How do you know if it is unweighted or weighted? Also what is the difference between unweighted and weighted GPA and what do colleges focus more on? I take honors and AP classes so I don't know if that will make much of a difference.
2007-12-20 14:10:59 · 3 answers · asked by Fire 3 in Education & Reference ➔ Higher Education (University +)
Isn't it kind of unfair that colleges look at your unweighted GPA and if it's lower than someone else that does not take honors or AP classes does that affect your chances of getting into college?
2007-12-20 14:19:23 · update #1
Weighted GPA means that the number of credits for the classes are taken into account. Unweighted, of course, means that the number of credits are not taken into account.
For example, let's say you have a 4-credit class and you get a B (3) in that class; and you also have a 5-credit class and you get an A (4) in that class.
Your unweighted GPA for those classes would be simply the total of your numerical grades divided by the number of classes:
(3 + 4) / 2
3.50
Your weighted GPA for those classes would be the total of the numerical grade times the number of credits for the class, divided by the total number of credits:
((3 x 4cr) + (4 x 5cr)) / 9cr
(12 + 20) / 9
3.56
As you can see the weighted GPA is slightly higher than the unweighted GPA because the class in which you got the higher grade had more credits (and therefore carries more "weight") than the class in which you got the lower grade. Of course, if you had gotten the lower grade in the class with more credits, the weighted GPA would be slightly less than 3.5.
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2007-12-20 14:34:55 · answer #1 · answered by ? 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Many schools will weight AP classes (and sometimes even honors classes) by assigning a 4.0 to a B instead of an A, and a 5.0 to an A instead of a B and so on down. Colleges will ask for your unweighted GPA, so 4.0 is the highest you can get. Your GPA on your records should specify 'weighted' or 'unweighted'.
2007-12-20 22:15:12 · answer #2 · answered by eri 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It may seem unfair, but colleges will see what classes you take as well. They will understand that you challenged yourself even if you didn't receive high grades, but of course we're comparing 90 in regular and an 80 in AP or something like that.
2007-12-20 22:39:44 · answer #3 · answered by angie 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋