Problem with GPA Ranking Calculation- what to do

[Anonymous]

OP, if I recall, something similar happens with UC and CSU calculation of GPA. So, you're not alone.

Try not to worry about it. Ranking doesn't necessarily play a huge role in college admissions, not to the extent that this forum sometimes imagines. Two of my kids were ranked in the third decile due to a wonky weighting system at their high school and they are both now attending T10s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This happens with honors classes. We encourage our kids to challenge themselves as much as possible, but in our high-performing school district, there’s no upside and only potential downside. What’s worse, the curriculum development team has discretion over whether to identify an honors class with a GPA boost (as with AP classes). In our district, honors chemistry gets the boost in one school but not the other three schools; yet the online honors chemistry course that was offered during the pandemic DID get the boost at all three schools. Honestly, I think it’s a matter of certifying the course at each school and the curriculum development team rests on the “it doesn’t matter because colleges and universities re-calculate their own GPA equivalents to create as much of a level playing field as possible during the admissions process”, and only do the work of certifying when either the principal or parents raise enough of a fuss.

Wow, this is also bananas. Thanks for sharing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, if I recall, something similar happens with UC and CSU calculation of GPA. So, you're not alone.

Try not to worry about it. Ranking doesn't necessarily play a huge role in college admissions, not to the extent that this forum sometimes imagines. Two of my kids were ranked in the third decile due to a wonky weighting system at their high school and they are both now attending T10s.

Thank you, this is super helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, let's say there are two kids with all As. They each then earn a B in a .5 and 1 credit class, respectively. The B would do less damage to the one who took the .5 credit class, right?

Conversely, there are two kids with all Bs. They then each earn an A in a .5 and 1 credit class, respectively. The A would help the kid who took the 1 credit class more, right?


Am I getting this wrong?

Yes, that is all right.
It's just wild to me that if all the grades/rigor were the same, the kid with less credits would be ranked higher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, let's say there are two kids with all As. They each then earn a B in a .5 and 1 credit class, respectively. The B would do less damage to the one who took the .5 credit class, right?

Conversely, there are two kids with all Bs. They then each earn an A in a .5 and 1 credit class, respectively. The A would help the kid who took the 1 credit class more, right?


Am I getting this wrong?

Yes, that is all right.
It's just wild to me that if all the grades/rigor were the same, the kid with less credits would be ranked higher.

I'm not seeing you gripe then. .5 credits is worth LESS than 1 credit. It should make less of an impact because it is NOT the same weight in terms of time and # of assessments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, the credits figure into both the numerator and the denominator. If your school uses a fairly common system I’d double check your own work first.

In the numerator, each course should be ((grade + weight) x credits)). The denominator is all the credits summed.

It sounds to me like, in computing the numerator, you might have forgotten to multiply each course by the number of credits.

Thanks for your response. I think that would make more sense. Here is the actual calculation:

Weighted Average (WA) =

[ Sum of (Grade x Credit) + Sum of (Grade x Credit x Weight)] DIVIDED BY Sum of Credits Attempted

Using your formula (which btw is the same of mine because of the distributive property), I computed the GPA for a student who took five unweighted courses, plus a one or one-half credit elective that is unweighted, weighted at +0.5 (honors), or weighted at +1.0 (AP). For simplicity, this student gets As in everything.

In this first equation the one-half credit course is unweighted:

((4x5.5) + (4.0x0.5x0))/5.5 = 4

Naturally, we get the same result with an unweighted full credit elective:

((4x6) + (4.0x1x0))/6 = 4

Now let’s try a half-credit honors elective:

((4x5.5) + (4.0x0.5x0.5))/5.5 = 4.182

And a full-credit honors elective:

((4x6) + (4.0x1x0.5))/6 = 4.333

Now here’s a half-credit AP elective:

((4x5.5) + (4.0x0.5x1))/5.5 = 4.364

And the full-credit AP elective is highest of all:

((4x6) + (4.0x1x1))/6 = 4.667

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, the credits figure into both the numerator and the denominator. If your school uses a fairly common system I’d double check your own work first.

In the numerator, each course should be ((grade + weight) x credits)). The denominator is all the credits summed.

It sounds to me like, in computing the numerator, you might have forgotten to multiply each course by the number of credits.

Thanks for your response. I think that would make more sense. Here is the actual calculation:

Weighted Average (WA) =

[ Sum of (Grade x Credit) + Sum of (Grade x Credit x Weight)] DIVIDED BY Sum of Credits Attempted

Using your formula (which btw is the same of mine because of the distributive property), I computed the GPA for a student who took five unweighted courses, plus a one or one-half credit elective that is unweighted, weighted at +0.5 (honors), or weighted at +1.0 (AP). For simplicity, this student gets As in everything.

In this first equation the one-half credit course is unweighted:

((4x5.5) + (4.0x0.5x0))/5.5 = 4

Naturally, we get the same result with an unweighted full credit elective:

((4x6) + (4.0x1x0))/6 = 4

Now let’s try a half-credit honors elective:

((4x5.5) + (4.0x0.5x0.5))/5.5 = 4.182

And a full-credit honors elective:

((4x6) + (4.0x1x0.5))/6 = 4.333

Now here’s a half-credit AP elective:

((4x5.5) + (4.0x0.5x1))/5.5 = 4.364

And the full-credit AP elective is highest of all:

((4x6) + (4.0x1x1))/6 = 4.667

Yes, you are right regarding the calculation being the same. Our GPA values and weighting are a little different. I am going to run the scenarios you listed and see how it works out. This is extremely helpful and I really appreciate your taking the time to calculate these.

[Anonymous]

I think you just have to let it go. My kid took some hard classes as a freshman that were not weighted- classes most students don’t take until they are a junior. The school board has since passed to provide weight to these classes. So now kids in his year (junior) taking those same classes he took as a freshman, will get benefit of a weighted grade. It’s not fair but that’s life. Probably won’t matter as college will recalculate GPA but it could move position for class ranking. But oh well, life isn’t fair

[Anonymous]

I’m actually surprised you only noticed this issue now!

If you have two kids both taking the same 7 AP classes, but one of them also takes an additional 8th elective (standard or honors) class. Then the one taking 7 classes will have a full GPA of 5.0, but the one taking an additional class will have a lower GPA.

Even without this issue, the difficulty of each AP class varies a lot. That’s why GPA is just a reference figure and schools tend not to strictly rank their students. The top colleges look at your full transcript instead of this figure.

[Anonymous]

In states with auto-admit to state universities based on rankings, students have been making these calculations for years. It can be considered gaming the system, or just being pragmatic.

[Anonymous]

It works out in the end. Kid missed top 10% by 3 students and 0.02 GPA that would have easily been made up if they had taken a study hall in 9th instead of an regular fine-arts elective when did not need it. It mattered not in the end, they had max rigor every area, got into T10 and multiple T25, while several "above" them without max rigor did not, including the val. Other years the val has top rigor and so do the next 5 students. Rigor matters more than the number. Colleges figure it out and the elite ones can easily tell who games the Gpa with low-rigor easy-AP/DE for the boost. That being said, understanding the math and avoiding taking unnecessary regular electives that do not add to the overall picture is the way to go. Play the game the right way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m actually surprised you only noticed this issue now!

If you have two kids both taking the same 7 AP classes, but one of them also takes an additional 8th elective (standard or honors) class. Then the one taking 7 classes will have a full GPA of 5.0, but the one taking an additional class will have a lower GPA.

Even without this issue, the difficulty of each AP class varies a lot. That’s why GPA is just a reference figure and schools tend not to strictly rank their students. The top colleges look at your full transcript instead of this figure.

They actually quietly completely changed what was in the Coursebook. I would have noticed this from the get-go!
Thanks for responding! -OP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It works out in the end. Kid missed top 10% by 3 students and 0.02 GPA that would have easily been made up if they had taken a study hall in 9th instead of an regular fine-arts elective when did not need it. It mattered not in the end, they had max rigor every area, got into T10 and multiple T25, while several "above" them without max rigor did not, including the val. Other years the val has top rigor and so do the next 5 students. Rigor matters more than the number. Colleges figure it out and the elite ones can easily tell who games the Gpa with low-rigor easy-AP/DE for the boost. That being said, understanding the math and avoiding taking unnecessary regular electives that do not add to the overall picture is the way to go. Play the game the right way.

Thank you for posting and it really helps to understand that it works out in the end. Glad your kids have done so well!
I have to think about gaming in such a weird way now I guess lol. Which I hate. But it is what it is. -OP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m actually surprised you only noticed this issue now!

If you have two kids both taking the same 7 AP classes, but one of them also takes an additional 8th elective (standard or honors) class. Then the one taking 7 classes will have a full GPA of 5.0, but the one taking an additional class will have a lower GPA.

Even without this issue, the difficulty of each AP class varies a lot. That’s why GPA is just a reference figure and schools tend not to strictly rank their students. The top colleges look at your full transcript instead of this figure.

This. they look at the classes in relation to the highest level offered for each high school year, by subject area. Such relative-rigor calculations are in Jeff Selingo's book from 2018. This is a known factor in the process, not new, yet parents on DCUM remain surprised every year that GPA is not everything. Applies to grades too. It is indeed better to get A- (even B+ in schools that regularly give B range grades) in the toughest classes rather than all A in easier but same-weight classes. Course difficulty across areas is king, and you had better back it up with test scores these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It works out in the end. Kid missed top 10% by 3 students and 0.02 GPA that would have easily been made up if they had taken a study hall in 9th instead of an regular fine-arts elective when did not need it. It mattered not in the end, they had max rigor every area, got into T10 and multiple T25, while several "above" them without max rigor did not, including the val. Other years the val has top rigor and so do the next 5 students. Rigor matters more than the number. Colleges figure it out and the elite ones can easily tell who games the Gpa with low-rigor easy-AP/DE for the boost. That being said, understanding the math and avoiding taking unnecessary regular electives that do not add to the overall picture is the way to go. Play the game the right way.

In my kid’s high school, the val is determined by a combination of GPA and course rigor (they actually a top student prize for each grade). I know there’s a bit of subjective element no matter what.