Weighted or Unweighted GPA?
How do colleges calculate GPA in the admissions process? Some students take courses that “weigh” more than others, which can boost their GPA and their class rank. But how do colleges treat these different weights when they read your application?
Most colleges will consider both your weighted and unweighted GPA, and most high schools will report both to the colleges to which you are applying.
Colleges want the weighted GPA to reflect your class rank, as well as the relative rigor of your high school course load. But they will not use this weighted GPA in comparing you with other applicants.
Most colleges will use the unweighted GPA as the best reflection of your high school performance. As they say, “an A is an A.” A B in an Advanced Placement course does not mean that you somehow really got an A in that course…you still did B work, according to your teacher. So while the weighted GPA will reflect the relative rigor of your high school coursework, the unweighted GPA reflects your actual performance in those courses.
So don’t be lulled into complacency when you get a “B” on that AP history test by telling yourself that B work equals an A in a less rigorous course. The fact is that colleges will pay closer attention to your unweighted GPA than to an average that is artificially inflated.
Furthermore, many colleges today are “stripping” GPAs of any fluff courses, such as gym, art, music, business, or other courses not considered to be sufficiently academic in nature. Padding your GPA, therefore, is not really possible by getting a straight-A average in chapel or woodworking or glee club. Colleges want to know how well you do in your academic core subjects: English, math, science, social studies, and foreign language.
Bottom line: your GPA matters.
PS: You might want to look at my post on how to calculate your “real” GPA.
Mark Montgomery
Montgomery Educational Consulting
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About the Author
Mark Montgomery
As a former professor, administrator, and high school teacher, Mark has the knowledge and skills to counsel students as they make the transition from high school to college.
440 Responses to “Weighted or Unweighted GPA?”
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Ooh whoops, that doesnt make much sense, haha. My weighted gpa is a 3.82
Hi, Raj,
I’m not great at prognosticating the chances of particular students with whom I have not met and am not intimately familiar with their academic record. That said, your numbers look pretty good, thought I’d say that the ACT score now is not as high as you’d like it to be. But you’re working on that, so good for you!
With regard to first semester of your senior year, your grades will definitely count, especially if you are applying regular decision. So keep up the good work!
Best of luck!
Hi, Nick.
Yes, your GPA is an important aspect of the college recruiting process. So the better the GPA, the more opportunities you will have. To improve the problem? Study harder, get help from teachers when you need it, and kick some butt next year. You are the master of your own fate, so get to work!
Good luck.
Jay,
Take the AP classes. You will be judged on the rigor of your curriculum, especially at the most selective schools. If you don’t challenge yourself, then where will you be? Take the risk, commit yourself to hard work, and eventually you will be rewarded.
Best of luck.
Hi Mr, Montgomery,
I am a Junior in highchool going into my senior year with a 3.1 weighted gpa and a 2.8 unweighted gpa. My freshman year I was bombarded with honors classes and didn’t balance them well, which led me to getting a couple C’s and D’s. However, I continued to take honors in English as well as Chem. and other subjects to try to rise my gpa. I signed up for 1 AP course for next year. I’m very concerned about getting accepted into colleges, because I feel that my unweighted gpa is rather low. I’m a dancer and I’m on my school’s team and I’m also involved in other clubs, which i’m hoping will help me. Do you have any advice or suggestions?
Thanks
hey im going into my junior year next year and i got my report card and my unweighted GPA is 3.68 and my weighted is 3.98. Thats with all honors classes except chemistry. Next year im taking Physics honors, college algebra honors, spanish 3, ap US history, and English 3 honors. What do you think my weighted and unweighted GPA would be next year if i got all A’s to A+’s? I would also like to know if theres anything i can do to increase my gpa even more!? Another question; what are the main things that colleges look for?(Yale, Columbia, MIT, etc) and what are some things i can do to stand out from the crowd to be a possible choice to one of these Colleges? thanks
Hi Mr. Montgomery,
I am applying to RISD, a prestigious art and design school. I was wondering if you knew about its program, and if only certain schools/universities accept/take weighted grades into consideration, or if it’s just based on an unweighted grade report. Are there selective colleges like that, or do they just disregard weighted grades in its entirety?
Thanks!
Hi, Joanna. I do know RISD: I was there just last week! You’ll have to look closely at its policies with regard to weighted and unweighted GPA, but you can be sure that they’ll look at both. The two measures give them somewhat different information about your academic performance. So both are important at nearly every college.
Best of luck!
Hi, Dylan,
I can’t really calculate your GPA without having all the numbers. And if you plot out the grades for all your courses and line them up with numerical values, I’ll bet you can do the calculation yourself. As for the main things colleges like Yale and MIT want? Well, that’s tough to summarize. You might want to take a longer look around my website. But I can tell you this: they want to see you mastering something. They want to see that you are simply the best–among all kids around the country (and around the world)–at some thing. It doesn’t really matter so much what that one thing is. But they want to see excellence. Depth. Skill. Mastery. They don’t want you to flit around and be the president of this club and the captain of that school team. They want to see that you are truly excellent. You have to be solid academically just to be considered. But to get that coveted offer of admission, you have to excel at something. So, what is it that YOU excel at? What can you do to pursue excellence in one area or another? Think about it, and let me know if I can help.
Good luck.
Hi, Rachel,
It sounds like you are challenging yourself, which is great. I respect that. Of course, the Ds and Cs on the report card are not so great, but perhaps next year will be an improvement–and colleges like to see an upward trend in your grades. While I can’t offer you specific advice, you also want to consider whether pushing yourself so hard is really counterproductive in some ways. Everything depends, however, on which colleges you are shooting for, and whether you need financial aid. The dancing is a positive attribute, of course, but is your participation interfering with your academic success? I can really only raise more questions here, Rachel. I can’t give you any easy answers. I’d have to look at your transcript, talk to you about dance, and get a much better sense of your educational trajectory before I could offer you particular advice. But I’m glad you’re asking the questions. Let me know if you think my colleagues and I can help you figure this out…we work with kids from all over the country!
Good luck.
Ellie,
To disclose or not to disclose is a tough questions, and the answer is different for each kid. Heather Creech is our consultant working with kids with LD, and she has written several posts on the topic : http://greatcollegeadvice.com/ld-to-disclose-or-not-to-disclose-that-is-the-question/ . If your son chooses to disclose, I would not do it in the essay. I would do it elsewhere on the application. We help kids make this decision all the time. Let me know if you’d like to have Heather assist your son with this decision–and then how to go about making the disclosure. As I say, the strategy is different in each case. Hope this is helpful!
Hi Hana. First of all, stop doing things just to get in to top colleges. Do things you are good at, and deepen your skills in the ones you care most about. Go for excellence, for mastery. Do not try to fill your day with extracurricular activities that really don’t make much of an impact. You will likely have the academic credentials to be taken seriously at top colleges. But the difference between a 3.8 and a 3.9 will determine your acceptance or rejection. The credentials will get you a full and fair reading. But acceptance will depend on those other factors (your excellence, your mastery, your interestingness) that are difficult for me to gauge without knowing you and without spending some time advising you. You are doing most things right. Now take time to decide what it is you really want to master. And go after it.
Best of luck.
Mark,
The 37th best high school, eh? Perhaps you buy into the idea of rankings. And by what measure are your school’s CS courses “the best in the nation”?
But, I digress…
One D won’t kill you if you learned from the mistake. Your acceptance or rejection will depend on many other factors. Highly selective schools are looking for excellence. But be aware that the excellence of your school is not necessarily transitive: just because you attend a good school does not make you an especially brilliant student. Colleges will be examining YOUR accomplishments, your mastery of certain material and activities, your achievements.
So the answer to your question is this: your focus for the next few years should be on developing mastery in something that interest you, and to master that something beyond all expectation.
If you need help in deciding what that something might be, perhaps my colleagues and I can help. Best of luck!
Dear Anonymous,
I hate to sound a little goofy, but the best thing for the hard working person to do is take hard courses at a good school and get excellent grades. Would it work for a hard working person to go to a bad school, take hard courses and get good grades? Yes. Would it work for a hard working person to take easy classes and get bad grades? No. So take advantage of what your school has to offer, challenge yourself, and do well. Good luck!
Hi, Ali. Most colleges would prefer perfect grades throughout high school. But the next best thing would be the upward trend. All colleges have similar views on this. But the more selective, the more of your peers applying will have perfect grades. Extracurricular activities will help, but the most selective schools are looking for those special talents to help you stand out. You will have many options, I’m sure. Just keep working hard and get the best grades possible while taking the most challenging curriculum you can handle.
Good luck.
Hi, Ali.
Don’t worry so much about the calculations. Just work on getting good grades. It’s too early to be fretting so much! Step up the rigor, do your best, and the numbers will take care of themselves.
Mark
Hello, Junior. I think it might be useful to approach your college counselor at school. He or she will be better able to assess your chances (assuming you live in California). If you need more specific assistance, Juliet Giglio is our expert on the California system.. Good luck!
Hi, Jenny,
By now you should have received your GPA. How did it go? All is not lost if you are not in the top 5% of your class. In fact, many people in the top 5% of their class are rejected from top universities, anyway. I want you to focus less on statistics and more on fit: where will you be happiest, get the best education, and at a price you and your family can afford? You are welcome to aspire. But be careful: what do you aspire to? A great education? A happy and successful future? Or a particular brand name? I hope this is helpful. Best of luck.
That’s an A, Joseph.
Hi, Joseph. Sounds like you’re a very good student. A few comments.
1. Entry to medical school depends more on how you perform in college than which school you attend. And just because a university has a medical school (Johns Hopkins) does not mean that it will be easier for you to do research or get accepted by medical schools or graduate programs. Plenty of successful PhDs come out of liberal arts colleges you’ve never heard of.
2. You are on track, academically. A B here and there will not kill you.
3. Colleges will care very much about whether you pass an AP exam. Take the course, get an A, and fail the exam? Not very impressive….
4. The super selective colleges will look far beyond your grades and test scores. You must have them to “qualify” for admission, of course. But they will be looking for your achievements and accomplishments beyond the classroom, too. So don’t neglect those pursuits entirely.
Hope this helps, Joseph. Good luck!
Hi, Marty.
There is no easy answer to this question. “Better” is a judgment that depends on many other factors. I do think that joint enrollment is a great option for many kids, and not enough take advantage of it. Some of the answer may depend on the policies of the colleges he is considering: what scores on AP tests are required to earn college credit at the receiving institution? And will the PSEO courses automatically transfer in for credit? Also, your family’s financial situation will also play a role in answering this question. Hope this helps a little bit.
Hi Mr. Montgomery,
I’m going into my senior year in highschool and I’m really concerned about my likelyhood on getting into a good University. Until this year I had a 3.87 unweighted at the lowest and my weighted was up around a 4.2, but this year I did poorly and received my first D in Spanish and a couple of C’s. My unweighted is now a 3.3 and my weighted is a 4.0. I’m retaking the Spanish class that I got a D in hopes that it will bring my unweighted gpa up to atleast a 3.5 unweighted. I’m taking my sat’s and act’s in September and October and I’ve always done very well on standardized tests. Do you think there’s still a chance of me getting into either FSU or UCF, honestly? Thanks so much
Hi,
So the thing is, I don’t know what happened to me in my junior year. In the begining I was pretty bad, of course in the middle when I realized this I immediately jumped and began working. Unforturenately my efforts were not as complete as I thought because I was unable to do a decent job and bring everything up. My weighted GPA is a 3.7 and unweighted is a 2.6. Any advice? Oh and I was in the IB program. Again, my efforts were not enough so there is no doubt that I will not be welcome back.
Hello! It’s hard for me to know how to best help you, but I can feel your disappointment. I’d need know much more about the specifics of your plight, and then be able to diagnose the issues and recommend a course of action. Let me know if you think I can be helpful in mapping things out for your more clearly.
All the best!
hey i am going into my junior year next year and my first two years i had a gpa that was about 3.6 unweighted and 4.2 weighted. i am set to take two AP classes next year but i was scared to take more from fear of failure (B- or C+). i have never received a grade lower than a B but also get many A-’s. i am looking to get into a college that is anywhere from the mid to upper echelon, so schools such as the more prestigious UC’s (berkeley, LA, Irvine) or any other schools on the west coast. Can you please give me some suggestions on where i should apply and may have a good chance of being accepted. i would also like to know if i should drop some of my honors classes in hopes of trying to raise y unweighted gpa or if i should stick with my schedule right now (2 honors courses and 2 AP courses out of 6 classes)
Hi,
I got A in all subjects in my freshmen year but in regulars. My rank was about 123 in the high school. Can I get top 10% if I get all A’s in my comming years (3 Years)
in all Ap classes ? And what do we have do to go in good colleges ? Any suggestion I would appreciate that. Thank you. : )
Hi
thanks
I am going into my sophomore year of high school. I did pretty bad my freshman year and all the other kids in my class are ahead of me. My unweighted GPA is a 3.0 and my weighted GPA is a 4.1. I am in the IB program and i was wondering if doing well in it can help me get into a better college, because we get our IB diplomas after we apply for college. The reason I am so insecure about my grades is because all my classmates have a 3.5 unweighted GPA or higher and a 4.5 weighted GPA or higher. I was wondering if it’s still possible for me to get into a good college and bring my GPA’s up.? I do 3 clubs a year and I volunteer a lot, but i still can’t help but think that i am not going to get into any colleges
Abby,
Number one, you are exaggerating your worries. A 3.0 in an IB program is still very good, and many colleges will want you. Second, you compare yourself too much to your friends. I know this is human nature, but you need to ask yourself this question: “what is a good college for ME?” You will still get into a “great” college. But it is true you may not be able to compete for some of the most selective colleges. But believe me, “selective” is not synonymous with “good”. For example, I just did a tour of 17 colleges across the Midwest, and one of my absolute all-time favorite colleges accepts upwards of 70% of the students who apply. It is academically rigorous, the kids are talented, and the professors are devoted to seeing their students learn a ton. So focus less on your GPA and more on learning, and spend your time investigating colleges that will be right for you. If you need help with this, give us a call! Thanks for writing in!
Hi, Jack. You don’t give me enough information. You are 123 out of how many? 122? or 1,230? You are in the top 10% of you have a class size of 1,230. I would like to suggest that you sit down with your school counselor. So much of the answer depends on how your school weights certain courses, which weighted courses you’d be eligible to take, and (most of all) how you do. Remember, getting good grades is the product of making lots of little decisions over the course of the year. Go talk to your school counselor, and I’m sure he or she will be glad you stopped by.
I’m soph atm and we’ll my unweighted gpa was 3.2 while my weighted gpa was 3.75. I’m scared I cant go CU boulder with this gpa. how can I improve my chances in getting into competive college?
Saji,
All depends on your performance in school over the next 18 months. All depends on the choices you make and the work you put into your courses. Other factors will include your ACT/SAT scores, and whether you live in Colorado (it is more difficult for an out-of-state student to get into CU than for an in-state student).
Hope this helps.
Hi, Sydney.
The application has an area to talk about extenuating circumstances. I think your recommenders (especially your counselor at school) will also (and should) mention your health issues and how they have had an impact on your grades. Colleges are not looking for ways to “gotcha” to keep you out. They are going to take into account everything you have done, including battling cancer. So do your best, continue your course, and just explain the facts. There are no guarantees in this business, but go ahead and aim for your dream.
Best of luck.
Hi, Billy.
Don’t give up on the hard courses if you aspire to the top eschelon of colleges. You must challenge yourself and succeed at the highest level. That said, if you feel you will not succeed in those tough courses, then falling back in one or two areas is not such a bad idea. I can’t give you a list of colleges that will work, as it is too early to judge, and I have way too little information about you. But if you keep your nose to the grindstone and challenge yourself, I think you’ll do just fine. Best of luck.
Hi, Lucy,
I wish I could give you a clear answer. I’d have to look more closely at your transcript and the rest of your record to predict your chances. The D is not great, but if you made up for it, that will help. Must also depends on the rigor of your high school curriculum. One word of wisdom: remember that getting into college is the easy part. Finishing your degree is the hard part. 36% of students who enter UCF don’t graduate. 26% at FSU don’t finish. Consider the long haul, Lucy. Work harder to prepare yourself for the rigors of college, and worry less about which college you get into at this point. Best of luck!
Hello! Last year was my freshman year at a private high school. The classes I took were regular, and considering last year a lot of bad personal issues occured, my weighted GPA was a 3.0 & unweihhted it was a 3.089. The courses were considered advanced in comparison to public school regular classes. This year, my troubling personal issues have subsided and I am tranferring into a public school as a sophomore. I know looking at last years grades I can do MUCH better! I usually earn all A’s in honors/reg in middle school. So this year I decided to.. I guess, challenge myself by taking two honors courses in the simpler public school. We have block scheduling so it will be much easier to maintain my grades and get all A’s again. Do you think I’m doing the right thing? Should I be challenging myself more? I took honors history & English because those are my strongpoints & I believe this year I will show colleges an “upward trend” in my grades & over all average! I plan on doing a lot if clubs based on my strong subjects like student govt, mock trial, forensics, etc. What do you think about my situation? Thanks!
Help! I do alright in school & I want to get straight A’s! My GPA contains grades like C’s & B’s. Whenever I ask someone how they get such great grades, they seem to be doing theexact thing I am. The problem is that my organizational skills & record of class notes are perfect! I always do my homework & class projects perfectly (A+’s) But I think my problem is that I have trouble absorbing information & finding time! I always get B’s/C’s on tests and quizzes even when I think I know the information. I am going into high school and I need GREAT help on how i can work out time management/studying to my advantage in order to get straight A’s ! I know I can do it but it seems that in the past years i have been proven to be an ‘average’ student when I know I’m not! I can get straight A’s but I need a little guidance for understanding the information! Thank youuu!
Hi Mark,
I am going to be a senior this upcoming school year, and I’ve spent my summer researching colleges. I see “average gpa” everywhere, but it fails to specify whether it’s weighted or unweighted. Should I use my weighted or unweighted gpa to compare myself to these schools?
Thank you!
Hi, Sam. Use both. Colleges tend to use the unweighted when reporting out in statistical reports. But you may want to strip all the “fluff” from your GPA to be able to compare more carefully. Whenever possible, you should be conservative in your comparisons. This sort of data is woefully unsatisfactory in determining your chances at a particular college.
Hope that helps a bit.
Anonymous,
Thanks for writing in. My best recommendation of how to learn how to be a better student is to read anything and everything Cal Newport ever wrote. His book, How To Become a Straight A Student is one I regularly give to my clients. How to Become a High School Superstar is another. Or, just visit his website: http://calnewport.com/blog/ . You will find that you’ve heard about some of the techniques he suggests before. But use them. They work. Really.
And, as someone really famous once said (and I paraphrase): “the epitome of stupidity is to continue to do something in the same way and to expect different results.” If your organizational skills and record of class notes are “perfect,” then something else is impeding your learning. Check out Cal Newport’s wisdom on the subject, and let me know how it works out.
Best of luck.
Hi, Valerie,
Thanks for writing in. I’m not able to give you very specific guidance, as I’d need more detailed information. However, if you find your classes too easy at your “simpler” high school, then ask your counselor to step it up. Certainly focus on your stronger points, but if you think you can handle the challenge, step it up. With regard to your extracurricular activities, your strategy sounds pretty good. However, go for quality of your engagement with the activity (in other words, go for achievement), not just the quantity of engagements. Do one or two things really, really well. As a 10th grader, you still have time to explore and try new things. But as you make decisions about what you like and don’t like, don’t be afraid to drop the less desirable, less productive activities and refocus your efforts.
Hope that’s helpful. Let me know if you’d like to chat about this further. Good luck with your new school!
Dear Katy.
I’m sorry to take so long to respond. My best advice: keep on fighting the good fight. Work hard in school. Make no excuses: you can find ways to overcome your ADD so that it doesn’t affect you so much (though I allow it is difficult to do so). Challenge yourself. Strive. The universities you mention may still admit you. But when it comes to financial aid and scholarships, neither is particularly generous in that regard–especially if you are not one of the top students in the entering class. As for whether you can move up more than 100 places in your graduating class in one year, well, it’s statistically possible, but not all that likely, to be honest. The math works against you at this late stage of the game. Still, colleges really like to see an upward trend, so if things improve in the coming semester, admissions folks will take note of that. I recommend you look up Cal Newport’s books (see Amazon) and go to his blog (http://calnewport.com/blog ). He’s a faunt of wisdom when it comes to organizing yourself for academic success. Read him carefully, follow his advice, and it may help you. I hope you find this useful.
I am sophomore in high school. I have taken mostly honors classes and i am in a couple of AP’s this year. My weighted GPA is 4.0 and my unweighted GPA is 4.3. I am working on my community service hours and i am involved strongly in FFA. I would really love to go to UF. I was just wondering if you had any other suggestions to help?
Hi, Jackie. Thanks for your question. If you are a Florida resident, it seems to me that you’d be a shoe-in for UF. If you are applying from out of state (and able to pay that tuition premium), I’d think you’d be taken seriously. Keep up the good work!
I am going into my senior year with a weighted gpa 3.3 and unweighted of 3.1 I have 2 questions:
1) How hard is it to establish residency in a state you plan on going to school in if one of your parents is a current resident? ( I am looking to be a California resident)
Will colleges take this in account?
2) If i am considered a california resident what are my chances in getting into UCLA? I have many extra curriculars and have been very involved in community service for all 4 years of high school (I am currently the head of community service at my school government). If my essay is good and i have a 30 on my ACT (retaking to see if I can get higher) do you think I have a shot? what more can I do? this is my dream school and I want to do anything I can.
Hi, Tala,
If one of your parents already is a resident of California, you may be able to establish residency. However, this depends on the laws of California and policies of the state of California. Check out the rules for all states at http://www.finaid.org/otheraid/stateresidency.phtml . These days, you have to be in the top 9% of California students, as measured by GPA and test scores. You can go onto the UC system’s website and check out whether you qualify for easy in-state admission. However, that is just for admission to any UC: it’s tougher to get into UCLA than most of the others. Keep in mind that you may actually have a better chance to get into the UC schools as an out-of-state resident, because the state of California is broke, and the system is filling gaps in its budget by bringing in those people who will pay out-of-state tuition.
I hope this helps. Good luck!
Hey was just bored and checkin around on other peoples blogs, nice post! Comment for comment? Thanks!
Hello,
I’m a senior and will be attending college (hopefully a good one) in Fall 2012. I just received my transcript today but cannot tell whether my average is weighted or not. If courses that I’ve taken in the past were weighted, does this mean that my average is weighed as well? Also, when applying to the common app, I realize that they ask if my class rank is weighted as well. What does this mean? I have a 90.91 average and have built a nice resume over the course of my high school career and am curious as to what my chances are of getting into Cornell or Boston College?
Samina,
I have no way to interpret your transcript. You should speak to your high school guidance office to help you understand the rankings and weightings for your school. And with regard to your admissions chances, I’m afraid that the answer is the same: no single factor (e.g., GPA) will determine your acceptance or rejection. You will be rated on your curricular strength, the grades you received, the activities you have done (and your accomplishments in them), your application, your test scores, your teacher recommendations, interviews, college visits—everything will likely enter into the equation. But it’s good for you to be thinking about all this stuff. If you feel you need personalized guidance as you select the right schools and craft a competitive application, give us a shout! Good luck!
Hello Mr. Montgomery,
I am a senior in high school now and I currently have a 3.37 unweighted GPA. I have taken 8 AP courses throughout high school and play varsity basketball. My class rank is not particularly high, somewhere within the top 25%, although I think it is fair to say my school is very competitive. I scored a 2120 (740 math, 700 reading, 680 writing) on the SAT and am retaking it in October. What would you say my chances are of getting into schools like UChicago, NYU, and Duke?
I am currently a junior with a 3.73 unweighted, and a 4.33 weighted. I’ve taken honors classes since 9th grade, and took my first AP last year, and ended with an A in the class, and a five on the exam. I’m in 2 honors classes this year, 3 APs, and Latin II. I am also involved in marching band, which takes an incredible amount of time, in the higher ensemble, in a leadership position in the band, and have 20+ community service hours.Being a Florida resident, I was wondering if you think you could offer me some perspective on how likely it is that I would be accepted to a school like UF, or Stetson?