<p>So senior year I am taking 7 classes 1 semester and 6 the other. I am taking more semesters of cad/drafting even though I have already fulfilled my practical art requirements. But now even if I get a's, it will bring down my gpa because they are not honors classes. Does someone taking only 5 classes now have an advantage over me? </p>
<p>Absolutely not! Lots of schools say rigor and GPA go together. However, you should take honors and AP’s over standard. If one is taking 5 AP classes and you’re taking 7 standard, the person with 5 will look better. You shouldn’t specialize in something before high school if you are trying to get into top notch schools. Make sure you are taking the 5 core classes with them being honors of AP. Core classes are math, english, social studies, and science. It sometimes is Spanish if you only have 3 or less years. </p>
<p>@bdm1994 thank you! And yes I am also taking AP physics b, AP Calculus BC, along with govt, econ, career exploration (required), draw/paint, and expository reading and writing. </p>
<p>It really depends on the schools you are applying to!</p>
<p>@bdm1994 alrighty thank you:)</p>
<p>@howtosaveuhlife Assuming you both get all As, the person taking 5 AP/honors classes will have a higher gpa than you. It’s basic math. The person with all APs will have a semester gpa of 5.0. If you are taking even one non-AP class, your maximum gpa will be less than 5.0. </p>
<p>@forgetfulme well yes, i understand that. But what I’m referring more to is that lets say we had the same exact schedule but I took an additional non-required class. It would bring my gpa down even if I got an A thus making their gpa higher. But I took more classes so now they have an advantage over me even though I technically had more work. </p>
<p>Shoot I understand the confusion because I messed with my original post but didnt reclarify. They are not honors classes, they referring to the 2 extra classes that I am taking</p>
<p>Don’t be a val/sal or class rankings chaser. That .03 weighted GPA boost that other person might get over you? Who the eff cares? That stuff is meaningless. Be a learner and let others’ opinions be damned.</p>
<p>@howtosaveuhlife. Yes, you will lower your gpa by taking the additional class, even if you get an A. Every non honors class lowers your gpa. </p>
<p>@T26E4 it’s not my opinion, it’s a fact. Also, I’m not suggesting dropping the non honors classes. I’m answering the question that was asked.</p>
<p>@howtosaveuhlife “But I took more classes so now they have an advantage over me even though I technically had more work.” Oh, so you mean in terms of more than having a higher gpa (which was the title of the thread). Well, they might have an advantage, but maybe not. It depends on what else they are doing with their time. If all other aspects of your applications are the same (ie, same ECs and same level of accomplishment in them), then your application would look better. You probably knew that though. I guess I’m not really sure what your question is after all. lol</p>
<p>This is a problem with the system of weighting GPA’s. And I’ve never heard anyone suggest that you cannot get “most rigorous” designation if you take study halls. And I’ve never heard anyone suggest that colleges look at the number of credits you earned. Perhaps they do. I can only hope so. Just mathematically, I’m pretty sure you have to take study halls to be valedictorian at our school. I think that’s kind of messed up, but that’s how the system works. </p>
<p>If you are referring specifically to college admissions, it will not affect you. Every high school weights differently; some do not weight at all. Most top colleges will re-weight your transcript to their own scale, and often will only include core subjects (English, math, social studies, science, and foreign language). So as long as you do well in those subjects, you should be fine.</p>
<p>If you are referring to how it will affect your HS rank and determination of who the val is, don’t be that person. In 5 years, no one will even remember. </p>
<p>@forgetfulme: I wasn’t doubting the validity that one’s GPA might be outclassed by others – but my point was not to try to play it safe – rankings or val/sal be cast aside.</p>
<p>You need to check how your school system handles weighting, because you would never go down in our system if you still got all A’s. Of course you wouldn’t go up as much as if you had that extra weighted class, but you wouldn’t go down. In our system you could take 100 non-weighted classes and keep the same GPA if you got all A’s. That is because we take you unweighted GPA and add .5 for every weighted class to your UW GPA. So, a 4.0 with 24 classes and 10 AP’s is a weighted avg of 4.5 (4.0 plus 10x0.5) Take another 10 classes and get all A’s and you have a 4.0 with 34 classes and then add the same 0.5 (10x.5).</p>
<p>@forgetfulme ohhh okay thank you, that answered my question 
@mathyone thank you! I hope they look at the number of credits also.
@skieurope Yes I was referring to college admissions so I am glad it will not affect me. Thank you!</p>
<p>@Tv4caster, that’s a very interesting approach which I haven’t seen schools using. I’m a little confused though, how does the 4.0 plus 10x.5 equal 4.5? Isn’t that 9? Or does each AP class actually add .05? </p>
<p>@Mathyone Oops. Each AP is point 05. </p>
<p>@TV4caster, this method seems so far superior to the usual approach of lumping all classes together and penalizing kids who take electives instead of study halls that I feel I must be missing something–or why is everyone else stuck in the dark ages of penalizing kids who take electives instead of study halls? Being in this system, are there any problems you are aware of? I suppose it still doesn’t reward kids for taking electives over study halls, but at least it doesn’t penalize them.</p>
<p>@mathyone there aren’t any drawbacks that I can think of, and I have never heard anyone else complain in the 11 years I have had kids in HS classes. </p>