have to put down the new GPA the school gave me?</p>

10

<p>You are fine. The colleges don’t care how your new high school weights your grades from your old high school. They will do it themselves and impute a class rank. You are in good shape.</p>