Anonymous
Post 07/13/2021 09:35     Subject: Dropping a middle school B+
Anonymous wrote:My child’s middle school grades cost her valedictorian. She had four As at an APS school. The would have been A-plus in LCPS, to which she moved before high school. Instead they were transferred as As because A-plus isn’t given out in APS. But because it is in LCPS, that was enough to make her ranked like 6th in her class. I did the math at graduation when they announced the valedictorian’s GPA and realized that had those middle school grades transferred as an A-plus, my kid would have had the distinction.

Not that it ultimately matters. No one remembers these things a decade from now. But middle school grades do affect HS GPA.


In Llc’s, they have a very generous grading scale. Hard to complain…
Anonymous
Post 07/13/2021 08:02     Subject: Dropping a middle school B+
My kid got a C in middle school foreign language and I would love to drop it but I think that option is not available. We are MCPS and kid is rising senior so missed the cut off to be able to drop MS high school level classes. Switched languages in HS and has gotten all As.
Anonymous
Post 07/13/2021 07:43     Subject: Dropping a middle school B+
My child’s middle school grades cost her valedictorian. She had four As at an APS school. The would have been A-plus in LCPS, to which she moved before high school. Instead they were transferred as As because A-plus isn’t given out in APS. But because it is in LCPS, that was enough to make her ranked like 6th in her class. I did the math at graduation when they announced the valedictorian’s GPA and realized that had those middle school grades transferred as an A-plus, my kid would have had the distinction.

Not that it ultimately matters. No one remembers these things a decade from now. But middle school grades do affect HS GPA.
Anonymous
Post 07/13/2021 07:12     Subject: Dropping a middle school B+
Anonymous wrote:Absolutely, drop French 1 and 2. Don't listen to the people posting that you are worrying. They shouldn't list middle school grades on a high school transcript.


Wrong. FCPS: I’ve seen my kid’s transcript and it has all grades on it.
Anonymous
Post 07/13/2021 06:55     Subject: Dropping a middle school B+
Anonymous wrote:Woah. My oldest is going into 7th grade. I wasn't even going to start worrying about anything until HS. Do colleges look at MS grades? And if so, why in the name of god would they do that???


How can this be true? Your oldest is not even in 7th grade yet and you’re in the college forum. Of course you’re starting to worry about things.
Anonymous
Post 07/12/2021 21:21     Subject: Re:Dropping a middle school B+
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:If they are on the high school transcript as high school classes and APS has said they count, where do colleges say they recalculate? All I’ve seen is weighted and unweighted. That makes sense because for example APS does not give any weight to honors/intensified classes, only AP gets an additional quality point. Which I believe is different from other districts (and where I grew up).


It's quite common for colleges to recalculate. You should check their admissions websites.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2018-11-30/what-students-should-know-about-the-gpa-scale


Yes, many recalculate GPA, but not all. And some keep HS grades that were earned in MS classes as long as they are the primary academic classes (math/science/English/history/foreign language.)

Also as stated earlier, many if not most schools now, given the large volume of applications, have an automated initial screening process that is simplistic and numerical. For example, NYU got 100k last year, BU got 75k applications, UVA 48k, Tulane 45k, GWU & Georgetown each 27k. Your kid's prospects are in the hands of an algorithm, at least at first, not an admissions officer.


Yeah, an algorithm that won’t count middle school grades.


I'm telling you, as someone who looked into this for my kid, that is not true across the board. Some schools do recalculate, but some do not or do not exclude MS grades.
Anonymous
Post 07/12/2021 21:07     Subject: Re:Dropping a middle school B+
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:If they are on the high school transcript as high school classes and APS has said they count, where do colleges say they recalculate? All I’ve seen is weighted and unweighted. That makes sense because for example APS does not give any weight to honors/intensified classes, only AP gets an additional quality point. Which I believe is different from other districts (and where I grew up).


It's quite common for colleges to recalculate. You should check their admissions websites.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2018-11-30/what-students-should-know-about-the-gpa-scale


Yes, many recalculate GPA, but not all. And some keep HS grades that were earned in MS classes as long as they are the primary academic classes (math/science/English/history/foreign language.)

Also as stated earlier, many if not most schools now, given the large volume of applications, have an automated initial screening process that is simplistic and numerical. For example, NYU got 100k last year, BU got 75k applications, UVA 48k, Tulane 45k, GWU & Georgetown each 27k. Your kid's prospects are in the hands of an algorithm, at least at first, not an admissions officer.


Yeah, an algorithm that won’t count middle school grades.
Anonymous
Post 07/12/2021 21:04     Subject: Re:Dropping a middle school B+
Anonymous wrote:If they are on the high school transcript as high school classes and APS has said they count, where do colleges say they recalculate? All I’ve seen is weighted and unweighted. That makes sense because for example APS does not give any weight to honors/intensified classes, only AP gets an additional quality point. Which I believe is different from other districts (and where I grew up).


APS is known for having one of the easiest grading scales in the country.
Because of grading scales like this, colleges recalculate using their own internal systems to evaluate candidates.
This is why when high schools send a transcript, they are required to also send the school’s grading scale.
Anonymous
Post 07/12/2021 20:08     Subject: Re:Dropping a middle school B+
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:If they are on the high school transcript as high school classes and APS has said they count, where do colleges say they recalculate? All I’ve seen is weighted and unweighted. That makes sense because for example APS does not give any weight to honors/intensified classes, only AP gets an additional quality point. Which I believe is different from other districts (and where I grew up).


It's quite common for colleges to recalculate. You should check their admissions websites.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2018-11-30/what-students-should-know-about-the-gpa-scale


Yes, many recalculate GPA, but not all. And some keep HS grades that were earned in MS classes as long as they are the primary academic classes (math/science/English/history/foreign language.)

Also as stated earlier, many if not most schools now, given the large volume of applications, have an automated initial screening process that is simplistic and numerical. For example, NYU got 100k last year, BU got 75k applications, UVA 48k, Tulane 45k, GWU & Georgetown each 27k. Your kid's prospects are in the hands of an algorithm, at least at first, not an admissions officer.
Anonymous
Post 07/12/2021 19:26     Subject: Re:Dropping a middle school B+
Anonymous wrote:If they are on the high school transcript as high school classes and APS has said they count, where do colleges say they recalculate? All I’ve seen is weighted and unweighted. That makes sense because for example APS does not give any weight to honors/intensified classes, only AP gets an additional quality point. Which I believe is different from other districts (and where I grew up).


It's quite common for colleges to recalculate. You should check their admissions websites.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2018-11-30/what-students-should-know-about-the-gpa-scale
Anonymous
Post 07/12/2021 19:17     Subject: Re:Dropping a middle school B+
If they are on the high school transcript as high school classes and APS has said they count, where do colleges say they recalculate? All I’ve seen is weighted and unweighted. That makes sense because for example APS does not give any weight to honors/intensified classes, only AP gets an additional quality point. Which I believe is different from other districts (and where I grew up).
Anonymous
Post 07/12/2021 18:17     Subject: Dropping a middle school B+
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Woah. My oldest is going into 7th grade. I wasn't even going to start worrying about anything until HS. Do colleges look at MS grades? And if so, why in the name of god would they do that???


HS level courses do count towards your HS GPA, even if taken in middle school. Foreign languages, math starting at Algebra, and World Geography (in APS). Plus some other electives like computer science I think.


maybe at your school but the colleges recalculate and some/most will ignore middle school
Anonymous
Post 07/12/2021 18:12     Subject: Re:Dropping a middle school B+
Anonymous wrote:OP here. Relax people! Not trying to send any message to my kid. I don’t care if they got a B. But the option is there to take it off and it may be worth it to do that depending on where they decide they want to go to college. That’s all. Thx.


I don't think it's worth it to manipulate GPA that way. It looks deceptive and you only gain a small bump. If a reviewer thinks you manipulated the GPA, they might wonder what else you manipulated in the application.
Anonymous
Post 07/12/2021 18:10     Subject: Dropping a middle school B+
Absolutely, drop French 1 and 2. Don't listen to the people posting that you are worrying. They shouldn't list middle school grades on a high school transcript.
Anonymous
Post 07/12/2021 18:10     Subject: Re:Dropping a middle school B+
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:To freak everyone out more, we dropped all high school classes taken in middle school and the grades were all As. Even too many As will bring the GPA down.


? Can you explain how GPA is affected by too many A's?


Nevermind, I understand now. You are referring to weighted GPA and the balance of AP/ honors classes va regular classes.