Senior Year GPA(s)

Applying to College
1

Hi all,

So recently, North Carolina instituted this statute that modified weighted GPAs. Previously, AP courses were weighted 6 points, honors courses were 5 points and on level classes were 4. Dual enrollment at our local university was considered 6 points for level 300 classes, 5 points for level 200, and 4 points for level 100. However, the new statute makes it so ALL dual enrolled courses are weighted 5 points. Everything on campus remains the same amount of weighted points, meaning AP courses are still 6 points.

Due to some scheduling malfunctions, I was unable to be dual enrolled my junior year so I basically took all of the on campus AP courses possible (I only have about 3 left to take out of about 14 available). My weighted GPA is above 5 points and I am valedictorian at the moment, but since I really only have university courses as my only option, these will weigh down my GPA.

I am taking both AP Human Geography and AP Chinese online this year, and I have AP Lit second semester. I also have AP Lang on my second semester schedule for now.

My mom thinks it’s a good idea for me to take a physics course with electricity through dual enrollment because my school’s course only completes the mechanics portion. However, I am taking 2 university courses this semester (along with those 2 year long onlines), so I do not feel like adding another course for first semester. However, I do not want to be taking 5 courses at once during my second semester, so I am thinking of dropping Lang, which she doesn’t want me to do. I also really want to take Statistical Programming through dual enrollment next semester.

Basically, do colleges care that much about your weighted midyear and second semester GPA? I imagine it would be kind of weird going from valedictorian to third/fourth in rank in the course of one semester.

(P.S. I know GPA isn’t an end-all, I just have this feeling it would look weird to colleges)

2

Being ranked 1 compared to 4 means practically nothing for college admissions. From the college board: “Due to the tremendous differences in curricula and grading standards at different high schools, many admission officers (especially at selective private colleges) have begun to discount the accuracy and importance of class rank as a factor in evaluating students.” https://professionals.collegeboard.com/guidance/applications/rank

What matters more is your unweighted gpa and overall course rigor; weighted gpa/rank is mostly used for judging grade inflation/deflation at your school. This does change though for some state schools with autoadmitt (I.e. UT system) and for some merit scholarships that require a minimum class rank.

3

@cslc76 Awesome, thank you!