<p>I'm curious, what is most important to a college, a students weighted GPA or unweighted GPA. For example, my weighted GPA is 4.06, and my unweighted is 3.78. They obviously take the weighted GPA more seriously because it denotes academic rigor, correct?</p>
<p>Well, at that point, your GPA isn’t the biggest factor. Your GPA is shorthand for your full transcript and the context of what you did, but colleges have all that. They’ll be looking at specific grades in specific classes of specific rigor. For example, a 3.0 could mean several things. It could mean “B, B, B, B”, or it could mean “A, C, A, C”, or it could be “A, F, A, A”. All of these would be interpreted differently, but all would be a 3.0. With weighing, it becomes even more complicated. You won’t be evaluated by one or two numbers, but by the grades, rigor, trends, and context of your transcript.</p>
<p>On related note, wondering how common it is for an UW GPA to be greater than 4.0?
I ask because my kids HS grades each class on a point basis up to 100. But for GPA they say 93-94 = 4.0, 95-96 = 4.1, 97-98 = 4.2, 99-100 = 4.3
Therefore it’s possible for UW GPA to be > 4.0 (max would be 4.3). They do weighted GPA too after this for like AP clases.</p>
<p>Given how almost every HS is different I supposed colleges really focus on class rank and course rigor…i.e., seeing honors or AP classes vs regular classes.</p>
<p>You could have an unweighted GPA above 4.0 if the particular school you attend has a scale that goes above 4.0. At my high school, this would be impossible. At some others, it would not.</p>
<p>My school doesn’t award over 4 points for any normal class. Also my top college choice doesn’t look at your rank at all. Their freshman profile provides weighted GPA’s when telling you about the admits average GPA’s. So will they look at my weighted more seriously? Only AP classes and honors classes are weighted.</p>
<p>If they are showing off weighted GPAs of admitted freshmen, then they have their own standard for calculating it. Did you read my post? They won’t be paying attention to your grade point average, they’ll be paying attention to your actual transcripts.</p>
<p>yeah, I’ve calculated my GPA with them and it sits very well.</p>
<p>How could a college possibly compare applicants from different high schools using a weighted GPA? High schools don’t have standard weighted scales. One weights honors, one doesn’t. One offers 20 APs, all weighted, another offers just 10. They’ll do one of three things: recalculate on their own scale (time-consuming), look at the transcript for specific grades in specific courses, or take the unweighted GPA (simplest).</p>
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If this is done, it doesn’t change the fact that the entire transcript is given careful consideration. Perhaps recalculation is done by the mentioned college for reporting or scholarship purposes.</p>
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Simple, but not desirable. A student with 10 AP courses may have a lower UW GPA than one with none. Thus, careful consideration of the entire transcript is necessary.</p>
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Bingo.</p>
<p>^the university for which I works takes the unweighted GPA</p>
<p>^^sorry, new equipment. Having some trouble typing on the touch screen: for which I work</p>
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Am I right that grades are assessed in the full context of the transcript? Or are you trying to tell me that a student with a 4.0 in all regular classes is better off than one with a 3.5 and many honors/AP/IB/DE classes?</p>
<p>Carleton College is one example of a school that considers weighted GPA as shown on the transcript without recalculating.<br>
[Carleton</a> College: Admissions: Ask Us](<a href=“http://apps.carleton.edu/admissions/ask/?question=gpa_weight]Carleton”>http://apps.carleton.edu/admissions/ask/?question=gpa_weight)</p>
<p>If you have like 50K applications then NO WAY are they recalculating the GPA to their own scale based on classes and type of class (AP, honors, etc).
I bet it’s a evaluative review of transcript, rank, rigor of classes and after maybe 5 minutes giving it a rating on a scale of 1-10. Those in the 1 to 6 range are rejected and never looked at again. Maybe for the bubble cases will they go back and review in a little more depth.</p>
<p>I’m sure that each individual universty has different ways of doing things. Heres a quote from my top choice that might clear up my question.-</p>
<p>“College prep GPA Calculated by (school name) for 9th -11th grade coursework designated on the application (with honors points granted for courses designated as “honors,” advanced placement” or “international baccalaureate” on a high school transcript, for up to eight semesters)."</p>
<p>Well rank gets thrown in there, too, for admissions decisions. That’s where the high school’s weighting system helps a student. A 4.0 in regular classes should indicate one is a very good student.</p>
<p>Suprisingly this school does not consider rank with their applicants.</p>
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What if there is no rank at the school, or they use UW GPA?</p>
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Would they be considered better than a 3.5 or 3.6 or 3.7 in an AP/IB/DE/honors program?</p>
<p>It sounds very dubious that a student’s grades are not assessed in the full context of the transcript, and it’s just by a number. Do you work in the admissions office?</p>
<p>I know, here on CC we get a very skewed view of the college world. I’m quite sure you could what if until the cows came home about this or that situation. Bottom line, many schools use unweighted GPA as it seems fairer to them; I happen to concur. </p>
<p>My office is involved with admissions decisions in close calls, but no, I’m not in the admissions office; I’m in the academic area. I have teaching and administrative responsibilities.</p>
<p>I understand that you look at the unweighted GPA. I can understand why, given that some schools have run-away weighted GPAs. All I’m asking for is confirmation that colleges don’t just look at the GPA, but at the transcript as a whole. Can you provide this?</p>
<p>Or would all of the following be considered exactly the same?
</p>