Transcription:
Welcome to another edition of the CollegeMapper VLOG. Right now we’re going to talk about weighted verses unweighted GPA. Some high schools will weight your GPA, which means that they will give you an extra point for an “A” if the class you’re taking is an AP or an IB class. So, instead of getting four points for the “A” you would get five; instead of getting three points for the “B” you would get four. Everything in that class just goes up one point value. So that is a weighted GPA. That means then if you take a certain number of these advanced classes and do well in them then your GPA could conceivably be over a 4.0.
Your high school is either going to weight or it’s not going to weight your GPA and my recommendation to you as a counselor is that you report on your applications what your high school authorizes and condones. So, if your high school weights GPA’s and that’s what it’s going to say on your transcript then your Common App and all of your college applications should match that. If your high school does not weight GPA it’s not going to be weighted on your transcript and you want your applications to match that.
There are really no standards in the United States for weighting and not weighing, some high schools weight some high schools don’t, so the colleges have to amongst themselves on the back side decide if they’re going to consider weighted or an unweighted GPA’s. So my recommendation to you is that you follow suit with your high school and report what your high school is going to report on your transcript. That’s it. Thanks for tuning in. Yay, college!