Weighted GPA - funny thoughts

Is it just me?? When parents are bragging about kids’ weighted GPA’s and it seems impressive like “my kid has a 4.2”. But if that’s out of a possible 4.5 it’s really the equivalent of a 3.7 out of 4.0 (which just seems kind of neutral to me). I don’t know why I was struck by this - I know most of our kids go to schools without weighted GPAs but with classes that are just as hard as the weighted classes kids are taking. It’s just funny how anything over a 4.0 gets the “woah” reaction from other parents. (I guess I have been talking about colleges a lot with my LPS friends ?)

What does it really matter? Unless a parent is using their kid’s GPA to put down other kids, why should it bother you?

If another parent simply brags about their kid’s weighted 4.2, either act impressed or do not respond. It costs you nothing and adds a bit of happiness to their lives.

I think saying “it’s just funny” clearly indicates that I don’t think it really matters. Mostly I am commenting on how wrapped up many parents have become in GPA without really thinking about the quality of education behind that number.

I think most people don’t think about quality of education as much as about their child’s college prospects. And strong GPA does help in that regard, though it will not be enough if the other parts of the application are not there. But combined with strong scores (maybe you don’t even need those this year?) and a good hook you are in decent shape. On the other hand, colleges know your HS grading system so if it is one of the places with massive grade inflation GPA by itself means very little if not supported by other things.

About five years ago, my sister was talking about all the kids with 4.5 GPAs ( public school) and I reacted with a raised eyebrow. In schools where the grades are inflated, everyone has a high score. Seems odd, but ok.
IMO, there are so many schools counting everything over 89.5 as A=4.0 that I’d just smile. BS grades are hard to achieve. Few kids have an A in every class ( especially the kids taking all of the most difficult classes). Colleges know this and adjust accordingly.

GPA is unique for most BS’s. They all use a slightly different formula. The AO for that BS knows how it works and knows the curriculum for schools in their portfolio. At big public schools having a high rank is really a great thing. But in tiny BS’s, kids can have a lower rank and still be attending great colleges.

My '22 kid talks with public school peers and they compare how things are done. It’s entirely different from BS to large public. Not better or worse, just entirely different.
My kid could never have a 4.5 as it’s not possible at BS.

We don’t entirely ignore the GPA issue either. I think many schools will eliminate kids based on GPA. So BS kids still have to be at the top of whatever their grading rubric looks like.

If I kept my kid in LPS, she’d be very well positioned to look theoretically well prepared for college, and yet have only been trained to do well on various tests (state regents exams, APs).

However, I noticed that my kid was being encouraged to write very formulaically.

Doggedly following a formula is a recipe for dull, ineffective writing, but will satisfy graders on certain types of exams.

I would rather my kid actually get back to really learning. She’s already commented that she learned more about writing in the first 3 weeks of BS than she did in the last 3 years at the LPS.

Agree. My oldest often says the LPS would have been an easier path to top colleges. But then I raised the issue of being prepared once you get there. Hard work in high school can make college easier.

Here is where it gets tricky and my friend @Happytimes2001 knows this story. Like many of your kids, ours attends a BS that is famous for grade deflation and grade compression. Many schools are like this and “Twines” has even posted memes about it in the past.

Last year, Kiddo applied (before COVID) for a competitive summer leadership program (Non East Coast college) that had a 3.8 GPA cut-off. OK. We learned after making a phone call that it was based on weighted GPA’s. So, we were concerned that the “readers” would throw the application in the trash when they saw the GPA . The program administrator advised us to send the “school profile” report and to have the advisor write a letter of explanation of how the grading system at our BS translates a bit differently. This helped and kiddo got the scholarship to the summer program. Someone a few years back wrote about grade cut-offs for certain types of scholarships. Not sure how that is working.

Fast forward to this year. Kiddo and I had a call with a college coach. When asked for GPA and Kiddo said X.Z reflecting all A’s-A-s, the coach’s reaction was like this “Oh…well we tend to see higher GPA’s”. What the hey? Ok - this wasn’t one of the colleges most CC folks are “Jonesing” for, but we did expect to let kiddo get in the words “grades are not weighted”. I think there are so many high schools out there that are weighting grades and giving out A’s, that it is sometimes hard to keep things in perspective. There are people - admissions reps and coaches in other parts of the country who do not know our boarding schools. Be prepared to send the profile and maybe archival footage.

^^yup. If you are applying to the typical NESCAC or Ivy, the coach likely knows about your BS and what a GPA from said BS means. But honestly, even among competitive BS, there is a pretty wide range of normal GPA so school profile is especially important I guess.

Almost all of the college AOs know the schools and what their “GPA” (most BS’s don’t compute nor rank anymore) means… I like to hear the other side brag—b/c they think it is impressive. But DS has no idea what his GPA is (again-- not computed at his school) nor does he care.

I also think that is why standardized tests have some value in the admissions process. Not perfect, and I appreciate the arguments against them; but, IMO there is still some finite value. Because when I read that a kid has a 4.5 GPA but is struggling with low SAT/ACT scores, I have to believe there is an academic red flag there.

^ yup - or vice versa. If the kid has high scores and a low gpa, that communicates something, too. An effort gap, a learning disability, that kind of thing. All in the context of the way the High school grades, of course.

Yep, I agree. Standardized tests have always had some value ( not perfect) but add data to the application.

In the same way, an AP or IB exam can validate a grading scale. When a kid has a B in the class and a 5 on the exam, it suggests that they mastered the material and that there was more demanded of them in class than just that… An A and a 3 might suggest the opposite. I feel like good test scores, in those cases, can bolster an app.

For our student this year will be a tough one to get a 5 on any AP exam - the kids finish 2 AP courses in a few weeks (Thanksgiving break) and then have to “study & review” for the test in May. Question: Do you think the school should offer the AP review sessions in the spring for free this year because of this Block schedule, or should they be charging?

If the school operates the review, it should be free. If the school contracts with a third party to do the course, it should be charged to the student/family. That is assuming that the AP exam is not required for the final course grade.

Personally, I think the school should offer the review and pay for it. Covid aside, nobody enrolled at this school because they loved the block system. They should want all their students to do well on their AP exams, not just the students who finished their block in early May.

Well, nothing is free with boarding schools. But they should not be charged extra, no

Anyone else in this situation? I received an email that the school will charging and outsourcing to a prep company, actually. Also, believe financial aid is available for this.

It could also indicate that the student is good at things that require one time short-term massive effort, but has difficulty maintaining a sustained effort.

It also may indicate that, while the student can memorize information and respond in a fairly topical manner, they may not have the ability to go very deep, as is required by essays, lab reports, or providing proofs in math.

While I think that high scores add a bit of extra information, it is much less than GPA.

In aggregate, though, SAT/ACT scores can say a lot about a school. A school with consistently high GPAs in rigorous classes, but low average test scores indicates grade inflation or some problem with teaching the class, while the opposite indicate either grade deflation, or issues with the administration of the tests.

While there is a good amount of variance around the slope, GPA is correlated with test scores. When this correlation is pretty weak, it means that something else may be going on.