My son’s HS (rigorous private prep no grade inflation) does not weight GPA. He’s using a couple of recruiting websites and several coaches have expressed interest in him. We’ve noticed that many of the other athletes on the sites seem to be posting weighted GPAs. His GPA looks quite a bit lower than many of the others, even though he is taking all honors/AP level classes. Should he weight his GPA so he looks a little more in the ballpark for colleges? Do these sites really matter that much?
He’s a baseball player interested in the top academic schools. Unweighted GPA is 3.6…not sure what weighted would be, but well over 4.0.
Every coach that we had contact with at top academics (Ivy, NESCAC) said that they and admissions only look at unweighted GPA.
IMO, a 3.6 is going to be ok for many coaches in many sports at many of those schools. But it could cause some issues at some schools (the highest NESCACs, for example). It’s not super solid and it would help to have a high SAT/ACT to balance it.
A private school 3.6 isn’t likely to deter a coach, so really you’re asking about the admissions pre-read. If he goes to a prep school that’s known to the NESCAC’s and Ivies, they’ll know the rigor of the school and will “translate” his grades appropriately. He should not weight his GPA.
Thank you both for your answers. I’m really not comfortable weighting the grades since his school does not, so we will leave it as is. That was my original thought - his school is known to those colleges, so they should know that the rigor is there. He’s been somewhat dismayed meeting other players or looking at their profiles with 4.0 unweighted averages at schools that likely have grade inflation or those of students taking easier classes. I’m surprised that there is so much focus on GPA when not all GPAs are created equal. S could easily have a 4.0 at our well regarded public HS.
I would echo the other comments, don’t weight it. Mine also went to a very high level private prep and is an Ivy athlete. The types of schools you are interested in likely know full well the rigor of the institution your son currently attends and I would expect a 3.6 is a non-issue.
There’s so much focus on gpa because in the ivies it’s a major component of the Academic Index. I think nescac has somethjing similar. And at all schools it’s part of the stats that affect rankings, etc.
I agree, tho, that all GPA s are not created equal. The supposed semi-equalizer is they claim they expect that you took “the most rigorous courses available to you.”. But I know that’s not true… I know a kid who got into Harvard this year for a sport, who took a very light, nonrigorous schedule all throughout high school.