Hello,
I just have a few questions regarding weighted averages. My high school only submits weighted averages and we use a 100 point system. My HS puts very little weight on honors (+2) and APs (+5) compare to that of other schools that use 4.0, 4.5, and 5.0.
As far as I can tell, different HS use their own system that they see fit, but doesn’t that create a unfair scale? Some schools will have really inflated averages and some will not. Since my HS only submits weighted, wouldn’t it look pretty awful when my classes are honors and AP with a weighted of only 98 (weight is only ~3 points more than my unweighted when averaged out)? It’s difficult to compare that to 4.0 averaged with 5.0 from APs , and people who have 4.9s?
My question is, can colleges request unweighted even when it’s not listed on my transcript? If not, how would they handle with HS’s that have different weights? Thanks in advance!
They handle it by looking at the other people applying from your school. If nobody else applied from your schools, they’d probably request a list and try to figure out your ranking among your peers. Like you said, GPA fluctuates greatly from school to school, so they look at the people from your school first. They also look at SAT/ACT, standardized test scores which can give a rough estimate on how you compare to the other test-takers in the nation.
I could have a 3.0 GPA, but if I’m #1 out of 2000 at a top 10 nationally ranked US high school and have a 2400 SAT that doesn’t take away anything from my academic capability.
GPA by itself is meaningless unless you have some context.
Agree. I don’t think you need to worry too much. First, the grading system is not really under your control. Only what you take and the grade you get, are within your control (to a certain extent). Every school has a different grading system (for example, in my D’s school they only give +0.33 for AP classes; and they limit the number of AP classes they can take); and, as I mentioned, schools also have different limits on the number of honors and AP classes available, and the number of AP classes they can take; finally, schools have different degrees of difficulty of obtaining a high grade. So, admission officers do not compare GPA’s from one school to the other (rather they see how well you have done and how difficult your courses are), and they also request a prospectus (or some information) on the GPA distribution of the class where you belong. This way, regardless of what your actual GPA is, they will know if you are in the very top, somewhere on top, or somewhere in the middle.
Yes, and the fact your school weights at all means you have inflated averages compared to those which don’t use weighting.
The colleges have been doing this for a long time and have figured out how to level the playing field using the info from your HS profile which details your grading and weighting criteria, as well as your class rank info.
I see. Thanks.
Too bad my school doesn’t send class rank either.
It will not be an issue at all. When your HS sends your transcript they also send a school profile which explains the weighting system, the levels of classes offered, etc. This way your transcript will be viewed in the proper context. My local HS does not weight at all nor do they rank and everyone does just fine in terms of college admissions. Your school Naviance system might be a good tool if you have that available. In addition many colleges recalculate GPA using their own system (ex. academic classes only, unweighted etc.)
OP: As indicated in previous posts, colleges know how to do this and, in fact, have been successfully converting your transcript into an unweighted GPA – and sometimes an approximately class rank – for many decades. The university’s Regional Admissions Officer is familiar with your secondary school and annually receives a “profile” from your Guidance Department. That profile, among many other things, allow the admissions office to correlate your GPA into a “close approximate” class rank (if that is needed or desired).
In sum, you need not worry about any of this. Your transcript is all that is required; the institutions will perform any “manipulations” needed once it is received. Obviously, your concern and your responsibility – and it is CRITICAL – are the grades and the curricular rigor conveyed in your transcript.
The problem we have is that one of the schools my son is considering, University of Alabama Huntsville, has an automatic merit scholarship for 34 ACT and 4.0 GPA. My son has the ACT score, but has a 3.9 GPA because his school doesn’t weight GPA’s at all. The majority of his classes are Honors and AP classes, he has all A’s, but the two B’s he received in middle school for physical science and Algebra I are dragging his GPA down. So, we go from an automatic full ride to having to contact the university to explain and hope for the best.
@StressingMom since those occurred in middle school I think you might get the benefit of the doubt.