GPA Calculations and Conversions

From our experience, most schools wanted to know the full academic record (curriculum, transcript, etc.), with standardized test scores (ACT or SAT) being the most important. 

Your example is one reason why...We found in iterations with coaches that they relied on the standardized tests as an initial assessment of academic performance as they could compare kids nationwide.

 

We also found that unweighted GPA (not giving a bump for AP or honors courses) combined with curriculum and high school attended was a secondary (but necessary) means of assessing kids as well.  It didn't matter whether it was unweighted on a 4.0 scale or 5.0 scale or 100 point scale.  You just tell the coach which it is.  However, if a kid has taken a lot of AP/Honors courses, highlighting the curriculum and the weighted GPA (particularly if it is beneficial to your cause) is a good thing to do.

russinfortworth,

 

You bring up a great point as it seems a lot of schools seem to be changing their grading system or reporting.  I've read about so many different ways that high schools do this.  I think if you write 4.2/5.0 on a baseball form they will know what you mean.  I know when my sons filled this stuff out there was typically a weighted and unweighted number.  An A in an AP course gave you a 5.0 out of 4.0 so the student could actually graduate with higher than a 4.0.  This 5.0 system takes all of that into consideration.

 

When it comes to college application time, then they may want you to get specific ....or not as they will have their own way of evaluating the raw numbers (as well as the strength of the high school where class rank comes into play).  SATs and ACTs will eventually need to be sent to schools that request them, but that is a worry for another day.  I wouldn't sweat it too much right now for a 2016 as you fill out baseball forms.

 

Possibly, baseballmomandcep can weigh in on this as this is in her sweetspot.

My boys' school is a 4.0 scale with no additional credit for AP.  To make matters worse they don't calculate class rank.  Our school is very competitive, but the next town over from us is pretty well known as a weak academic high school.  Just shows how different schools can be, and how tough it can be to judge admissions. It probably also shows why test scores are so important.  

There isn't a standard for weighting GPA. My son was asked for unweighted GPA, what courses he was taking and what level. The district didn't weight except for determining class rank.

My younger boy (not the pitcher) graduated from h.s. with something like a 3.7 GPA and attended West Point.  He is now a commissioned officer.  His school was super-tough on GPA and son took myriad AP classes. 

 

GPA's are so screwed up.  Sometimes I wonder if a 4.0 (or 5.0) student isn't inherently disfunctional (no life out of school).  

 

Let me help you with that one.

 

Straight A students are no more inherently dysfunctional than straight B students or straight C students or dropouts, according to my small slice of experience.

My comment was mostly tongue-in-cheek.  Bum, Jr. was nearly a 4.0 student in college.

You have a very smart and talented son. You should be very proud!

Thanks.. Bum2 and Bum3 have been great sons.  Bum4 (youngest-daughter) was national merit scholar in h.s.!  I have been blessed.

In our district, regular classes are a max of 4.0, honors 5.0 and AP 6.0.

 

My son is a freshman taking 2 regular courses, 4 honors, and 1 AP course. With the increase in availability of AP classes, the top graduates usually have GPA's well above 5.0

 

It's certainly different than when I was in school.  My wife graduated 3rd in her class in the same district with a 3.9 GPA.

 

Here's some more to toss in the mix... Middle school students can take classes for high school credit.  So you end up with a kid taking a class as a 12 year old and having to live with the grade on their final HS transcript.   

GPA's are very different by HS's. At my kids school one could max out at a 4.3 assuming all A's on a  7point scale taking only AP classes all four years(impossible to do). I had concerns myself when I learned that some schools use a 10 point scale(90-100 vs 93-100 for an A) as well as GPAs in the 5.0 to 6.0 range. As I later learned the college admissions people have a very good understanding of the sytem and the variances used by schools. They will look at the rigor and numerical grades and school reputation. I would also try to indicate if the GPA is unweighted if your school uses more of a traditional 4.0 scale. Once talks got serious coaches were able to get transcripts in front of the admissions folks and they do understand the variance in GPA calculations giving a very good read on probability of admitance as well as potential academic $$ awards.

Fenway thanks for throwing me in this mix! 

 

It is a very messy issue, and honestly college admissions folks find reading transcripts to be one of the hardest parts of the job.  I just attended a conference workshop in DC where we read transcripts from wildly different high schools, and everybody in the room (about 30 professionals ranging from HS counselors to college admission staffers) had a difficult time determining which student in the pile had the 'best GPA' and was the 'better student.'   It is challenging!

 

Which is why we have to understand that (in admissions)  the GPA is never read without the whole picture. The context of weighted vs unweighted; the academic-only vs the comprehensive GPA; the rigor of curricular choices; the trend of grades in the context of increasing rigor; the outlier grades (like a C on a freshman year math grade when everything else was As and Bs); a student who maybe adds extra academic electives vs a student who does bare minimum; or the student who only takes the lowest and gets all As vs the kid who challenges himself but has a lower GPA; the school district that doesn't weight anything vs the district that heavily weights, etc etc etc.  These are just a few examples of the admission reading context.

 

But the question here really pertains to what to report to coaches, isn't it? 

 

In the recruiting process, which do you report? GREAT QUESTION!  We always reported my son's weighted if possible, but many forms on line only allowed up to a 4.0.  So then we reported the unweighted.  Ideally, reporting the weighted GPA and the overall HS scale is perfect,  but the forms typically didn't allow space for that. When communicating by email he would say x.x weighted GPA, and always attach a transcript so the coach could have all the info he needed. He also kept a copy of that transcript in his bat bag.

 

Early in the process (ie, when those forms are filled out) I think it is perfectly acceptable to convert any wacky GPAs to the classic A=4. If weighted is better, go ahead and uses the weighted.

 

Rob T, regarding your concern.  FYI, typically classes take in middle school do NOT count in the admission reading process even if it appears on the HS transcript so don't lose sleep over that issue. Yes they know a kid took the class, but the clock starts ticking in 9th grade when it comes to grades.

 

Hope my too-long reply doesn't muddy the waters more.

 

Fenway, we are headed to Yankee stadium tonight, hoping for a better (and faster!) outcome than last night's game.

Great post BaseballMomandCEP!    You hit it out of the park. 

 

It should be a good game tonight with Pettitte vs Doubrant.  Enjoy.   I fell asleep last night so I missed the end, but it was an exciting game up to the 8th.

 

I was there last night with my son and his friend until the very last out. 

 

And when we got home at 12:30am (we live 17 miles North of the stadium) what did the boys decide to do?  Take BP in the basement.

 

Man oh man was Mom not happy. 

It's good to know they aren't really considered.  My son got A's in his courses, but I know of many that didn't.  On his transcript they are notated as high school credits taken as a middle school student.

 

On the plus side he got 2 years of foreign language credit before 8th grade.  He was also in an advanced math program and got HS credit for algebra in 7th grade and honors geometry in 8th. My wallet is hoping he can cut a year off of his undergrad degree if he can keep up with AP and dual-enrollment courses.

  

 

 

 

In our community Algebra 1 is considered a high school credit course. But some kids take it in middle school. In these cases, it appears on the high school transcript as a high school credit, and the grade is included in the high school GPA calculation.

 

There is a requirement that students need X number of math credits to graduate from high school, and Algebra 1 counts toward this total....regardless of whether it is taken in high school or middle school.

 

Am I understanding correctly that when college admissions officers see Algebra 1 in middle school recorded on high school transcripts, they will ignore the grade for Algebra 1 and recalculate the official high school GPA?

 

Along those same lines (with Green Light's post)...

 

My 2017 also took Advanced Algebra 1 in 8th grade and was told by his high school that he can use that grade for college applications.

 

He also took German 1 in 8th grade and will take German 2 and German 3 in high school.  He was told his 8th grade German 1 will count as one of his 3 years of language for college prep.

 

 

Sorry - just answered my own question by taking a look at the NCAA center online.  It says high school courses taken in 8th grade (ie Algebra 1, Spanish 1)  may be used if the course is on student's high school transcript with grade and credit and if the course is on the high school's list of NCAA courses.

Thanks for that. So we have confirmed that the NCAA Eligibility Center recognizes high school credit courses and grades taken in 8th grade that appear on the high school transcript.

 

Still trying to reconcile my own experience, and that information, with the statement in this thread that typically in the college admissions process such courses and grades are not counted.

 

What really matters is how much financial aid you can get from those grades ... One wonders if the FinAid folks just look at pure numbers or weighted numbers when doling out those "academic scholarships"...

 

My youngest son was on a (non student guided) tour recently with someone actually from admissions...  She asked about his GPA (overall it's a 2.5, but in "core" classes it's a 3.1 on a 4.0 scale where AP students can get up to 4.6 I believe)... She then asked which classes gave him the most problem... The answer 'religion'... He goes to a private catholic high school and was touring at a catholic college...  She laughed and said he's the first person in her 4-5 years to ever say that. They proceeded to have a conversation about writing style preferred by the HS teachers which got me lost very quickly...

 

The school he's at is quite challenging and college admissions offices do know that and take that into consideration. Unfortunately I'm not so sure FinAid office know or care about that based on my two other children... The ironic part of the conversation they had about writing style is that my next older son who's at Muhlenberg now spent his first semester "helping" proof read papers before team mates and friends would turn them in.  He said some of them wrote like he remembered writing in 8th grade. These are kids who had the same HS GPA as him (some higher) and he knows they got similar academic money to him...

In my kids' h.s., the max was 4.0, even though they all took AP classes throughout.

 

This is what I'm talking about.  The college admissions folks take this into consideration.  I suppose all of my kids would have been 5.7 or better using this inflated scoring.  Even with their school being so tough (4.0 system only), my kids were offered by everyone.. both sons and daughters literally hundreds of universities including West Point (both sons), Columbia, New York University, and many Ivy's. 

 

Don't buy into GPA.  All is relative.

Your sons and daughters each were offered by hundreds of universities? That's at least 200! Columbia plus many Ivies?

 

What does a kid have to do to receive that kind of attention? Would seem to take more than 4.0 and 2300+, in addition to 5-star status in whatever sport they are involved in. Your experience is very special I think. No wonder you are so proud!

 

What is your formula?