(This is long, so before I start this is about whether dual enrollment class grades count towards college GPA calculations for keeping scholarships)
Have to say that I’m pretty annoyed right now(to put it mildly). Our high school has a program called CAP (College accelerated program) where certain classes (mostly AP but also others) can count towards college credit, just by taking the class at the high school. Students taking these classes have to ‘enroll’ with our local community college and pay $150/class. At the end of each semester, the high school tells the community college what grade the student got in the class. Then, at the end of high school, they receive a transcript from the community college listing the corresponding college classes that they now have credit for.
It’s a fabulous way for kids to get credit towards college. My oldest son participated, and racked up about 45 transfer credits through the program. When he went to college, his college (Georgia Tech) listed these all as ‘transfer credits’, and as long as his grade was over a C, he got the credit. The actual grades from these classes do not appear on his GT transcript or count towards his college GPA.
Fast forward three years… my second son also participated in the program, and took four CAP classes. He’s going to WVU. To my horror, we have discovered that these ‘transfer’ grades actually do count towards his college GPA at WVU. So the C he got in high school Spanish II CAP class is going in as a 2.0 on his college transcript!! And even worse - he worked his tail off to get a 90 in Calculus this year (after we figured out this fact) so that he would get a 4.0 for that class, but I just received the transcript from the community college, and they have his grade for Calculus as a B+ (3.5)!! How can that be? In what world is a 90 a B+?? He has to maintain a certain GPA at WVU in order to keep his scholarship, which without he will not be able to attend, so this is a VERY big deal.
So, my question is - is it common, or uncommon, for colleges to use transfer/dual enrollment credit GPAs towards their college GPA, and also in the calculation towards GPA required to keep a scholarship? I just can’t believe I didn’t know this years ago… I feel terrible.
It is uncommon for colleges to use grades from transfer credit courses at a different college in its own GPA calculations, but your story suggests that some colleges do it, at least in some circumstances. Seems that WVU says that it transfers grades at https://registrar.wvu.edu/transfer/faqs#QA2
But note that for the purposes of applying to graduate and professional schools (e.g. medical and law schools), all college courses and grades (including high school dual enrollment) must be reported and will be considered.
Just going to mention that this used to be common. I think changing the cut off to a 90 for an A has coincided with a general trend towards grade inflation. When I was in high school and college, it was most common for a 93 to be the cutoff for an A. Then 93-90 was in the B+/B range.
Can only speak to my state of California…Dual credit grades are used in calculating GPA for admission purposes, but once you matriculate, you only get the credits and the grades are NOT part of you college GPA at that university (although they will go into college GPA if you apply for grad school, med school, law school, etc.). So seems UNcommon to me.
Thanks for your replies! It does seem like this is very uncommon, but I guess the up side is that if your GPA at WVU is low, you can take classes at a community college to give it a boost!
In looking more into our high school’s CAP policies, I found this We report letter not numerical grades to XX (community college). The XX transcript will indicate letter grades (not a plus/minus system)
If this is the case, an A should have been reported for this class since at our high school, a 90 is an A. I’m trying to get in touch with both the CC and the high school to find out what happened. It should have been reported as an A on the CC transcript.
I also feel that high school students and their parents should be told that these high school grades will follow them, possibly to their college’s GPA calculation, and definitely to graduate school applications (this is something I did not know!!). Our high school literally never mentions that. Do other schools that promote dual-enrollment make this clear? It’s a lot for a high school freshman to consider…