<p>I am with the original poster. I’ve said it a lot on CC, but my kids’ school has had only four 4.0 students in the last 26 years. The average GPA is 3.35 and, in a class of 125, 22 are usually somewhere on the National Merit scale and 44 somewhere on the AP Scholar scale (arguably those numbers probably overlap). There is no weighting and there is no rank.</p>
<p>With private LAC like Midd, transcripts are looked at to see what classes are being taken (so if you’re getting A’s in basketweaving vs. AP, they see it right away). And hopefully most schools send some sort of profile of their school to explain their process. If your school does not weight it is not quite fair to rank. An A in Calc is NOT the same rigor as an A in AP Calc. Both are challenging, but while the kid in calc who gets an A deserves an A, it is not the same as the A in AP Calc. They might be working equally hard, but one IS harder.</p>
<p>Personally, I don’t advocate for weighted grades because I think that it just adds to the divisiveness in HS – “I am so much better than you because I have a 6.5 gpa (or however high these things go).” However, I do wonder if so many kids are getting A’s which is for exceptional work beyond the course requirements whether or not we’re truly challenging the masses.</p>