<p>Last semester, I had a 3.945 UW GPA class rank of 33/290 UW. Weighted, it is 4.278 and 13/290. After another semester, I got a few more A-'s, so now my UW GPA is 3.926 and 4.315 W(I take 3 APs and 2 honors classes;, thus, weighted GPA increases.). I have no clue what my class rank is now. If I had to guess, I'd predict 45/290 UW and 18/290 W.</p>
<p>I understand that low UW GPA rank is more impressive than a low W GPA at the same percentile, and that a "good W GPA" varies from school to school based on the number of Honors and AP classes. However, a good class rank for UW GPA will vary, and a weighted class rank should be a better indicator as a comparison among peers. Some schools have kids who are more competitive academically while others have kids who couldn't less for their futures. </p>
<p>Approximately, 30% of the kids in my grade have at least a 3.8 GPA. The reason why my both my class rank differ greatly is because the majority of the kids in my grade don't take very challenging classes. They'll take one or two honors classes here and there, but many take blow-off classes such as foods and would be too hesitant take even a single AP class in order to protect their precious UW GPA's. </p>
<p>I might sound like a whiney teenager, but you have to admit, W class rank seems to be a much more accurate measure for academic comparison.</p>
<p>Question No. 2(didn't want to create a new thread)
Do colleges care about ACT subscores or just composite?</p>
<p>Well, you have a good point. But at the same time, if weighted GPA was more important, lots of sneaky kids would take AP classes JUST for the GPA benefits. It’s better to just grind your teeth and push through high school knowing that you are indeed better prepared for college than the others, and that when the time comes for college applications, you will have the rigorous schedule to show off. High schools may not care, but colleges certainly do. Keep your head up.</p>
<p>
Yeah, but if these kids aren’t that motivated and hardworking wouldn’t their W GPA just drop?</p>
<p>Well, if they’re able to get A’s in their easy classes, then they should be able to manage about a B or C in AP classes. And I believe that’s still pretty high on the weighted scale?</p>
<p>Unweighted GPAs may affect your rank, but kids who take relaxing classes just for good grades would probably have a lower chance of admission because colleges ENCOURAGE taking challenging classes. They care more that you challenge yourself. Really. And it’s not like colleges don’t look at weighted GPAs.</p>
<p>Yeah, but in comparison to those kids who take AP classes and excel in them, then these kids would be ranked below them, demonstrating a more realistic rank. So yes, I wish that these kids did do that.</p>
<p>I’m a little frustrated that I’m not in the top 10%, which is preferred by the majority of selective colleges.</p>
<p>Oh, and how do you quote another message, by the way? I know there’s a check-box that allows you to do it, but it’s never actually worked for me…</p>
<p>^I’d like to know too because I’m in the same situation.</p>
<p>
[quote ]
insert 10 char [ /quote]
</p>
<p>without the spaces</p>
<p>do we have to check off the quote box?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Ok, soejisjioesjoise</p>
<p>Apparently, they only see your composite score. So composite score is more important.</p>
<p>No. In fact, I never noticed that check box until you just mentioned it. No offense, really, although most CC kids are top 5% in the nation. I’ve been using forums for +5 years, and it’s a bit of a surprise to see someone unfamiliar with this feature.</p>
<p>another reason for this is the wide variety of grading scales. for instance, my school gives a cumulative GPA out of 100. weighting does not dramatically change the gpa: each ap class is worth 5 points added to the class grade, each honors class is worth 3 points added to the class grade, and each regents class is worth 2 points added to the class grade. however, 5 points added to one of your 30 classes your high school career only works to raise your GPA about 1/6 of a point out of 100. my UW GPA is around 98.1, but my W GPA is like 99.3, even though i’ve taken the most challenging classes possible. other schools do grades out of 4.0 (and in fact, when a 100 point scale is converted to 4.0, 95+ is 4.0… which confuses me), 5.0, 6.0… weighting systems can be very misleading and can inflate grades in different ways that aren’t really accurate to colleges, so they depend on an UW gpa because it’s easier to compare it to the standards other schools.</p>
<p>No, I’m saying that RANK based on W GPA is better than UW RANK. I already explained that in the original post that I understand why UW GPA is better for a standard among different schools in-terms of grades purely.</p>
<p>Weighting is relative to your school, so class rank should be weighted to give adcoms an accurate account of where you stand among your peers. But weighting varies largely from school to school, so it isn’t very useful in comparing applicants who are not from the same school.</p>
<p>Unweighted will give a baseline for people to look at applicants. When every applicant to a selective school is taking all the APs they can, GPA doesn’t need to be weighted. They can look at strength of your schedule based on what was available to you. Using unweighted GPA also doesn’t disadvantage people whose schools only offer 3 APs.</p>
<p>
Okay, agree here.
Yes, you can compare applicants from different schools using percentile of class rank. I know you can’t compare a 4.35 UW GPA from School A to a 4.20 UW GPA to School B, but as long as class rank percentile is used, then it is possible to compare. </p>
<p>
Corrected. These kids will still be affected to some extent. </p>
<p>Exhibit X: Kid takes 3 AP’s out of 3 AP’s offered at School X.
Exhibit Y:Kid takes 8 AP’s out of 9 AP’s offered at School Y.(3 of the 8 taken are the same AP’s as Exhibit B)</p>
<p>And then assuming both kids had everything else similar(recs, gpa, test scores, essays, etc.).</p>
<p>Kid in Exhibit Y will always be the better applicant than Exhibit X.</p>
<p>I think I read post #16 wrong. I mean unweighted GPA and weighted rank are useful. Yeah, unweighted rank is pointless.</p>
<p>Regardless of what adcoms say, there are so many differences between high schools that it is impossible to determine necessarily who is the most qualified to handle college-level work. The kid with 3/3 APs might be accepted just because he’s from a more “diverse” background.</p>
<p>It is also somewhat fallacious to posit a situation where two students are directly being compared, because in holistic admissions each applicant is viewed individually. Most adcoms will say that they want you to take the most rigorous courses available to you–it doesn’t count against you if they aren’t available, and you aren’t expected to go take CC courses or anything. A DOA at a competitive school said that he advocates high schools dropping AP courses because having lots of them doesn’t really help students get admitted (although getting AP credit does help students who go to schools that will accept it).</p>