UNFAIR GPA leads to an INACCURATE Class Rank

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

So, I’m Having a problem. My high school (as do almost all in the country) calculates GPA by finding all of the grades in each class, converting that to a 4.00 scale, adding them up and then dividing them by the number of classes total.
They then use THIS for Class Rank which can affect college admissions AND scholarships.

DISCLAIMER: I understand Class Rank has been going down in importance and that many high schools no longer calculate it, but that does NOT mean that it’s not still important; So I neither want to get any responses back about the insignificance of Class Rank nor examples of schools that don’t use it.
I also understand that some schools count College level classes differently such as adding 0.5, 1.0, or 2.0 for each college level class before dividing by # of classes to figure out GPA, but that is not what I mean when I ask for schools with different calculations later on.

Here’s WHY the Current GPA system is so WRONG:
( For argument’s sake, AP (Advanced Placement) = DC (Dual Credit) = IB (International Baccalaureate) )

Let’s say Jane and John are enrolled in the same classes (Ex: AP Euro, Algebra II, Biology, AP Chem, Nutrition, Sociology, and English II + a study hall w/o GPA points),
except Jane has decided to take band in place of the study hall.
Because band is a standard class worth only 4 quality points, her possible maximum GPA is less than John’s (assuming both were straight A students, for easier math).

For John, his GPA would be ( 5 + 5 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 ) / 7 = 4.2857
For Jane, her GPA would be ( 5 + 5 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 ) / 8 = 4.25

This Makes BOTH her GPA and Class Rank lower EVEN THOUGH she took all of the Same classes plus an additional class and still maintained Straight A’s!
In my opinion, this is unacceptable, especially when there is a simple solution.

SOLUTION: unweighted GPA + 0.025 for each semester in an AP (or DC or IB) class.

NEW GPA CALCULATION: Both Jane and John have the same UNweighted GPA of 4.00.

Jane: 4.00 + (2)(0.025) = 4.05 GPA (by the end of one semester)
John: 4.00 + (2)(0.025) = 4.05 GPA (by the end of one semester)

To eliminate any ties, students with the EXACT same GPA can be placed in order of the number of classes they take, putting Jane above John (essentially increasing her chances of valedictorian over his) without having to lower his GPA.

By doing GPA calculations this way, students could still be acknowledged for the rigor of classes they take in comparison to those who don’t, AND they will Not be Negatively Impacted by taking the additional classes that they love (such as band).

MY QUESTION FOR YOU: Do you know of ANY schools other than those in the Forest Hills school district (where I got the idea from) that find GPA this way, or in Any Way that is Different from the normal High School GPA calculations? OR Do you know of any school that finds Class Rank differently, such as a school that does not determine Class Rank using GPA but that determines it in a different way?

2

Grand Rapids High School has a proposal to determine Class Rank independently of GPA in the URL below.
They don’t offer a method to change GPA, however, just Class Rank, which is a start.

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~rhetoric/105H17/aschneeweis/cop.html

3

It is a crapshoot these days and I can relate! I’ve never heard of a school doing that, but in good ole Texas with rank based off of weight. Every student isn’t allowed to take the same classes its all if “they fit” in your schedule. (daughters school)

So, all of the top 10 kids have taken 1 extra weighted course and everyone else in the next 10 have taken one less, so from a rank perspective they are screwed all because they couldn’t take the extra class.

Its all a big game I think rank should be eliminated from schools. Just a Val and Sal and not other rankings.

4

This is typical, but some schools give less freedom about number (like everyone takes same amount). If you’re gonna get really upset about it and being Valedictorian is more important than you than band then quit the band or take another AP class instead. For a vast majority of students, being val/sal isn’t important and colleges aren’t gonna care if you’re ranking 1 or 7 as long as it’s top 10%.

5

I lose top 10% because of this when I could be tied for first because I go to a really competitive private school.

6

Also, my school only offers 7 college-level classes, and I can’t take more than the seven because that is all that is offered. If I could, I would.

7

Also consider that your schedule is more rigorous than someone who only takes 7 classes. For admissions purposed, it makes no difference and don’t worry about val and sal so much.

8

This is where you have to decide:

Rank is the only thing I care about
or
I wish to learn a variety of subject in HS and take advantage of them

Choose your classes accordingly. Unless you are in certain states with auto admit colleges. I would choose to learn more and experience more.

9

That would make me incredibly irritated too! Kudos on your proposed plan. It makes sense.
My school actually does something similar to your proposed plan. I used to despise the GPA system, but now that I see what you mean, I definitely see the merits of it. For privacy’s sake, I’m not going to reveal the name of my school, but it is a large public high school. For us, we calculate unweighted GPA using the normal 4.0 scale (with an A+ meriting a 4.33). AFTER the UW GPA is calculated, they add ( (number of honors credits)0.096 + (number of AP/dual-credit credits)0.143 ). I don’t know where the specific numbers of 0.096 and 0.143 come from, but using your example above using Jane and John, their GPAs would turn out like this:

Jane (with band): 4.286
John (with non-credit study hall): 4.286

So, in answer to your question, yes, I have seen a school (my school) this calculates GPA and rank this way. And yes, I agree that it would be more ideal if your school did this too.

10

This is not uncommon. It does seem unfair, and is one reason many schools don’t rank. I’m not sure there is much you could do. You could play the game, but you might miss out on some great classes:(

11

THX so much to HS student. I was able to research those added number to GPA to find a few different high schools that find GPA that way. Hopefully, I’ll be able to use this research to pursued my administration! :slight_smile: