Anonymous
07/21/2023 22:56
Subject: Highest weighted GPA (MCPS)?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Many schools do their own weighting. So don't bother with what MCPS says
Top 10% of class @MCPS is weighted
Too 5% Governor’s award @MCPS is unweighted.
There was no top 10% destination at my kids school
Anonymous
07/21/2023 22:36
Subject: Highest weighted GPA (MCPS)?
Anonymous wrote:Many schools do their own weighting. So don't bother with what MCPS says
Top 10% of class @MCPS is weighted
Too 5% Governor’s award @MCPS is unweighted.
Anonymous
07/21/2023 20:50
Subject: Highest weighted GPA (MCPS)?
MCPS only automatically removes the middle school grade now from gpa if it lowers the unweighted GPA. You’d have to request an A in middle school language or Algebra 1 not to be counted.
Anonymous
07/21/2023 18:03
Subject: Re:Highest weighted GPA (MCPS)?
Doesn’t matter if magnet or non-magnet. All honors, AP, and IB classes get a full point bump.
The only class/requirement that is not offered as honors is PE. So in theory, if a student takes the first two years of language in middle school (those are not honors) and then level three when gets to HS and takes an honors or AP art and all honors or AP electives and gets all As, I would imagine it would be just under a 5.0 by end of senior year. Very few people do this though and I’m not sure there will be much benefit over someone who starts a new language in HS or takes a few non honors electives.
My DC had two years of non honors FL in HS since started a new language and one non honors elective. Had all As and ended senior year I think with a weighted 4.8. Was in top 5% of graduating class.
The only class/requirement that is not offered as honors is PE. So in theory, if a student takes the first two years of language in middle school (those are not honors) and then level three when gets to HS and takes an honors or AP art and all honors or AP electives and gets all As, I would imagine it would be just under a 5.0 by end of senior year. Very few people do this though and I’m not sure there will be much benefit over someone who starts a new language in HS or takes a few non honors electives.
My DC had two years of non honors FL in HS since started a new language and one non honors elective. Had all As and ended senior year I think with a weighted 4.8. Was in top 5% of graduating class.
Anonymous
07/21/2023 16:42
Subject: Highest weighted GPA (MCPS)?
Many schools do their own weighting. So don't bother with what MCPS says
Anonymous
07/21/2023 15:56
Subject: Highest weighted GPA (MCPS)?
I don't thing the WGPA is used for much. My kid was in SMCS magnet so had the extra period of classes, but some of these were oddly not flagged as honors.
The required governors award for top 5% seemed to be based off unweighted GPA.
The required governors award for top 5% seemed to be based off unweighted GPA.
Anonymous
07/21/2023 14:41
Subject: Re:Highest weighted GPA (MCPS)?
Anonymous wrote:There's a 1 point weight for all honors/AP classes, and classes taken in middle school aren't included in the WGPA if they hurt the GPA. So if a kid took the first two language classes (e.g., Spanish 1 and 2, no honors options) in middle school, as well as Algebra 1 (no honors available) in middle school, then I believe the only class they would have to take in high school for which no weighted option exists would be 1 year of PE. There's a fine arts requirement, too, but at least in some high schools a student could audition into a higher level (weighted) ensemble for that.
Imagine:
-4 years of honors/AP/IB math
-4 years of honors/AP/IB English
-4 years of honors/AP/IB foreign language (starting with level 3, which is honors)
-4 years of honors/AP/IB social studies
-4 years of honors/AP/IB science
-1 of weighted music ensemble or other weighted fine arts
-1 year of unweighted PE
-1 year of honors (weighted) health
-1 year of honors/AP tech (e.g., AP Comp Sci Principles)
-fill in remaining options with honors/AP electives
I think that would end up with a WGPA of 4.96 for a regular 7 classes/year schedule if a student earned all A's (27 *5 + 1*4).
I also think it would be crazy to base class choices entirely on maximizing WGPA (I'm not saying the OP is doing that; just pointing out that I figured this out just from curiosity, not to use it for guiding my own child!).
OP here: thanks for the informative response. My question was about magnet vs non-magnet, not class choices. I'm going to try not to obsess about this!