Cumulative GPA: does it include all four years?

Hey, quick question here. When calculating my cumulative GPA, should I be including my grades from all four years of high school? Thanks!

Yes, your cumulative GPA includes grades earned throughout all four years of high school. This means it accounts for the grades you received in your freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior years. It's essential to maintain a consistent academic performance during your entire high school journey to have a high cumulative GPA, as no year counts more than any other.

It's important to note that colleges may also look at your weighted GPA (which considers the difficulty of the courses you've taken, such as honors, AP, or IB classes) and your unweighted GPA (based on a uniform 4.0 scale, without considering course rigor) to better evaluate your academic performance.

Additionally, while cumulative GPA standardly does not involve emphasizing any particular year over another, each college has their own system of calculating your GPA, and some may weigh certain years more heavily, or include only your core classes (math, English, history, science, and foreign language) in their calculation. So, while the cumulative GPA you calculate yourself can be a useful baseline, keep in mind there could be variation in how your GPA is evaluated during the college process.