Dropping HS credits earned in MS from transcript (Arlington)

[Anonymous]

Hi-

It seems very common for students with all/almost all As in HS to drop the high school credits earned in middle school to improve their overall GPA. But is also looks like some of the verified credits are needed to qualify for the advanced diploma. Do students generally drop all of them and just not care about the advance diploma, or do they only drop the ones that won't affect that piece? Thanks - first time through this and appreciate your insights and experience.

[Anonymous]

Perhaps it shouldn’t be an option to drop HS courses taken in MS from the transcript. It may dissuade students from taking classes they’re not actually ready for.

[Anonymous]

PP here - all the grades are As but b/c they aren’t weighted they actually bring down the overall gpa.

[Anonymous]

I believe they can use another HS math class to replace the requirement for verified credits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP here - all the grades are As but b/c they aren’t weighted they actually bring down the overall gpa.

So much grade inflation. Yikes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I believe they can use another HS math class to replace the requirement for verified credits.

They also have to make sure they have passed the sol. A verified credit is passing the class plus passing the sol test.

[Anonymous]

College counselor here - I wish APS did a better job of educating families and students about what colleges care about, and this is. not. it.

a) Selective schools are looking at unweighted GPA and b) rigorous courseload. Dropping middle school classes to bring a 4.4 to a 4.5 or whatever is more likely to make a school think something went very wrong in 8th grade.

So much about the grade inflation at APS results from bones administrators have thrown to parents, over the course of decades, who think they're doing their kids a favor by trying to game this out. It truly will not make a positive difference if you drop As from a middle school transcript.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:College counselor here - I wish APS did a better job of educating families and students about what colleges care about, and this is. not. it.

a) Selective schools are looking at unweighted GPA and b) rigorous courseload. Dropping middle school classes to bring a 4.4 to a 4.5 or whatever is more likely to make a school think something went very wrong in 8th grade.

So much about the grade inflation at APS results from bones administrators have thrown to parents, over the course of decades, who think they're doing their kids a favor by trying to game this out. It truly will not make a positive difference if you drop As from a middle school transcript.

Thank you! I wondered about this.

[Anonymous]

As an aside, if a kid is taking a class for HS credit in MS and does poorly in the class, can they drop the class and re-take in HS?

(Just curious from a mom of a 6th grader)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As an aside, if a kid is taking a class for HS credit in MS and does poorly in the class, can they drop the class and re-take in HS?

(Just curious from a mom of a 6th grader)

Yes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:College counselor here - I wish APS did a better job of educating families and students about what colleges care about, and this is. not. it.

a) Selective schools are looking at unweighted GPA and b) rigorous courseload. Dropping middle school classes to bring a 4.4 to a 4.5 or whatever is more likely to make a school think something went very wrong in 8th grade.

So much about the grade inflation at APS results from bones administrators have thrown to parents, over the course of decades, who think they're doing their kids a favor by trying to game this out. It truly will not make a positive difference if you drop As from a middle school transcript.

APS is not helpful at all with the college process. No guidance on how to fill out common app, have to push like hell to get transcripts and counselor letters in for early deadlines. It's embarassing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:College counselor here - I wish APS did a better job of educating families and students about what colleges care about, and this is. not. it.

a) Selective schools are looking at unweighted GPA and b) rigorous courseload. Dropping middle school classes to bring a 4.4 to a 4.5 or whatever is more likely to make a school think something went very wrong in 8th grade.

So much about the grade inflation at APS results from bones administrators have thrown to parents, over the course of decades, who think they're doing their kids a favor by trying to game this out. It truly will not make a positive difference if you drop As from a middle school transcript.

100% agree with this. Every district calculates GPAs differently. I remembered being shocked at the high GPAs coming out of Montgomery County, thinking that kids were taking 15+ AP courses to get their GPAs that high. I then found out that in MoCo, kids get a GPA bump from not just APs, but from "honors" and "intensified" courses as well. This is why colleges use their own methodology to calculate GPA -- each district does it differently and some inflate GPAs more than others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP here - all the grades are As but b/c they aren’t weighted they actually bring down the overall gpa.

I just emailed our counselor about this for clarification. My DC has all As from MS, but the weighting is impacted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:College counselor here - I wish APS did a better job of educating families and students about what colleges care about, and this is. not. it.

a) Selective schools are looking at unweighted GPA and b) rigorous courseload. Dropping middle school classes to bring a 4.4 to a 4.5 or whatever is more likely to make a school think something went very wrong in 8th grade.

So much about the grade inflation at APS results from bones administrators have thrown to parents, over the course of decades, who think they're doing their kids a favor by trying to game this out. It truly will not make a positive difference if you drop As from a middle school transcript.

Different APS parent here - Thank you. This is very helpful. I was wondering what dropping 4 classes would do. Honestly, it seemed a little weird to drop Spanish 1 & 2 and then have the transcript start with Spanish 3 as a freshman. I think it's all the weighting inconsistencies that make us crazy. MoCo, in particular, produces weighted GPAs that just aren't realistic. That said, my kid chose to take AP Econ during the school year for the AP boost instead of regular Econ over the summer, so..........

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:College counselor here - I wish APS did a better job of educating families and students about what colleges care about, and this is. not. it.

a) Selective schools are looking at unweighted GPA and b) rigorous courseload. Dropping middle school classes to bring a 4.4 to a 4.5 or whatever is more likely to make a school think something went very wrong in 8th grade.

So much about the grade inflation at APS results from bones administrators have thrown to parents, over the course of decades, who think they're doing their kids a favor by trying to game this out. It truly will not make a positive difference if you drop As from a middle school transcript.

Thank you! This validates my decision not to have my kid drop their middle school grades. I figured colleges would calculate the GPA their own way so it would not matter if weighted GPA could be slightly higher. I also thought it was a plus for colleges to see As in high school courses back in middle school so why drop those. Also I was paranoid that we would accidentally drop a credit that is needed for graduation. So we left them.