Question about GPAs over 4.0

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At my kid's FCPS school plenty of kids take classes like PE pass/fail over the summer so that 4.0 won't pull their GPA down and then they start APs in 10th grade.

Do you really think this makes a difference? I’m sure the extra APs make them more competitive. But the pass/fail with no gpa impact doesn’t, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP. I asked this same question when my oldest was in 10th grade and I began looking at this board. I was so confused how students could have over a 4.0 average. Now I know - every distract calculates things differently. But the colleges recalculate and their websites will describe their methodology (and if you can’t find the info just call and ask - they seem to be fine about disclosing).

It also threw me off to realize how many AP kids in other districts are taking. But that matters only in the context of your kids’ own high school. So as long as they are taking a good portion of their schools most rigorous courses, don’t stress about your kiddo not having 15 APs.

I'm not sure how they are getting in 15 AP's as that's 4-5 a year and most schools don't offer that many. MCPS has kids take AP Gov for freshman year. So, they start out early, A few kids may take another AP class as an elective too. That would give you two.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD had over 15 APs and took them all during the (public) school year. At the time of college apps junior year, she had a 4.9. She did not do all 4 yrs of HS in VA for the record so before anyone comes at me with how or why she took so many, she started freshman year with APs at her previous HS.

Also GPAs are recalculated by the college reviewing. Every school has their unique way of reviewing GpAs.

Are you saying 15 APs by the end of her junior year, or at the time of graduation?

18 at graduation.

That’s amazing. Average of five classes freshman through junior year, none outside the school. Between PE, English and FL, I would have thought an average of five per year would be impossible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP. I asked this same question when my oldest was in 10th grade and I began looking at this board. I was so confused how students could have over a 4.0 average. Now I know - every distract calculates things differently. But the colleges recalculate and their websites will describe their methodology (and if you can’t find the info just call and ask - they seem to be fine about disclosing).

It also threw me off to realize how many AP kids in other districts are taking. But that matters only in the context of your kids’ own high school. So as long as they are taking a good portion of their schools most rigorous courses, don’t stress about your kiddo not having 15 APs.

I'm not sure how they are getting in 15 AP's as that's 4-5 a year and most schools don't offer that many. MCPS has kids take AP Gov for freshman year. So, they start out early, A few kids may take another AP class as an elective too. That would give you two.

Taking multiple AP sciences at the same time, multiple maths in the same year, …lots of opportunities during COVID.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, it's a bit shocking to see how differently each district applies weightings. Seems like there could be a standard for that......

We're in FCPS, so 0.5 bump for honors and 1.0 bump for AP/DE. Kid is a junior now. Had honors math classes in 7th/8th that counted for high school credit, several honors in 9th, 1 AP and a few honors in 10th. GPA at the end of 10th was 4.2. Has 4 AP/DE classes this year, so the GPA should go up. It would be way higher if those honors classes got a full 1.0 bump! Thankfully every college we've talked to so far (which is only a couple, he's just starting to think about college) says they look at grades and rigor, not a straight weighed GPA from the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Schools all recalculate the gpa….
Don’t worry about it

This

Schools don't have time to read applications, let alone plug all the kiddos grades in a calculator. Some (if not all) schools send rank in class or note that the kid is top 10% of the class, which is way better criteria than a GPA which is not apples to apples across all schools

Actually most high schools don’t rank anymore.

So essentially applying to college is just a lottery. How do colleges tell students apart when everyone has above a 4.0 and they are not ranked?

They use their eyes to look at the application and all the info on it.

[Anonymous]

The colleges know, they are not stupid. They may look the other way for an athlete or URM, but they know what kind of student you will be.

[Anonymous]

If you think large public colleges are recalculating gpas for each applicant, you are wrong. Some of the temp reviewers they higher probably couldn’t even do this. Only highly selective schools do this. Schools most likely look at unweighted gpa for mcps and fcpd and give preference to AP/IB/DE credits.

[Anonymous]

fcps

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Schools all recalculate the gpa….
Don’t worry about it

This and they also have the school info which explains how the particular school/district calculates GPA. Looking at Naviance or a similar program can help explain this - how many kids with your DC GPA from your DC's school got into a particular school. That's where these programs can help a little.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MoCo gives a 1 point bump for honors.
DCPS gives a .5 bump for honors and a 1 pt for AP

FCPS is .5 bump for honors, 1 pt for AP/IB

[Anonymous]

When the college sees that a student took 15 APs and shared that they were AP Scholars for 3 years and report out that they have 12 5's and 3 4's - they see a student who mastered the AP content and it matches the "A" on the transcript.
When the college sees 15 APs and no mention of AP scholar - they know that there was massive grade inflation. This is not rock science.

[Anonymous]

15 AP can not be common nationwide. Most schools limit enrollment to 11th and 12th graders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When the college sees that a student took 15 APs and shared that they were AP Scholars for 3 years and report out that they have 12 5's and 3 4's - they see a student who mastered the AP content and it matches the "A" on the transcript.
When the college sees 15 APs and no mention of AP scholar - they know that there was massive grade inflation. This is not rock science.

You don't need to "share" AP Scholar. You send the scores directly.

It's basic geology.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP. I asked this same question when my oldest was in 10th grade and I began looking at this board. I was so confused how students could have over a 4.0 average. Now I know - every distract calculates things differently. But the colleges recalculate and their websites will describe their methodology (and if you can’t find the info just call and ask - they seem to be fine about disclosing).

It also threw me off to realize how many AP kids in other districts are taking. But that matters only in the context of your kids’ own high school. So as long as they are taking a good portion of their schools most rigorous courses, don’t stress about your kiddo not having 15 APs.

I'm not sure how they are getting in 15 AP's as that's 4-5 a year and most schools don't offer that many. MCPS has kids take AP Gov for freshman year. So, they start out early, A few kids may take another AP class as an elective too. That would give you two.

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