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My weighted GPA is fine (like 4.418 or something), but I got a few B's last year and now my unweighted is 3.917. I could take summer school for physical education and bring up my unweighted to around 3.927, but it would bring down my unweighted and my class rank. So, do you think that it's worth it to take summer school? I mean, it'd only bring my unweighted up by 0.01, and it'd bring down my weighted to like 4.4 and class rank to I don't even know, probably like 15/375 (blast my extremely competitive class). Plus, if I don't take it this summer, I can always not take AP Spanish or Multivariable Calculus and just self-study those. (I know those two classes will be impressive to colleges if I had them instead of PE, but PE is required, it has to be somewhere, like two kids take it during the summer... and I know the rest of my schedule will impress them enough, I guess.) Furthermore, I can always take PE second semester senior year when I've already gotten into college. Plus, is there even a huge difference between a 3.917 and 3.927 to colleges? Given, that is, that I've taken the hardest classes in all subjects, and I only got B's in AP Calculus AB and BC.

Sorry this is so verbose; I just felt the need to clarify everything. Thanks!

By Curtisny (Curtisny) on Sunday, June 06, 2004 - 06:28 pm: Edit

"Plus, is there even a huge difference between a 3.917 and 3.927 to colleges?"

You're pathetic.

By Ohio_Mom (Ohio_Mom) on Sunday, June 06, 2004 - 06:38 pm: Edit

I think you should set up your schedule so that you are most likely to do your best senior year, and retain your top 5% rank - which is the important factor. Remember, with the plethora grading systems colleges may well recalculate your grades anyway.

The only way the .01 GPA could conceivable matter is if a college is directly comparing you and another nearly identical candidate from your school.

Try to put your energy and enthusiasm into your essays and applications! Best wishes to you - and try to find enjoyment in your senior year.

By Jamimom (Jamimom) on Sunday, June 06, 2004 - 06:51 pm: Edit

You have a lot of stuff you are covering in your post. In direct answer to your question, that miniscule difference in gpa is NOT likely to make a difference in admissions. Your class rank is a figure that is used in evaluating your academic standing along with the difficulty of your curriculum. With the many different grading systems out there, most schools do a quick recalc of the gpa anyways. Ohio mom is right on with her advice. I also recommend that you find some time on your ECs and develope your interests further in them. Fixating on the .01 GPA is not something selective colleges like to see and is not going to develope you into a healthy minded young adult in any case.

By Girlx (Girlx) on Sunday, June 06, 2004 - 11:52 pm: Edit

Well I'd just like to say that I'm not focusing on that 0.01; I was wondering if it would benefit me to take summer school. I was not sure just because there are so FEW points to be obtained (just a scale of 4.0) that I really did not know if it mattered or not and if in fact that fraction of a point would benefit me or not. I've decided not to do summer school though, but I really do thank you Ohio Mom and Jamimom for your helpful advice. As for Curtisny, well, that was really pointless. I think it is probably wise to have a bit of paranoia when it comes to colleges because they're so unpredictable--there might be some college I want to go to that DOES really look at those few numbers, and if you read my post, you would know it's not really about my GPA anyway, it was about how I thought summer school would affect me. CONGRATULATIONS on wasting your time.

By Jamimom (Jamimom) on Monday, June 07, 2004 - 12:01 am: Edit

Girlx, it looks like you are pretty solid academically. You are certainly taking some tough courses. What are you going to do this summer?

By Girlx (Girlx) on Tuesday, June 08, 2004 - 03:28 pm: Edit

Here are my summer plans :

-I'm going to Cornell for a week in late July for a Biological Sciences Exploration program... I can't wait!
-I'm also looking for a job (I've had one before, but I need one with fairer hours and higher pay than bare minumum wage). I plan to hold this job all through senior year because I want to start weaning myself financially from my parents. I already sort of have last semester when I used old pay/Christmas and birthday money to pay for everything myself, and I want to continue that.
-I also really want to finish a book I've been writing since January 2001, now that I have the time.
-I'm going to do college applications once they are released in like July; I already have a few. I'll do scholarships too.
-I have to work on a lot of clubs this summer, like I'm Features Editor again next year for newspaper and I'm collecting various design ideas and whatnot. I have to work on Magnet Advisory Board and Leadership Club too, which is mostly volunteer things that I need to organize over the summer.

I was also going to do summer school, but financially it's just difficult and I've found not entirely worth it. I am sure that my summer is packed anyway with worthwhile activities, so I'm not worrying about it!