How do specific colleges calculate HS GPA for admission?

[Anonymous]

Can people share what they’ve learned?

I’ve heard only second hand that UMD uses your HS weighted GPA and does not recalculate. Can anyone confirm?

I visited one slac where it sounded like they strip your gpa down to unweighted core academic classes (unless on an AP-type track for fine arts), and then add back in points for honors and AP-type classes. I’m not sure how they weigh them. My guess would be .5 for honors and 1 for AP and IB. I’m not sure for AP fine arts if they include all your art classes or just the advanced ones. Anyone know?

What have you gleaned from AOs and info sessions?

[Anonymous]

I didn’t bother caring because it’s such a crapshoot at the selective schools my kid applied to. It’s not like there’s a specific GPA that guarantees entry. It’s just one of many factors the school will consider.

[Anonymous]

Every college does it differentily, but honestly, what does it matter? The colleges will do what they will do and once you get to a certain level and at certain type of school, there isn't much you can do about it.

I mean I'm assuming every kid has an A in PE and chorus so it's probably the same as my kid.

[Anonymous]

If you want an example of how elaborate the re-calculation can be, the UC schools have their formula spelled out on their web site, including how they assign points to grades (they disregard pluses and minuses), what years count (10-11), what courses count (not PE), and how the weighting works (it’s capped, so you can’t run up the score by taking 6-8 APs a year).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you want an example of how elaborate the re-calculation can be, the UC schools have their formula spelled out on their web site, including how they assign points to grades (they disregard pluses and minuses), what years count (10-11), what courses count (not PE), and how the weighting works (it’s capped, so you can’t run up the score by taking 6-8 APs a year).

Thanks! I’ll check it out.

For schools that don’t count 9th grade, I’ve heard UCs, Stanford, and Emory. Anyone have any corrections or additions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Every college does it differentily, but honestly, what does it matter? The colleges will do what they will do and once you get to a certain level and at certain type of school, there isn't much you can do about it.

I mean I'm assuming every kid has an A in PE and chorus so it's probably the same as my kid.

Re PE and chorus grades, that was not our experience prior to transferring to the DMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can people share what they’ve learned?

I’ve heard only second hand that UMD uses your HS weighted GPA and does not recalculate. Can anyone confirm?

I visited one slac where it sounded like they strip your gpa down to unweighted core academic classes (unless on an AP-type track for fine arts), and then add back in points for honors and AP-type classes. I’m not sure how they weigh them. My guess would be .5 for honors and 1 for AP and IB. I’m not sure for AP fine arts if they include all your art classes or just the advanced ones. Anyone know?

What have you gleaned from AOs and info sessions?

I’ve never heard of a college that doesn’t recalculate, using a formula which reflects their priorities. Using a high school’s weighted gpa doesn’t make sense because high schools don’t all do it the same. They need a consistent weighting so they can compare kids on the same measure who are coming from different places.

[Anonymous]

Also, if you are trying to figure out how to prioritize or work the system, you can safely assume that colleges care mostly about core classes (their definition but it's not hard to predict its math, science, english, history, language) and that they do or don't give value to more advanced classes.

[Anonymous]

Pet peeve about college admissions in general: GPA recalculation implies that it's possible to standardize GPA. Out of one side of their mouth, colleges say, yes, we take your high school into account, and out of the other side, they recalculate in this vain attempt to standardize GPA.

I've had kids in more than one high school. At School A, it is harder, and more work, to get great grades than at School B. Next kid has uw 4.0 at School B, and we are happy about that, though there's a little wrinkle that School B is changing to Standards Based Learning/grading next year, halfway through his high school career. Any comments on how SBL affects grades/GPA for top students? Any pitfalls to look out for, as the school seems to have little idea of what it is doing, merely jumping into this trend?

[Anonymous]

There are probably dozens, if not scores, of different ways colleges recalculate HS GPA.

[Anonymous]

GPA calculations seem like voodoo. Mysterious, variable by school, utterly frustrating to parents and students alike!

[Anonymous]

My DD’s school only calculates and reports weighted GPA.

A couple schools she applied to offered some merit aid using this GPA.

A couple others requested we fill out a cumbersome self reporting grades form which I am pretty certain used that information to recalculate GPA using their own methodology. She did not receive merit aid from either of those.

As others have said, it is what it is. Not sure it should matter much in your application decisions although it may matter when your DC is deciding where to attend.

[Anonymous]

Nobody gets in because of steller GPA. NOBODY.

[Anonymous]

Really they are just looking to see the kind of courses you took and whether or not you did well enough in them compared to your classmates.