Use UW GPA and indicate rigor and weighted here. Please.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Using a weighted GPA doesn’t help across school districts or across schools. A 4.4 weighted GPA is about top 20% FPS but top 5/% Arlington Public Schools. At STA or NCS, a 3.7 is top 5%. It’s rank and rigor that matter. Not weighted GPA.

4.4 weighted GPA is not top 20% in FCPS (if that's what you meant by FPS). In our FCPS HS, 4.25 was top 10% (we had to find out for a particular scholarship that required ranking bands).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean all these posts about my kid has a 4.4 GPA. Will they get into UVA? I mean please. It depends on where the 4.4 is in the class rank and whether the courseload is the most rigorous. There are dozens of school districts on DCUM and the W GPAs don’t translate.

What do you mean by courseload is most rigorous?

If someone has a WGPA above 4.0, that indicates that they have taken weighted classes.
More weighted classes and As will keep bumping them above 4.0.

You’re new to this. Most rigorous is a term of art for college admissions.

How is most rigorous quantified?
For example, our high school offers 27 AP courses.
How many of those does my kid need to take to qualify for most rigorous?

I am always amazed by this. To me, rigor is less about number of honors or AP designation and much more about taking the most advanced core classes. Give me a kid who took foreign language all 4 years of high school (ending at highest level offered), math above AB Calc, calculus based physics plus AP Chem and Bio, advanced history and English classes. To me that is much more impressive than a kid who takes all AP classes but they are psychology, environmental science, statistics, etc. isn’t there even an AP seminar?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It does not matter. Schools re-calculate anyway.

Some schools take out all 9th grade courses.
Some take out non academic courses (drivers ed and PE)

Some colleges review kids together for a school as this way they do not need to spend the time familiarizing themselves on the schools profile etc.

I often read this. Truly curious, what colleges specifically recalculate GPA by these means or others. It seems to me admissions offices would be way too busy to actually do this for each student as there would need to be some human piece to the recalculation.

.

All selective colleges recalculate the GPAs. They hire people under contract to do this. It varies by college, but they all just start with the letter grade earned for all or some (core) classes and then add back in some form of weighting for some AP and IB classes. For colleges that get a ton of applications from your high school, the colleges often know the top 5 or 10% cut offs better than the high school guidance counselors do.

Weighted means nothing for college admissions process.

Of corse it does, they just use their own weighting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Using a weighted GPA doesn’t help across school districts or across schools. A 4.4 weighted GPA is about top 20% FPS but top 5/% Arlington Public Schools. At STA or NCS, a 3.7 is top 5%. It’s rank and rigor that matter. Not weighted GPA.

A 4.4W is NOT about the top 20% at our FCPS -- not sure where you're getting that from.

So what is the top 20%? Top 5%?

For our FCPS HS, 4.0W was top 20%. (just calculating the number of honor students mentioned at graduation/total # of students in 12th grade)

new here -- does this mean that 20% of the class is graduating with 4.0+? I cannot wrap my head around that.

4.0 WEIGHTED. Probably 3.7+

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Using a weighted GPA doesn’t help across school districts or across schools. A 4.4 weighted GPA is about top 20% FPS but top 5/% Arlington Public Schools. At STA or NCS, a 3.7 is top 5%. It’s rank and rigor that matter. Not weighted GPA.

A 4.4W is NOT about the top 20% at our FCPS -- not sure where you're getting that from.

So what is the top 20%? Top 5%?

For our FCPS HS, 4.0W was top 20%. (just calculating the number of honor students mentioned at graduation/total # of students in 12th grade)

new here -- does this mean that 20% of the class is graduating with 4.0+? I cannot wrap my head around that.

4.0 WEIGHTED. Probably 3.7+

Don't forget, some FCPS high schools have large contingents of overachieving UMC students with tiger parents. The emphasis among them on keeping up with/outdoing other students ("you're only taking 4 AP classes this year?") is unhealthy, IMO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean all these posts about my kid has a 4.4 GPA. Will they get into UVA? I mean please. It depends on where the 4.4 is in the class rank and whether the courseload is the most rigorous. There are dozens of school districts on DCUM and the W GPAs don’t translate.

What do you mean by courseload is most rigorous?

If someone has a WGPA above 4.0, that indicates that they have taken weighted classes.
More weighted classes and As will keep bumping them above 4.0.

You’re new to this. Most rigorous is a term of art for college admissions.

How is most rigorous quantified?
For example, our high school offers 27 AP courses.
How many of those does my kid need to take to qualify for most rigorous?

I am always amazed by this. To me, rigor is less about number of honors or AP designation and much more about taking the most advanced core classes. Give me a kid who took foreign language all 4 years of high school (ending at highest level offered), math above AB Calc, calculus based physics plus AP Chem and Bio, advanced history and English classes. To me that is much more impressive than a kid who takes all AP classes but they are psychology, environmental science, statistics, etc. isn’t there even an AP seminar?

That sounds like a rigorous course load did a STEM major but not necessarily a non-STEM major. Colleges don’t need or want to fill their ranks solely with kids who are good in math and science.

Also AP Seminar is a hard class. The pass rate is high but most kids avoid it due to it’s reputation and about half the kids who take the class don’t go on to AP research because the class was too much work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean all these posts about my kid has a 4.4 GPA. Will they get into UVA? I mean please. It depends on where the 4.4 is in the class rank and whether the courseload is the most rigorous. There are dozens of school districts on DCUM and the W GPAs don’t translate.

What do you mean by courseload is most rigorous?

If someone has a WGPA above 4.0, that indicates that they have taken weighted classes.
More weighted classes and As will keep bumping them above 4.0.

You’re new to this. Most rigorous is a term of art for college admissions.

How is most rigorous quantified?
For example, our high school offers 27 AP courses.
How many of those does my kid need to take to qualify for most rigorous?

I am always amazed by this. To me, rigor is less about number of honors or AP designation and much more about taking the most advanced core classes. Give me a kid who took foreign language all 4 years of high school (ending at highest level offered), math above AB Calc, calculus based physics plus AP Chem and Bio, advanced history and English classes. To me that is much more impressive than a kid who takes all AP classes but they are psychology, environmental science, statistics, etc. isn’t there even an AP seminar?

Selective colleges focus on rigor in the core but not quite how you're tilting it. Generally speaking selective colleges view as most rigorous: 4+ years of FL, AP/IB Calc AB or BC, AP in at least one core science course with a Lab component (so physics, biology OR chem), AP in a Language arts/Literature course, AP in a History course. If you're a STEM major, AP Calc BC (or IB equiv.) is important as is AP/IB Physics in an additional lab science and you can go for easier AP Lang/lit courses rather than highest and don't have to take additional AP history courses beyond APUSH. If you're social sciences/humanities majors adding in extra relevant AP courses to match your area of interest is valuable--so statistics for (in addition to calculus, not in lieu of), AP Gov, World History, European History, Economics for someone interested in Poli Sci, history, Government, international relations etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you provide examples of what you mean by rank and rigor..Better yet, if you can post a template on what information you'd like to see, that would be helpful.

This report put out by the Virginia Council of Higher Education provides statistics (not rigor) for schools for the entering class of each year. So this addresses GPA/ACT/SAT, etc. It does not address rigor, but you know UVA, etc., wants to see the most rigorous box checked. Here, for example, you can see the entering class of W&M last year at the 75th percentile had a 4.50 and UVA a 4.52. You can see every private and public virginia school here and get a very good sense of where your child might fit. https://research.schev.edu//enrollment/B10_FreshmenProfile.asp

Not helpful data. For APS, every kid w 4.4 and above gets into UVA.

This is definitely not true. My full-IB at W-L kid had a 4.53 (3.98 unweighted) and a 35 ACT, and didn't get into UVa.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean all these posts about my kid has a 4.4 GPA. Will they get into UVA? I mean please. It depends on where the 4.4 is in the class rank and whether the courseload is the most rigorous. There are dozens of school districts on DCUM and the W GPAs don’t translate.

What do you mean by courseload is most rigorous?

If someone has a WGPA above 4.0, that indicates that they have taken weighted classes.
More weighted classes and As will keep bumping them above 4.0.

You’re new to this. Most rigorous is a term of art for college admissions.

How is most rigorous quantified?
For example, our high school offers 27 AP courses.
How many of those does my kid need to take to qualify for most rigorous?

I am always amazed by this. To me, rigor is less about number of honors or AP designation and much more about taking the most advanced core classes. Give me a kid who took foreign language all 4 years of high school (ending at highest level offered), math above AB Calc, calculus based physics plus AP Chem and Bio, advanced history and English classes. To me that is much more impressive than a kid who takes all AP classes but they are psychology, environmental science, statistics, etc. isn’t there even an AP seminar?

That sounds like a rigorous course load did a STEM major but not necessarily a non-STEM major. Colleges don’t need or want to fill their ranks solely with kids who are good in math and science.

Also AP Seminar is a hard class. The pass rate is high but most kids avoid it due to it’s reputation and about half the kids who take the class don’t go on to AP research because the class was too much work.

My I steered my kid away from AP Bio and AP Chem after taking AP Calc AB (got a 5 on the AP exam).
DC is Humanities and it just wouldn't make sense to take a rigorous STEM track for the sake of appearances for college admissions.
DC is taking AP Research with a core group of kids who did well last year. I agree with the pp that AP Seminar was a hard class with lots of work. The assessment on AP Seminar includes a portfolio + exam.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you provide examples of what you mean by rank and rigor..Better yet, if you can post a template on what information you'd like to see, that would be helpful.

This report put out by the Virginia Council of Higher Education provides statistics (not rigor) for schools for the entering class of each year. So this addresses GPA/ACT/SAT, etc. It does not address rigor, but you know UVA, etc., wants to see the most rigorous box checked. Here, for example, you can see the entering class of W&M last year at the 75th percentile had a 4.50 and UVA a 4.52. You can see every private and public virginia school here and get a very good sense of where your child might fit. https://research.schev.edu//enrollment/B10_FreshmenProfile.asp

Not helpful data. For APS, every kid w 4.4 and above gets into UVA.

This is definitely not true. My full-IB at W-L kid had a 4.53 (3.98 unweighted) and a 35 ACT, and didn't get into UVa.

+1. I know a lot of 4.5+ students who didn't get in. UVA is looking for a) the high GPA; in b) most rigorous classes offered by the high school; with c) a 35 ACT; and d) great ECs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you provide examples of what you mean by rank and rigor..Better yet, if you can post a template on what information you'd like to see, that would be helpful.

This report put out by the Virginia Council of Higher Education provides statistics (not rigor) for schools for the entering class of each year. So this addresses GPA/ACT/SAT, etc. It does not address rigor, but you know UVA, etc., wants to see the most rigorous box checked. Here, for example, you can see the entering class of W&M last year at the 75th percentile had a 4.50 and UVA a 4.52. You can see every private and public virginia school here and get a very good sense of where your child might fit. https://research.schev.edu//enrollment/B10_FreshmenProfile.asp

Not helpful data. For APS, every kid w 4.4 and above gets into UVA.

This is definitely not true. My full-IB at W-L kid had a 4.53 (3.98 unweighted) and a 35 ACT, and didn't get into UVa.

+1. I know a lot of 4.5+ students who didn't get in. UVA is looking for a) the high GPA; in b) most rigorous classes offered by the high school; with c) a 35 ACT; and d) great ECs

This is not reflected in my school's Naviance. The average GPA for students last year was a 4.25. Posters should be careful making these proclamations.

And while I get Naviance isn't perfect, I think it is pretty on point for more selective colleges, because the kids who apply are highly likely to provide their acceptance data per my daughter's counselor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean all these posts about my kid has a 4.4 GPA. Will they get into UVA? I mean please. It depends on where the 4.4 is in the class rank and whether the courseload is the most rigorous. There are dozens of school districts on DCUM and the W GPAs don’t translate.

What do you mean by courseload is most rigorous?

If someone has a WGPA above 4.0, that indicates that they have taken weighted classes.
More weighted classes and As will keep bumping them above 4.0.

You’re new to this. Most rigorous is a term of art for college admissions.

How is most rigorous quantified?
For example, our high school offers 27 AP courses.
How many of those does my kid need to take to qualify for most rigorous?

I am always amazed by this. To me, rigor is less about number of honors or AP designation and much more about taking the most advanced core classes. Give me a kid who took foreign language all 4 years of high school (ending at highest level offered), math above AB Calc, calculus based physics plus AP Chem and Bio, advanced history and English classes. To me that is much more impressive than a kid who takes all AP classes but they are psychology, environmental science, statistics, etc. isn’t there even an AP seminar?

That sounds like a rigorous course load did a STEM major but not necessarily a non-STEM major. Colleges don’t need or want to fill their ranks solely with kids who are good in math and science.

Also AP Seminar is a hard class. The pass rate is high but most kids avoid it due to it’s reputation and about half the kids who take the class don’t go on to AP research because the class was too much work.

My I steered my kid away from AP Bio and AP Chem after taking AP Calc AB (got a 5 on the AP exam).
DC is Humanities and it just wouldn't make sense to take a rigorous STEM track for the sake of appearances for college admissions.
DC is taking AP Research with a core group of kids who did well last year. I agree with the pp that AP Seminar was a hard class with lots of work. The assessment on AP Seminar includes a portfolio + exam.

Yep. My daughter is at a school with about 1000 seniors. Last year 40 kids took Seminar and several didn't submit the portfolio or take the exam because it was overwhelming. This year 15 kids progressed to AP Research and 2 already dropped the class. The pass rates are high because the nature and reputation of the course is self-limiting.