<p>I was wondering if I could drop two middle school class grades (which actually factor into my high school GPA because they are high school level course. Specifically they are two language courses (Spanish 1 and Spanish 2). I have taken Spanish 3 and 4 and have gotten A’s in them, but during middle school, I got B’s. The drop would increase my weighted GPA by about .1 and unweighted GPA also. The main reason I would want to do this is because this would boost me from the low top 10% of my school to the high top 10%. Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>At my school, the only way to get a class dropped from your transcript is to retake it during the school year or during summer school. So if youre a senior…no.</p>
<p>anonymous - my son’s school has a similar system. He currently has two middle school grades on his transcripts - Algebra 1 and Spanish 1. Just like you, they pull his GPA down. He can choose to drop them from his transcript at any time, but once he drops them, he can’t ever put them back on. He is planning to drop them, but will wait until the beginning of his senior year, just in case something really unexpected happens and he can’t finish the year - he may end up glad to have the credits. </p>
<p>Just (1) make sure you don’t need them (will you still have 3/4 years of foreign language without them?) and (2) talk to your guidance counselor and understand your school’s policy. If you don’t need them as credits, i think you should drop them to boost your GPA.</p>
<p>Better check with guidance to understand your school board policy on dropping credits earned in middle school. </p>
<p>In our school district, once the course/credit/grade has transferred to the high school, you cannot delete it. Parents and students are sent a letter (the summer prior to entering high school) saying this is the only time you may elect not to have the course sent to the high school. Once it goes, it is there permanently. </p>
<p>I believe there are laws about tampering with transcripts. Some of our courses were recently changed from being labeled GT to Honors – but GT courses taken previous years could not be changed on the transcript to be consistent with current naming.</p>
<p>Wow, thank you all for the replies so far! I have one more clarification question.</p>
<p>I have taken Spanish 1, 2, 3, and 4. The requirements for graduation is just one foreign language. Most colleges like to see 4. If I drop Spanish 1 and 2, which I had taken in middle school and write a note saying that I took Spanish 1 and 2 during middle school on my application, will colleges consider that as taking 4 foreign languages or would I be seen has having taken just 2 foreign languages (Spanish 3 and 4). Thanks!</p>
<p>This is fine and colleges will understand that you started before 9th grade and finished with 4 yrs of foreign language. Lots and lots of applicants start hs language in ms, so they will understand this without further explanation.</p>
<p>I agree with griffen. The point of the language requirements/recommendations (3-4 years of one foreign language) is to achieve that level, and not the number of years in high school of taking the language. There are students who come from middle school with anywhere from 1 to 4+ years of a language. There are students who come into high school from an immersion curriculum – and they are truly bi-lingual. Often incoming high school freshmen with previous study in a language take a language placement exam in the first week of high school, and some even take the AP language exam as freshmen.</p>
<p>So what matters is the highest level you achieve in high school. What’s unusual (compared with schools with which I’m familiar) is that your high school carries forward the language middle school grades into high school.</p>
<p>Check with your guidance counselor about odd state requirements. My kids have the same option but it is crazy how this works in our state. So…they both took 4 high school level classes in MS. Algebra I, Geography, 2 years Spanish native speakers (which credited them with Spanish 3 and 4). So…S gets 3Bs and 1 A. Look like great grades to me so why not transfer them to HS?..HA! with a 3.5 junior year he was below the top 20% of his graduating class because even a B is a bad grade due to rampant grade inflation in hs with AP/IB credits. So we think, like the OP, let’s drop those credits to raise the GPA in senior year. HA again! Although he took the state certificate exams in Algebra and Geography in 8th grade and passed them with an advanced standing, if he drops the algebra grade and credit he does NOT meet the state requirements for math (never mind the 5 in BC calculus)…if he drops the MS algebra class he will NOT GRADUATE from HS. Because there is no state exam for calculus and he skipped geometry he does not have 2 credits for math with both a grade and a state exam result (just one from Algebra II). The state exam result is not enough to prove he is competent in Algebra (?HMM?). I kid you not. Son kept the middle school grades and it may have made him ineligible for some merit aid when he needed above a 3.6 with the high sat scores.</p>
<p>So daughter with the same classes but 3 As and a C in Honors Algebra (teacher issues) wants to drop the Algebra grade. She makes a perfect score on the state exam in Algebra, A in advanced geometry and a perfect score on that state exam… but if she doesn’t transfer the C from MS the state says she will be short the required number of state exam courses. She can make this up by taking taking a different course with a state exam so she has enough classes with exam/credit. BUT if she does this, she can’t take the full IB courseload because the IB classes dont have state exams!?. So she can’t do a full IB if she wants to get a Virginia diploma and graduate from HS. </p>
<p>What should she do? Keep the C? But she has a goal of being a valedictorian and pulled all As in her first year of HS …Val is someone with a 4.0 or above (generally about 5-8% of the graduating class). To be a Val she has to get As in at least a number of AP/IB (with extra GPA point) classes to erase the effect on GPA from that C. For example, she has 5 academic As from HS and 3 from MS plus the 1 C. Her GPA is currently a 3.7 because of that C. Despite having all As through MS and HS with that one C she has a lot of work to get that 3.7 up to a 4.0. So for her, she has to choose between a full IB and tremendous pressure to get As or drop the C grade, do less than full IB and make it easier to get the valedictorian status and finish in the top of her class. I, personally, have advised the full IB and not worry about the Val status…ephemeral and not as rewarding as the IB…but it is amazing how problematic those MS credits/grades are.</p>
<p>I’ve been browsing this topic since I got a B in one of my MS/HS courses. I just calculated out because I thought “A single B in almost 50 different classes couldn’t affect my GPA too much…” Well, it still might not be that much, but for me it’s the difference between a 3.79 and 3.82 (unweighted). I really think that if I had that, I might be in the top 10% of my class since I’m only a few slots away now. However, I need the math credit from this class, so I can’t drop it. I just hope that the combo of hopefully straight A’s this year with other students’ senioritis will be enough to put me in the top 10%.</p>
<p>It’s really sad that middle score classes are affecting GPAs like this. There has to be a way for school systems to allow students to get HS credit for MS classes without a grade. Even pass/fail credit would be helpful probably.</p>
<p>Any college or university that will not admit you because you earned a B in a high school level course that you took in 8th grade is, quite frankly, run by people you don’t want to associate yourself with. Take your tuition dollars to an institution managed by people who are smart enough to distinguish middle school from high school.</p>
<p>For the most part, I don’t think this topic is about one B or even one C preventing anybody from going to college. It’s about how much that one B or one C affects their GPA and therefore class rank. For fineartsmajormom’s daughter, that B really could be what prevents her from being valedictorian. (Hopefully it won’t though!) As somebody in this topic mentioned, many schools have extremely “inflated” grades. I honestly think that if I didn’t have this B, I could be in the top 10% since I am so close right now.</p>