GPA Conversion and Weighted Courses

When you apply to college using the Common App or Coalition app, you will enter your 100-point scale GPA for unweighted (if that is the default on your transcript) or 100-point weighted whichever is the defacto number that your high school uses to rank students.

Do not convert your 100-point scale GPAs to 4.0 scales because all colleges will compare you to other applicants from your HS and rely on the HS profile and transcript that your counselor electronically transfers to them as part of the Common or Coalition app protocols.

The main point I want to get across is that you will be compared to other like-minded students that are applying to the same colleges from your HS.So be very careful about which schools to add to your college list. If there are 100 peers applying to UC colleges then you are competing for a spot against your classmates. If you are considered within the top 10% of your HS class, then you will fare better than if you are in the 3rd quintile of the class.

Filling out the CV Profile allows the CV to compare apples to apples for purposes of giving you a fairly reliable percentage of being admitted to a specific school on your CV college list. This is not the same process as filling out the Common or Coalition App. So do not rock the boat or try to be clever and interpolate what you think your 4.0 scale GPAs are going to be when you apply to colleges because the colleges will only rely on the official GPAs provided by your HS counselor, not your self-reported grades. Asking you to self-report is sort of a catch-22. If you are 100% consistent with reporting your standardized test scores like the ACT/SAT/APs/IBs then that just ticks off a box for them that you being transparent. However, if you fudge test scores and your grades, that will harm your chances and earmark your application as a red flag. So it's best to just transcribe the exact same numbers you get on your official HS transcript onto your college applications rather than change them to fit a different scale.

Remember that UC schools are mandated to accept as many CA residents as possible versus trying to fill their schools with out-of-state students so don't bank on them but apply to the ones you feel you have a good chance at getting into. There are over 4300 colleges that offer 4-year undergraduate degrees. On the East Coast you will find that there are about 10 times as many colleges to apply to that are all excellent as UC schools so take your time, research and investigate all these schools since you are uniquely positioned to visit them and check them out for yourself.

You should make this a memorable positive experience.