Weighted and unweighted GPA help?

Applying to College
1

<p>My high school uses a weird 6 point weighted scale, so I am wondering how to convert that to W and UW GPA on a typical 4 point scale. </p>

<p>At my school an A in an honors/AP class = 7 points, B = 6, and so on. In a normal level class an A = 6, B = 5, and so on. </p>

<p>I have a 6.6667 GPA, and I read somewhere that to get my 4 point GPA I would divide 6.6667/6, then multiply x 4 to equal a weighted GPA of 4.4</p>

<p>For unweighted I would divide 6.6667/7 then multiply x 4 to equal an unweighted GPA of 3.8</p>

<p>Does this method seem accurate? Or is my UW GPA 4.0 because I have all A's?</p>

2

<p>Unless the college specifically tells you to convert your grades to a 4-point scale, report your GPA as your school reports it.</p>

3

<p>Report it the way your school does, as ski noted. But if you have all As then I believe most colleges would call that a 4.0.</p>

4

<p>Most colleges want unweighted, since weight scales vary widely between different high schools. The unweighted scale has been explained to me as:
A=4
B=3
C=2
D=1
F=0 </p>

<p>with +'s and -'s irrelevant, and it should be calculated the same regardless of AP/IB status (AP/IB don’t factor into the GPA, instead they increase the rigor at which your course load is viewed).</p>

<p>If it were me, I would completely recalculate my unweighted instead of developing a mathematical formula; it just seems safer to go from scratch. So your GPA would be a 4.0 with all A’s.</p>

5

<p>

</p>

<p>That is some of the worst advice I’ve ever heard!</p>

<p>Your guidance counselor fills out your GPA on the Secondary School Report (SSR). See page 2: <a href=“http://www.ugadm.northwestern.edu/documents/UG_Admissions_SecondarySchoolReport.pdf”>http://www.ugadm.northwestern.edu/documents/UG_Admissions_SecondarySchoolReport.pdf&lt;/a&gt;. </p>

<p>If you report a GPA that is different from what your GC reports, a college might question your honesty thinking you are misreporting your GPA trying to get a leg up in Admissions. </p>

<p>Every college does things differently; there isn’t a standard for recalculating GPA. Some colleges do not recalculate, some recalculate only using the core courses of Math, English, Social Studies, Science and Foreign Language while ignoring classes like gym, chorus, drama and health, some colleges recalculate completely ignoring pluses and minuses, while others add back extra points for AP and honors classes.</p>

<p>Students should REPORT YOUR GPA EXACTLY AS IT APPEARS ON YOUR TRANSCRIPT, and let each college recalculate according to their own institutional formula. </p>

6

<p>I really appreciate everyone’s advice! I am aware that I am supposed to submit my GPA how my school calculates it, and I’ve been planning on doing so. I was just curious so that I could compare my GPA to the average GPA of students at schools that I’m applying to. </p>

7

<h1>3 is correct - if you literally have all A’s (no A-) then you have a 4.0</h1>

<p>Congrats!
Colleges will also typically look at your class rank to put your GPA in context.</p>

8

<p>Many high schools report both UW and W GPA’s on a transcript. Often Admissions Officers don’t need to recalculate a GPA and can just tell from looking at the numbers how many A’s, A-'s, or B’s a student has. For example, watch how this former Stanford Admissions Officer goes over this sample student’s credentials: <a href=“Erinn Andrews, Former Stanford Admissions Officer, Video Case Study #2 - YouTube”>Erinn Andrews, Former Stanford Admissions Officer, Video Case Study #2 - YouTube;

9

<p>However, if you want discuss here what colleges are realistic to apply to or which ones are reach/match/safety, you want to recalculate your unweighted GPA on a 4 point scale (A = 4, B = 3, C = 2, D = 1, F = 0) and list it.</p>

<p>If every grade you have is an A, your unweighted GPA is 4.0.</p>

<p>Weighted GPAs that people post here are typically meaningless, due to not listing the weighting systems, which differ between different high schools, so they are not comparable anyway outside of the same high school.</p>

10

<p>@gibby‌ Sorry, I should’ve specified; I definitely meant that for the general purpose of researching colleges, determining safety/match/reach, and for things like forum discussion. The official application should absolutely be completed using official, school-provided numbers.</p>