<p>Do colleges care more about weighted or unweighted GPA?
I've heard that they really only look at UW GPA...if that's the case, do they take into account that some students took harder classes and therefore earned an A that was harder to come by than another student that took only grade level classes? Do colleges tend to have their own method of weighting GPA? If not, how do they recognize the difference between classes?
I have a 3.56 UW GPA (3.82 W), but I've taken 1 AP class, 5 IB's, and all the rest honors (except for gym and semester electives)...how would colleges look at my 3.56 GPA knowing that I took advanced classes?
Thanks so much for any help</p>
<p>It depends on the college.</p>
<p>Some colleges will calculate your GPA themselves using their own system - each school has a different way of calculating (some may discount freshman year, some put extra weight on certain classes, etc.). They usually take your classes into account and will be more lenient with a lower GPA if they noticed the student had a tough course load.</p>
<p>Some will just look straight at your GPA, though (I think primarily these are big public universities).</p>
<p>HSs weight classes differently, some don’t weight at all, so colleges can’t compare weighted gpas across the board.</p>
<p>Look on the SSR of the CA, your HS GC will mark whether you took the most demanding, very demanding, etc. courseload relative to what your school offers, this is what they use to determine the rigor of your schedule.</p>
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<p>Often, they do have their own GPA calculation method. If not, they may look at the courses and grades holistically or use class rank instead.</p>