GPA used in Common data set and in freshman profile of colleges

Applying to College
1

Hello,
When I look at colleges, both the freshman profile and the common data set for the same college, How do I know if these GPA being refered here are weighted or unweighted ? is that college specific ? Example: purdue.edu freshmanprofile.php

The reason I am asking is that, there would be a huge difference if this refers to Weighted or UW GPA (if the student has taken a lot of College level or AP courses). And also the buckets where the student would fall would significantly change (using W vs UW). so I am little confused on how to interpret this data. thanks in advance for the help. I want to have this understanding so we can effectively narrow down college lists for my daughter. thanks

2

Yes, it’s college specific, and not all schools are transparent about what they use.

One of the “tells” though if a school is using weighted is if the reported GPA is above a 4.0.

Keep in mind that rigor will be assessed no matter how a school is reporting their GPA range. And that GPA averages could differ even within a university if students apply by major/college.

Purdue specifically uses UW: “For reporting purposes, we get our middle 50% GPA range by converting grades to an unweighted, 4.0 GPA”. Source: Freshman Class Profile - Undergraduate Admissions - Purdue University.

3

Purdue says UW although I find it hard to believe 25% had a 4.0. But they say unweighted so you go with it. Perhaps they do a + (.3 or .33).

Other schools, like UF that show a 4.4-4.6 - you know that’s weighted.

You just have to sort of figure each one by one.

4

UF does specify what weighting it uses, which may be (and probably is) different from what your high school uses.

Other colleges using weighted GPA may have different recalculations.

5

Yes all schools are different. Some show. Some don’t. That’s the point. But the question was how do you know if weighted or unweighted - research, logic and sometimes a guess.

6

In most cases, the weighted GPA from your high school will not be comparable.

1 Like
7

The only way to know whether a school calculates weighted or unweighted as well as how they calculate it (core only, etc) is to contact institutional reporting and ask.

8

This topic was automatically closed 180 days after the last reply. If you’d like to reply, please flag the thread for moderator attention.