the reality of the 5.0 gpa

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

I have seen, several times, accounts on this forum stating that they have on their records a gpa of 5.0. there is nothing to doubt about it, but i am slightly confused.

What does it mean if some students have 5.0 gpas and others do not? Is the 5.0 gpa considered superior to a lower gpa?

That sounds reasonable, but the truth-- or what many hope is true-- is that colleges are able to look beyond the number and gauge both the relative difficulty of the school and the given flexibility of the student’s schedule.

I’m just unsure of how to grasp this situation. I’m a student myself and I am worried about my own gpa in comparison to my competition. I cannot understand how it is possible to get a 5.0 gpa without having full control over your schedule? The majority of public schools, excluding mine, give you the pleasure of reporting an unweighted and weighted gpa in your transcript. my public school does not give you a weighted gpa. however, weighted classes, in theory, are of course offered (APs and honors). What is preventing my understanding is the fact that there are such things as government-required classes for graduation. These classes are rarely equipped with a weighted variation of itself, so students wishing to graduate from these public schools must take regular-level classes such as health.

My question is: are there schools throughout the nation that simply allow their students to take whatever classes they want? are there schools that do not require students to take mandatory standardized classes for graduation? are students manipulating their reports in order to amass a 5.0 gpa?

Why has the weighted variant of the gpa remained as a definitive facet of a student’s college fitness, given that every high school, private or public, seemingly has the ability to grade their students however they want? there is a lack of standardization among grade representation, and i am having trouble believing that the supposedly finite resources of a reputable college’s admissions board could truly understand the nature of a school, in regards to how much freedom a student is given in choosing their courses, the types of courses that are offered, whether or not a weighted gpa is even made known to the student, and whether or not a student is ever required to take a non-weighted class.

I am not trying to start an argument. I simply have trouble understanding this system. I am the first in my family to be applying to colleges, and the first to ever really finish high school. Much of what I said is geared towards an understanding of the top 20 schools in the nation; i am less interested in how lower-tier colleges handle a lower set of gpas, as a low gpa is already universally indicative of poor performance.

2

Transcripts are sent with a “school report” that explains that school’s grading system and what’s available to their students. This is prepared by the school’s guidance/college counselor and is part of the application process.

Top students are expected to take the most rigorous schedule available to them, at their school.

3

Regarding regarding classes like health and PE. Some schools may allow these classes to be graded as pass/no pass and therefore are not part of the GPA. My kids had to take 2 years of PE, other schools allow sports to count as PE credit. Schools can meet the government requirements in varying ways.

4

Yes, 5.0 GPA’s are impossible at most US high schools. The students who post these kind of stats come from schools that push an all-AP curriculum for all four years and/or give 6 points for Dual Enrollment classes. Students must also actively avoid non-“bumped” classes like performing arts in order to achieve these kind of numbers. (And yes, some schools game their students’ GPA’s by making non-AP/honors requirements pass-fail, and etc.)

Don’t worry about it. You’ll be evaluated in the context of what is possible at your school; and narrowing the scope of your HS experience to only classes that will push your GPA toward a 5 is not worth sacrificing pursuits that you care about, whether it’s the arts, or journalism, or whatever. Just make sure you have a rigorous courseload and do well.

5

Some high schools have inflated weighting than can give 5.something or 6.something GPA. Weighted GPAs generally cannot be compared outside of the high school, unless they use some standardized method.

6

GPA is only meaningful in the correct context. That’s why many colleges, including highly selective ones will recalculate your GPA based on their own scale, so it’s as much an apples-to-apples comparison as possible when they’re evaluating applications.

On the high school level, most schools calculate based on a 4.0 scale, but getting As in weighted classes can get a student above that. Other schools calculate on a 100 scale. I’ve seen some schools on a 5.0 scale on these boards too. Usually posters tell you if it is weighted or unweighted. Weighting and which classes count towards GPA can be different at each school. DD’s HS doesn’t include gym in the GPA calculations (many don’t, but some HS do) and gives the same weighting for honors and AP classes, but no weighting at all for dual enrollment (go figure). Some give higher weight for AP and IB than for honors.

One way students might be able to game their GPA is to take easy-as-possible college classes (if your high school will count them as weighted classes towards your GPA) in the summer between junior and senior year. In our school, students can take an honors class and get the same GPA booster as an AP class, but for a lot less work (the only downside is that the guidance counselor won’t check the box for “most rigorous courses”). This manipulation - plus the fact that it can be hundredths of a point separating one place in class rank from another - is why many schools don’t do class ranking anymore.

Bottom line is do your best and take the highest level of classes that you can do well in. If you’re going for tippy top or highly selective colleges, talk to your guidance counselor to discuss what classes you can/need to take in order for them to be able to check the box that says you took the highest rigor of classes available.

7

Agree with the others. Don’t worry about what GPA others have. The HS will send a school profile that explains your HS grading system and your GPA will be reviewed in the proper context. Admissions officers routinely deal with transcripts that utilize many different grading systems. Some colleges go so far as to recalculate each applicant’s GPA based on their own parameters (ex. academic courses only, unweighted etc.).

In general, it is best to concern yourself with things that are in your control. What you CAN control is doing your best in the most rigorous schedule you can manage. What you CAN’T control is how your HS calculates GPA. FWIW our HS doesn’t weight and kids do extremely well in term of college admissions.

8

Most highly selective do not recalculate.

OP, some hs have 4 pt scale, some have 5, some more than that, some grade out of 100. That simple. Some add points for AP or certain grades. All that matters to you is how your school does it and your own maximum peformance. Top colleges do not admit kids based on gpa alone. Nor do holistics rack and stack.

" that colleges are able to look beyond the number and gauge both the relative difficulty of the school and the given flexibility of the student’s schedule." If you’re properly looking at what colleges expect, the whole of it, I think you’d understand you’ll be viewed in context. (Several contexts- your school, your major, the pool of applicants and more. But the higher the tier you aim for, the more it matters you have top performance. Plenty of kids in dificult hs will have top grades.)

(Deleted my last line.)

9

Different high schools have different ways of calculating GPAs. For those with really high GPAs aiming at top tier colleges their exact GPAs don’t matter that much. They get the box checked as being able to do the work the college expects them to be able to do. Admission will be a holistic approach where everything else matters.

10

As many have already pointed out, some schools give credit on a 6.0 scale. You’ll be evaluated based on your own school’s system.

11

At my school if you take all AP’s and get an A in every one of them, you get a 5.0 for that year. It’s impossible to have an overall 5.0 gpa.