GPA on a 4.0 scale

[Anonymous]

I’m looking at different school websites explaining the accepted freshman student profile and they all mention the average gpa is ______ on a 4.0 scale. What exactly does that mean? Is that weighted or unweighted? Or does it mean something else?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m looking at different school websites explaining the accepted freshman student profile and they all mention the average gpa is ______ on a 4.0 scale. What exactly does that mean? Is that weighted or unweighted? Or does it mean something else?

it means unweighted - that 4.0 is the top of the scale

[Anonymous]

So why take honors and AP classes then? They give you a grade boost but that grade boost doesn’t matter if PP is correct.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So why take honors and AP classes then? They give you a grade boost but that grade boost doesn’t matter if PP is correct. [/quote]


It does matter if your high school offers honors and AP classes. For example, the 75th percentile GPA for last year's entering class was a 4.49. The admissions officers want to see that your student took the most rigorous courses vis-a-vis his or her classmates. IF your school is one of the few privates in DC that have dropped AP courses, then it doesn't matter, but the counselor will still be asked if your student took he most rigorous courses offered by your high school.

[Anonymous]

Wouldn’t that describe only a small handful of students though?

[Anonymous]

My kid’s high school does gpa on a 100% scale and doesn’t do letter grades, so it is very confusing trying to figure out what colleges to apply to. He’s just looking at avg sat and percent of kids in top 10%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So why take honors and AP classes then? They give you a grade boost but that grade boost doesn’t matter if PP is correct.

To learn?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So why take honors and AP classes then? They give you a grade boost but that grade boost doesn’t matter if PP is correct.

To learn?

Because schools look at gpa and also actual course load.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wouldn’t that describe only a small handful of students though?

At schools close in to the district, 25% or more are graduating as valedictorians. Yup.

[Anonymous]

Our school does this, which means the kids with the highest GPA (valedictorians) often are mostly kids who don't take honors/AP classes or only take one or two. Class rank is based on unweighted GPA.

However, that does not mean colleges don't know this because they also put a second weighted GPA on your transcript. And some colleges (including our state schools) require you to recalculate using their weighting system if you are in state.

[Anonymous]

PP here. The kids who got into HYP or similar in the last couple years--none were valedictorians.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wouldn’t that describe only a small handful of students though?

At schools close in to the district, 25% or more are graduating as valedictorians. Yup.

That would never happen if they used 100 point scale.

[Anonymous]

OP here. It isn’t very confusing. Prep Scholar is a website that gives average GPAs and test scores for each college. They are obviously using weighted grades since some schools like Harvard and MIT are above a 4.0. At my kid’s Catholic HS, only a small handful of students (maybe 15 or fewer) have taken the most rigorous course load. Students aren’t allowed to just pick whatever they want. To get to the highest math class, a student would have to test out of algebra 1 and 2 as well as geometry to be able to start 9th grade in precalculus. Last year, two students did that. There is only one AP class for freshman and one for sophomores and you can only take them by invitation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. It isn’t very confusing. Prep Scholar is a website that gives average GPAs and test scores for each college. They are obviously using weighted grades since some schools like Harvard and MIT are above a 4.0. At my kid’s Catholic HS, only a small handful of students (maybe 15 or fewer) have taken the most rigorous course load. Students aren’t allowed to just pick whatever they want. To get to the highest math class, a student would have to test out of algebra 1 and 2 as well as geometry to be able to start 9th grade in precalculus. Last year, two students did that. There is only one AP class for freshman and one for sophomores and you can only take them by invitation.

The (unless you're an athlete or other special case) population with a legitimate change of getting into "schools like Harvard and MIT" are going to come out of those 15 kids though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. It isn’t very confusing. Prep Scholar is a website that gives average GPAs and test scores for each college. They are obviously using weighted grades since some schools like Harvard and MIT are above a 4.0. At my kid’s Catholic HS, only a small handful of students (maybe 15 or fewer) have taken the most rigorous course load. Students aren’t allowed to just pick whatever they want. To get to the highest math class, a student would have to test out of algebra 1 and 2 as well as geometry to be able to start 9th grade in precalculus. Last year, two students did that. There is only one AP class for freshman and one for sophomores and you can only take them by invitation.

If you aren't among the small handful of most motivated math students willing to jump through those hoops at a Catholic High School, you probably aren't a fit for MIT.