Unweighted vs Weighted, Getting a low GPA but taking hard classes

<p>Hi there,
I currently have a 3.4 unweighted GPA but a 4.0 Weighted GPA and it is currently my junior year. I am hoping to raise my unweighted to about a 3.5 by the end of junior year and higher if they count senior first semester. I'm not dumb and have a good amount of awards/accomplishments.
I was just wondering how colleges would consider this GPA with the addition of my pretty hard curriculum APs/Honors (I am currently taking 3 APs 2 Honors 1 normal, taking Psych at community college and self studying 3 APs). Do I stand a chance at any of the higher tier colleges (UCB/UCLA level?)</p>

<p>Thanks!!</p>

<p>anyone?................</p>

<p>anyone??????????????</p>

<p>Each college views it differently. For example, Tufts looks at the weighted GPA, not the unweighted.</p>

<p>Call admissions or look at each college forum individually (sometimes admissions isn't very helpful).</p>

<p>not sure. i'm in the same boat lol</p>

<p>You will have to check with the individual schools. Some look only at unweighted GPAs (since different high schools can have different weighting systems) but others do look at weighted grades.</p>

<p>Since you mentioned UCB and UCLA specifically, you should know that the UCs calculate their own GPA, using only the "a-g" subjects (excluding everything else) and then placing a cap on how many "bonus" points (maximum of 8) you can get for honors and AP classes. See this link:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/undergrad_adm/paths_to_adm/freshman/scholarship_reqs.html#H%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/undergrad_adm/paths_to_adm/freshman/scholarship_reqs.html#H&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Thanks for the info! I know that they look at up to 8 AP/honors but I think what I was wondering was at the actual decisions table if I had a 4.0 weighted and had 13 AP/honors and someone else had a 4.2 with say 5 AP/honors, would I be considered above them? I'm hoping I would because my classes are so much harder than theres are.</p>

<p>Thats definitely not true. If both schools were the same then yah it would be true but in the example you gave I'm assuming the fake other person would be at a different school. What if that person went to an elite boarding school where they don't have honors courses and only the elite students who are basically guaranteed a 5 on the exam get in. Everybody has there own situation. Its why HS's are required to send a supplement about themselves as to help the admissions process move along.</p>

<p>i think if you have really great ECs, then i dont see why not.</p>

<p>however, i wanna let you know that I am in the EXACT same situation as you. i took 6 AP courses before my senior year (8 including it), and I had a 3.4 unweighted, 4.1 weighted.</p>

<p>i got rejected from ucla.</p>

<p>sat: 2310</p>

<p>Yea, I’m pretty confident about my ECs. Oh yeah, and do the UCs count 8 different APs or 4 different APs (8 semesters)? Because right now I just know my uncapped unweighted. Well looks like my slacking off on homework has finally screwed me over :(.</p>

<p>Also what would be some schools that would be a possibility? (Assuming my ECs are really good)</p>

<p>I’m not sure how hard it is to get in these schools but I heard john hopkins, cornell, UCSD, UPENN are pretty good for bio majors…I have yet to find a school that’s good in both CS and Biology which I’m interested in.</p>

<p>Decide which major you want more and just minor in the other at the college if you really want.</p>

<p>top colleges will tell you they want both top grades and tough classes</p>

<p>Mid range colleges will say that they take apart the transcript and look at the individual school and the classes that you took</p>

<p>Large university receive so many applications that they just don’t have time to look at details i the first cut: raw gpa and sat are fastest.</p>

<p>The whole process is so arcane that one can’t break it down to a formula to the 4th decimal point. Just be the best that you can be, apply to a wide spectrum of colleges that you could live with, and don’t get emotionally involved until you have been accepted.</p>

<p>i’m in the same boat : (</p>