If a school calculates A’s as 4.0’s and A+’s as 4.33’s, is the unweighted GPA described as xx/4.0 or xx/4.33? I would have assumed the latter, but I see postings stating things like 4.3/4.0 unweighted.
In your case it would be a 4.33 out of 4.0 - assuming all straight As.
But a college will adapt if they exclude plus or minus.
You should report the #s on your transcript - weighted and unweighted - and let the colleges adapt as they see fit.
Thank you - but did you mean assuming straight A+s?
It’s not a silly question. High schools and colleges all seem to have their own quirks about calculating and reporting (or not reporting) GPA.
Some schools publish exactly how they calculate GPA (eg UC schools and UGA). Most schools don’t specify their methodology as precisely.
Some suggest the most common calculation is
A is 4.0
B is 3.0
C is 2.0
Pluses and minuses don’t count.
They may be a common way to do it, but there is definitely variation at different schools.
Many also suggest counting only “core” or “academic” courses when calculating GPA but there is some variation with regard to those definitions. For example…for classes in visual and performing arts, religion, and even some history electives it’s not always obvious what “counts” as academic/core unless a school explicitly states their policy, which most don’t.
Sorry if that was more long winded than you were hoping for. To answer you main question directly, I’ve seen lots of people post their unweighted gpa above 4.0 and say it’s on a 4.0 scale.
1 Like
It would be easier and less confusing if there was a standard that everyone used. But there are so many different ways schools calculate GPAs. There are 10 different GPAs listed on my son’s transcript (he goes to school in the Los Angeles Unified District and all the ways that UCs and CSUs evaluate them are included as well as GPAs for athletic and financial eligibility).
My son was just signing up for a visit at Reed college and they asked for GPA. They had a drop down menu for what scale the school uses and 4.3 was one of them. I would think if it was an unweighted scale that could reach 4.3, that is the one you should choose.
1 Like
This is so important to understand. I have kids in charter (non-affiliated, within LAUSD), LAUSD, and private in Los Angeles. Also boarding school. Kids in all systems apply to UC. I know my policy at this point ykwim? Last month I was in a math meeting and one of the charter school teachers tells the parents one of the reasons they don’t have honors classes is that “colleges” don’t every count those classes towards GPA “so what is the point.” This is wrong on so many levels. Schools define GPA. Schools define coursework. And so do colleges. It was a particularly egregious statement because this is not LAUSD or UC policy.
I wonder if they have college outcomes - not where kids got in but how they did once there. Unless their curriculum was up to snuff, sounds like kids that would fall behind.
They don’t and wouldn’t. They are very opposed to confronting unflattering data. But a couple charter chains do for exactly this reason so they can tweak curriculum etc
Our HS uses a 4.33 system, and I would always try to mention that if I was stating my kid’s HS GPA.
But I think the confusion with the XX/YY way of communication is a 4.0 in YY signals an unweighted GPA, and a higher number signals a weighted GPA.
So to avoid confusion I would tend to say it in words, like, “Our HS uses a 4.33 (unweighted) system and my kid’s GPA is X.XX.”
3 Likes
My older kids attended a private high school where A+ = 4.33 unweighted. The college counseling office’s instructions for Common App were that the GPA scale was out of 4.0 (and then would go on to instruct students to report the weighted GPA).
The GPA scale drop down menu in Common App has whole number options 4 to 20, 100, and “none.”
1 Like
Our CA public follows the UC methodology of A is 4, B is 3, C is 2. They weight APs with 1 point. And if the UC system recognizes an honors class with a weighted point, they do too. (For example, honors advanced algebra, no point. Honors Pre Calc, point.)
My D22 had a few A-s which she always saw as 4.0 because of this calculation. Pretty sure a number of schools she applied to recalculated those as 3.7s, which would have brought down her GPA from a 3.94 unweighted.
The wild variation and lack of clarity makes it very hard to use GPA to decide if your kid is making good and realistic choices with reaches, targets, safeties. Not to mention the grade inflation in many high schools that clouds the conversation, too.
1 Like
Yes, sometimes a kid is clearly in their normal range (or better), sometimes clearly not, but sometimes it is frustratingly hard to predict if they will see you as in range or not.
In my example, I think the 4.33 would be the unweighted gpa if the kid has an A+ average. The weighted version of the 4.33 would be whatever additional bumps the kid got for any of those classes that were honors/AP.
Yes, personally if someone said they had like a 4.05/4.33, I would know that at least could be unweighted, since that is the scale we use in our HS.
But given what I have seen in conversations online, I think there is a risk some people would assume that is weighted because it is out of a number higher than 4.0.
And indeed, if someone told me they had something like a 4.5/5.0, I would not know if they meant weighted or unweighted, and I would probably guess weighted unless it was clarified.
So I was just suggesting you make it clear. Like, say, “We have a 4.33 scale and I have an unweighted 4.05.” Or if you like, you could try, “I have a 4.05/4.33 (UW),” but to me in cases like this it might be worth just using the words to avoid any confusion.
2 Likes
This topic was automatically closed 180 days after the last reply. If you’d like to reply, please flag the thread for moderator attention.