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Hello,
this might sound dumb, but how do I calculate my GPA, weighted or unweighted?

By Sarcasmgirl (Sarcasmgirl) on Friday, September 19, 2003 - 09:23 pm: Edit

gpa = grade point average

So that means you have to total up all the points that are assigned to your grades (A=4, B=3, C=2, D=1, F=1) and divide it by the total number of grades you have.

i.e. Your report card tells you that you have 3 As, 2 Bs, 1 C. So you add it up: 12+6+2=20 and then divide it by 6, which leaves you with a GPA of 3.33.

For the weighted grades, it's the same thing except instead of 4, A's are 5, and B's are 4 instead of 3, etc.

By Andrey1225 (Andrey1225) on Friday, September 19, 2003 - 10:19 pm: Edit

All schools are different.

My school for example adds .2 to your GPA for every honors class you've taken in the semester. so if youre overall GPA is 3.7 and you've taken 6 honors courses you'd have a 4.9. And we're a normal, run of the mill public high school in south orange county.

But, its not what your GPA is for most private schools, its what your rank is (because of the fact that all schools weight differently). Also, some schools (like the UCs) calculate your GPA themselves using their own weight system. So it's not a dumb question because there are so many different ways to weight.

I would ask your guidance counselor how your school weights grades. It's the most reliable source.

By Tailer426 (Tailer426) on Saturday, September 20, 2003 - 09:30 am: Edit

I would ask my guidance counselor if they would tell me. But my school for some reason won’t release our GPA or class rank. So I have no idea what my application will say. Also, isn’t there a way to incorporate the +'s and -'s? And is AP and honor courses counted the same? Thanks for your help.

By Andrey1225 (Andrey1225) on Saturday, September 20, 2003 - 11:46 am: Edit

For high school, + and -'s generally dont count. It's when you get to college that they start using + and -'s to find GPA.

If your school doesnt release class rank then you don't need to worry about it, they'll just look at your individual grades from your transcript and figure out what subjects you have excelled at and which you've been mediocre in. They'll be able to see your performance in honors and AP classes, so weighted GPA doesnt matter.

Also, I think the best indicator of your success in high school will just be your unweighted GPA and the strength of your courses. This will probably be what the admissions people will look at when they review your application. But don't get stressed out over it, weighting grades don't count for anything---it's even something a lot of colleges disregard since all schools do it differently.

(btw, sarcasmgirl's method for calculating weighted GPA is by far the most common.)