<p>Don’t worry about the unweighting. Colleges often use unweighted GPA which puts the system more on an even keel across schools. However, the schools truly do look at the rigor of the curriculum when interpretting grades. They ask the GC to record how difficult a coursload the child took. More selective colleges indeed want to see that the student challenged herself with the most challenging classes. It is not like a 3.8 in an AP/Honors track looks worse than 4.0 in the easiest classes, don’t worry. Also, it sounds like your school has weighted grades and so your child has “benefitted” so to speak with regard to class rank. My kids did not have weighted grades and so kids in the easiest classes could be ranked higher than those in the most rigorous curriculum. So, I would not worry in your daughter’s case on this issue. </p>
<p>Also, if your D is a city girl, Ithaca is not like being in a city. I was just there two weeks ago and thought I would point that out. </p>
<p>Susan</p>