My school only posts our weighted GPA, and does not tell us our unweighted GPA. My weighed is a 3.6, and I calculated my unweighted and I got a 3.45 (although I think I may have messed up a little.) I have taken 6 AP classes, and I am taking another 4 during my senior year (I am a rising senior) to equal a total of 10 APs, and I have taken many honor classes. I know that colleges usually look at unweighted GPAs, but how much do they consider the rigor of a student’s classes and coursework? I also go to a really rigorous school that is number 1 in my state.
Also, another thing to mention is that the majority of my B’s that I got in classes were during my freshman year, and the majority of my B’s are also in STEM classes (a lot of them AP’s), and I am planning on majoring in political science in college (I got A’s in my history and other social studies classes, and some of them were AP classes as well)
They consider the rigor of the courses as well as your unweighted GPA, which reflects how well you held up in those courses. Most colleges place their focus on your sophomore and junior years, which is good news if your Bs were in freshman year! Likewise, the PoliSci major choice will not lay as much scrutiny on your science classes.
Many schools recalculate your GPA anyway. Some skip freshmen year while others skip non core subjects. Very often, they don’t even tell you how they look at it. Anyway, there is no standard in GPA even with the same format and scale. Just try your best at school and submit the GPA as appeared on your transcript.
Our school only reports weighted GPA. On a college pre-interview form, they asked for unweighted. Do you think we are supposed to calculate ourselves, leave it blank, or add a note that it is weighted?
Colleges will know if your HS weights GPAs or not, and often recalculate your GPA using their own formulas. They look at rigor - they will see that you have taken honors and AP courses. They will know the your HS is academically rigorous, and will look at your grades accordingly. Admissions looks at your whole application, not just your test scores and GPA! Upward trend in your grades? They’ll notice. Strong grades in classes relating to your potential major? They’ll notice. Do your best, and present the best application you can. After that it’s out of your hands.
If you have letter grades, it is easy to calculate uwGPA.