<p>In my school, we count one's gpa by unweighting and VERY RARELY are there such incidents as getting a 100 (1 per 100 students in a 1300 pop. count) in a class with exception to electives. In many of my classes honors/AP, no teacher truly thinks a paper or quarter average is truly a splendid 100. </p>
<p>My gpa is above 3.8 unweighted which falls within the top 5% of the school's gpa. My school falls within the top 50 best schools in America MSN list. </p>
<p>I'm wondering is my gpa less valid than those other schools who give out 4.0 gpa unweighted so easily?</p>
<p>I'm not sure what you mean by "less valid", but based on what I think you mean, the answer would be no. Colleges factor in the difficulty of your curriculum and of your school, especially if your school has a reputation for not having grade inflation.</p>
<p>However, I don't think it's best to assume that grade inflation is as rampant as you think. Very few schools give out a 4.0 easily, and your school doesn't seem deflated.</p>
<p>Well, schools have entirely different grading systems! Colleges know exactly how each district's (for public schools) and each individual school's (for other schools) grades work, and they understand how good a 3.8 at a school with a system like yours is. That's also why they take into account ranks and what not. </p>
<p>At my school, you can get B's for two quarters and on a midterm or a final... and still end up with a 4.0! We get year-long grades that factor in our quarter grades, midterm, and final scores (all out of 4.0: 89.5-100 is 4.0, 79.5-89.4 is 3.0...) -- each quarter counts for 20% and the midterm and final for 10% each. If the total is 3.5 or higher, you get a 4.0 (A) for the course. Obviously, a 4.0 at my school isn't too impressive. Last year, I think 20 kids graduated with 4.0s.</p>
<p>When your report card gets sent out to colleges, the school also attaches something called their school profile. This contains information about any weighting that they do to GPA, the ratio of students taking AP tests, the range of grades present in your school, etc. Basically, it lets the college know what kind of school you're coming from, so don't worry - the fact that you're in a competitive school will be taken into consideration when looking at your GPA.</p>
<p>In my high school, it's usually a rare occurrence to see someone with a 100% on a essay or a research project, but there's usually two or three 100% in each classes by exams. We have that strange grading system here, where you can have 1,1+,2,2+...ect until 5+ (100%). It's pretty unusual to see a 100% on the report card because of that, because you have to get a 96% or more, or even a 100% to have a 5+. We're maybe two or three to have only 5's on our report card so... Class averages turn around 70-75% depending on the class.</p>
<p>yeah, there is practically no difference between a 3.8, 3.9, and 4.0 unweighted GPA. it's like test scores: once you reach a certain point (700+ on SAT IIs and arguably 2100+ on SATs), the college then looks at your personality, ECs, etc., and the match between you and the school. You will not be declined admission solely on the fact that your GPA is one grade point below someone else's, especially when the GPAs are that high.</p>