I have a sophmore and have been thinking about this a lot. Our reality is that we can't afford to apply ED and the T10 schools are often just a lottery. I'm not going to direct his HS classes based on the low probability of being admitted to a T10.

We picked colleges that were the right fit for DS. UMD would be nice but it's too big for DS so even if he was admitted, he wouldn't attend--so why bother applying. UMBC or Towson would be a better fit. Luckily for us, a WGPA of 4.7 is good enough for those schools.

DS is my 4th to go to college. What I've learned is that we want our kids to have options and the more rigorous curriculum, higher GPA, and leadership roles provides the most options. But just because schools become options, doesn't mean it's the right place for them.

Anonymous wrote:Please don't contribute to (or fall prey to) this type of arms race -- it's toxic, as the PP said.

Colleges will recalculate GPAs based on core/academic classes, so having an A in a non-weighted PE class shouldn't matter for admissions. MCPS doesn't rank students, so trying to get ahead of other students like this isn't a big factor to consider.

What does matter is taking rigorous classes in core academic areas and doing well, so concentrate on helping your child choose the best classes for them in those areas. If a non-weighted art or PE class appeals to them, or is a good way to balance an otherwise rigorous schedule and help with the transition to high school, it can be a good choice.

OP, read this post like 10 times and take it to heart.
No one is getting in or not getting into college because they took PE in 9th grade.

Anonymous wrote:Please don't contribute to (or fall prey to) this type of arms race -- it's toxic, as the PP said.

Colleges will recalculate GPAs based on core/academic classes, so having an A in a non-weighted PE class shouldn't matter for admissions. MCPS doesn't rank students, so trying to get ahead of other students like this isn't a big factor to consider.

What does matter is taking rigorous classes in core academic areas and doing well, so concentrate on helping your child choose the best classes for them in those areas. If a non-weighted art or PE class appeals to them, or is a good way to balance an otherwise rigorous schedule and help with the transition to high school, it can be a good choice.

+1
Do not contribute to the toxicity. It's not going to help anyway - no one actually thinks the MCPS weighted GPA is meaningful, when you have eveyrone taking all honors, including honors health.

Anonymous wrote:Wait, there are honors and non-honors electives? So if a kid picks electives they're passionate about and they don't happen to be honors, while other kids are taking honors electives, that would bring down their GPA like 0.2-0.3 right off the bat, right? And aren't schools like UMCP really focused on the top GPA kids for acceptance? Gosh, this sucks.

Yes it depends on the school.