My feedAdmissions Advice
1
@Rishikesh
0 answers, 1 vote
 • 4 years ago •
Admissions Advice

What is the difference between weighted and unweighted gpa and how to calculate them?

I am an international student and I don't know much about gpa on the scale of 4.

applications
1
7

Earn karma by helping others:

1 karma for each ⬆️ upvote on your answer, and 20 karma if your answer is marked accepted.

3 answers

3
@chxm33
269 answers, 257 votes
 • 4 years ago[edited]

[deleted]

3
@DebaterMAX4 years ago

I agree with this

@CameronBameron4 years ago

Everything is correct. I would add that the American 4.0 scale is much more granular than described. At my school an A+ is 98-100, 4.0, A is 93-97, 4.0, A-,92 (3.9), A- 91 (3.8) and so forth down. So you can end up with a long GPA like 3.965 and we weight APs and Honors equally up 1.0 even though they are not equal in practice. Therefore weighted GPA at our school would have grade inflation for someone that took a lot of honors classes versus AP classes.

@DebaterMAX4 years ago

Cameron’s example holds true at his but my school is 93-100 = 4 85-93 = 3 and in 7% increments so it really depends on the school.

@CameronBameron4 years ago

American Private Boarding schools have more diversity in grades scales. Exeter has an 11 pt scale, Andover a 6 pt scale, Trinity Episcopal a 10pt scale, Western Reserve uses 7 pt scale. It gets complicated for Admissions officers.

1
@Reaganbakin
9 answers, 17 votes
 • 4 years ago

So most colleges use your unweighted GPA which is on a 4.0 scale. They will then take into account the difficulty of your classes and essentially recalculate your weighted GPA. Basically your weighted GPA takes into account the rigor of your classes and unweighted GPA does not. There are plenty of online calculators that can calculate your unweighted GPA based on the grades you received in your classes.

1
0
@ShaquilleOatmeal
expert
334 answers, 658 votes
 • 4 years ago

I know you've already received a good answer but here are some articles which can help breakdown the differences in GPA, their importance, and a guide to help you calculate GPA.

GPA Calculator: https://blog.collegevine.com/how-to-calculate-your-gpa-use-this-step-by-step-guide/

Weighted vs. Unweighted GPA: https://blog.collegevine.com/is-weighted-or-unweighted-gpa-more-important

0
What are your chances of acceptance?

Calculate for all schools

Your chance of acceptance
Duke University
UCLA
+ add school
Your chancing factors
Unweighted GPA: 3.7
1.0
4.0
SAT: 720 math
200
800
| 800 verbal
200
800

Extracurriculars

Low accuracy (4 of 18 factors)
Add more factors ›

Community Guidelines

To keep this community safe and supportive:

  1. Be kind and respectful!
  2. Keep posts relevant to college admissions and high school.
  3. Don’t ask “chance-me” questions. Use CollegeVine’s chancing instead!

How karma works