Avoiding unweighted electives to keep the GPA up

geek_mom
Thu, 07 May 2009 13:27:58 +0000

Skyhook, be careful what you wish for. “Course rigor” is good for admissions applications, but not so much for class rank. GPA manipulation will happen whether grades are weighted or not. geek_son’s school doesn’t weight – doesn’t offer “AP classes,” although the Calculus students do prep for and take the test. This has resulted in some interesting val/sal juxtapositions over the past few years, where the sal was the one taking a full load of challenging classes and a slate of ECs, and the val coasted along taking only the three required classes.

This year, the administration increased the requirements for val/sal consideration, not enough in my biased opinion but at least enough to be a potential game-changer. For consideration, a student has to have taken two of three designated academic electives (Calculus, Physics, and Latin 3). Because of that, there’s been some competition between the top two students. The two are friends and both are very accomplished, but couldn’t be more different in terms of work ethic and interest in learning. One had a hard time choosing which course not to take because the schedule wouldn’t permit them all; the other had been really looking forward to taking the three-course senior year and complains bitterly (in private) about the workload.

The former has had a much more enjoyable senior year and will certainly be better off in the long run, but is in a worse position for scholarships as a result… and occasionally feels a little sting when the latter is praised to the skies.