Dropping HS credits earned in MS from transcript (Arlington)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I have a senior at W -L, and that has not been his experience at all. I have been impressed how much the counselor has added to the process and her responsiveness.

[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.

My kid is a junior, applying this fall, and 8th grade was mostly virtual. Took three classes that counted for high school (language, math, world history) but got terrible grades. Of course we are dropping them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

What graduating class? Which school? That seems to matter.

[Anonymous]

The only HS options in MS are math and world language. You need 4 math credits and 3 WL credits for an advanced diploma. Since we knew our child would have this easily from HS alone, we dropped all MS grades, including the A+ ones. Mathematically this is advantageous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only HS options in MS are math and world language. You need 4 math credits and 3 WL credits for an advanced diploma. Since we knew our child would have this easily from HS alone, we dropped all MS grades, including the A+ ones. Mathematically this is advantageous.

No, there is also world geography, which kids take in 8th grade by default but counts as a HS credit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only HS options in MS are math and world language. You need 4 math credits and 3 WL credits for an advanced diploma. Since we knew our child would have this easily from HS alone, we dropped all MS grades, including the A+ ones. Mathematically this is advantageous.

No, there is also world geography, which kids take in 8th grade by default but counts as a HS credit.

Anyone caring enough to drop middle school A's is going to have a kid taking history all 4 years. Its a non-issue as far as the advanced diploma goes to drop MS classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only HS options in MS are math and world language. You need 4 math credits and 3 WL credits for an advanced diploma. Since we knew our child would have this easily from HS alone, we dropped all MS grades, including the A+ ones. Mathematically this is advantageous.

As someone said earlier there are also 3 high school computer science classes
-Investigating Computer Science
-Intro to Game Design
-Technology of Robotic Design

-

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only HS options in MS are math and world language. You need 4 math credits and 3 WL credits for an advanced diploma. Since we knew our child would have this easily from HS alone, we dropped all MS grades, including the A+ ones. Mathematically this is advantageous.

A+ ? APS doesn't give + or - on As. They are all just As.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only HS options in MS are math and world language. You need 4 math credits and 3 WL credits for an advanced diploma. Since we knew our child would have this easily from HS alone, we dropped all MS grades, including the A+ ones. Mathematically this is advantageous.

No, there is also world geography, which kids take in 8th grade by default but counts as a HS credit.

Anyone caring enough to drop middle school A's is going to have a kid taking history all 4 years. Its a non-issue as far as the advanced diploma goes to drop MS classes.

It's not about taking history all 4 years. It's that you need a "verified credit" for the advanced diploma. Whatever they do at the end of World Geo (I think was a DBQ for my kid) makes it "verified". Luckily, getting above a 3 on the AP Euro or World can substitute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I don’t believe this is true at all schools. You cant tell me that colleges that are getting 25,000+ applications are recalculating everyones grades. They have a cutoff and then more intensely review those over that hurdle.

Those numbers will drop as many of the schools are reinstating mandatory test scores. And those schools are not dropping a kid with a 4.2 but keeping a 4.3 in the automatic cull.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I don’t believe this is true at all schools. You cant tell me that colleges that are getting 25,000+ applications are recalculating everyones grades. They have a cutoff and then more intensely review those over that hurdle.

Maybe not, but they are looking at transcripts very closely and they are not going to use the weighted GPA your school district uses but school districts weight differently, so you can't compare apples to oranges.

[Anonymous]

FWIW, Andover — arguably the best HS in the US — just started weighting grades differently to boost GPAs. Perhaps even they see how grade inflation is affecting college admissions…

[Anonymous]

Do colleges care at all whether a student earns an "advanced diploma"? I can already anticipate that we will want to drop my current 8th grader's Latin grades (low Bs) from his transcript, but doubt he will take three more years in high school. Probably just two. Is it worth a GPA boost to forego the "advanced diploma"? The advanced diploma sounds like a made-up thing that has no meaning in real life, but maybe I am wrong...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do colleges care at all whether a student earns an "advanced diploma"? I can already anticipate that we will want to drop my current 8th grader's Latin grades (low Bs) from his transcript, but doubt he will take three more years in high school. Probably just two. Is it worth a GPA boost to forego the "advanced diploma"? The advanced diploma sounds like a made-up thing that has no meaning in real life, but maybe I am wrong...

No, they don't care what "type" of diploma per se, except they probably take note of an "IB diploma" and maybe a bilingual notation. But "advanced" v "standard" - no. Not all states even make that distinction.

They will, however, still look at the student's courseload and they will note how many years of language they've completed. Doesn't change much in the way of what classes your child will have to take once in college - either more language or testing out of some or all. But it's a minor factor among the broader "college preparatory" courseload expectation.

I think the focus on GPA is misguided and very unfortunate. It deters students from taking classes they would otherwise take, like band and other electives that aren't weighted grades. I have heard APS will begin weighting grades for symphonic (advanced) band next year, however. I still think it's a shame. That "easy" weighted "A" is just as deceptive as dropping more difficult unweighted course grades. The focus on the GPA # is a disservice to all students.