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Every once in a while, I will scour the web for college related questions.  Whenever I see a good question that is asked, I tend to want to go into detail on what it is all about.

Today’s question is as follows and regards weighted GPAs.

What is a weighted GPA?

To determine the weight of your classes, some high school’s will have what they call a “weighted GPA.”  Now, you’re going to want to keep in mind that not all high schools do something like this.  Many do, while others don’t.

If you find that your high school does something like this, colleges may look at your GPA in a different manner.  This again, will depend on what college you’re going to apply to.

With a weighted GPA, you will find that your high school is going to give more “weight” to classes that are a little tougher.  For example, if you’re going to take an AP History course, this is going to be a little more challenging than your regular history course or if you’re going to take AP Calculus, this is going to be more of a challenge than your basic math.

While this is a fair way to calculate a GPA, again, you may find that your high school doesn’t do something like this.  Even if your school doesn’t do something like this, a college will request to see your transcripts just to see what courses you have taken over the past few years.

Even though many colleges want a 4.0 grade scale, if your high school uses a weighted GPA system, they will give more points for an A in an AP course.  For example, you could get 5 points for an A, instead of a 4.  This doesn’t mean that you will get a 5.0 GPA, but instead, you will rank higher in your class.

What you will find out is that even if your school has this system, many colleges will have their own system as well.  This is why it’s important to just focus on the classes you already take and strive to get good grades.  By doing so, you should be able to be on the right path of the college of your choice.