[DETRoadster]

So I saw this story about a kid who got accepted to 20 different colleges, thanks in part to his 4.68 GPA.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.8a8019c126fa

Also read last week about the dust up between Laura Ingraham and David Hogg over his being shut out of a number of SoCal schools despite his 4.12 GPA.

What's with these numbers? Back when I was in school a 4.0 was the best you could do. Is there a new rating system now?

[vandridine]

You can take college classes in highschool which will allow your gpa to hit 5. They are AP and IB classes. I know a few people who got their master's degree in 4 years due to doing a ton of IB classes in highschool.

[e92_bryan]

^yup
And usually its not hard getting into AP classes at all, IB varies from city to city some dont have the budget to have it in their schools
But AP/IB classes really just open the possible GPA to be over 4.0 making getting into decent colleges a lot harder now

[Mingwan]

Also, it’s possible to get higher than 100% depending on the grading structure of a class. You usually achieve this by getting perfect scores on all of your assignments and tests, and receiving extra credit whenever it’s available.

[aozer]

hopefully he doesn’t waste it on a liberal arts degree

[DETRoadster]

Originally Posted by vandridine

You can take college classes in highschool which will allow your gpa to hit 5. They are AP and IB classes. I know a few people who got their master's degree in 4 years due to doing a ton of IB classes in highschool.

Ah I see, OK makes sense. Thanks for clearing that up for me!

[ErkanTR16]

My younger brother is a freshman and he is taking AP classes.

[kscarrol]

Having just been through the college search process with my oldest, many colleges are now looking at "unweighted" GPA's, meaning that 5.0 a student get for getting an A in their AP class will only be viewed as 4.0 by the university.

[UncleWede]

AP = Advanced Placement. When my youngest graduated a couple of years ago, nearly EVERYONE in school took AP. Standard classes where the new remedial.

IB = International Baccalaureate. This is what AP used to be, back when we took a dinosaur to school.

[DETRoadster]

Originally Posted by UncleWede

AP = Advanced Placement. When my youngest graduated a couple of years ago, nearly EVERYONE in school took AP. Standard classes where the new remedial.

IB = International Baccalaureate. This is what AP used to be, back when we took a dinosaur to school.

Way to make me feel old, Wede!

No AP classes for me. No advanced degree. No MBA. No PhD. Just a boring old 4-year engineering degree. I cant help but wonder if that's going to bite me in the ass a decade from now when I'm in my mid 50s and all the 30-something hot shots are competing with me for a job, armed with a 7.5 GPA, MBAs, multiple degrees, and what not.

[Banana Hammock]

Originally Posted by e92_bryan

Same thing?

Not the same thing. It's the difference between making a venti caramel latte and a large caramel latte.

[EJT86]

Well if you had clicked on all the posts on here about free essays you too would have a 4.68GPA. You all wanted to complain who’s laughing now!

[UncleWede]

Originally Posted by DETRoadster

Way to make me feel old, Wede!

No AP classes for me. No advanced degree. No MBA. No PhD. Just a boring old 4-year engineering degree. I cant help but wonder if that's going to bite me in the ass a decade from now when I'm in my mid 50s and all the 30-something hot shots are competing with me for a job, armed with a 7.5 GPA, MBAs, multiple degrees, and what not.

What, you didn't have dinosaurs and had to walk uphill (both ways) thru the snow, with no shoes, even in the summer???? Oh, the huge manatee!!!!

I went from 4.0 in HS to Electrical Engineering in UCSB. After the BEST 4-year vacation I had even experienced, I was subject to academic disqualification, I had to go to work and go to night school (and get a B in Spanish) to get a BS in Math. Since I was in the groove, and my Uncle Sam was paying, I went on to get an MS in Systems Management from USC (Fight On!)

After all that, I'm a career computer geek . . .

[Flying Ace]

Originally Posted by kscarrol

Having just been through the college search process with my oldest, many colleges are now looking at "unweighted" GPA's, meaning that 5.0 a student get for getting an A in their AP class will only be viewed as 4.0 by the university.

Yep this is happening 100%. Colleges are severely discounting the GPA these days. They know there's a massive watering down of grades and it's near impossible to compare GPAs and quality of the grade across various high schools.

As a result, they heavily rely on standardized testing the extra activity stuff now. Case in point. I read some marketing post from University of Maryland recently and my alma mater Ohio State. It said something like "Income freshmen class is the highest academic level in history". They then pointed out how the average GPA is now something like 3.5. Then I looked at the average ACT/SAT scores of the class, and it barely was different than it was 18 years ago when I applied. (I also realize the SAT scoring has changed multiple times in the last 18 years).

That said, you also can't expect to get into any decent school with a 2.0 GPA either...so it cuts both ways.

[kprocivic]

I always told myself that high school would never make or break me in terms of my life. Boy was I wrong.

[Germanauto]

Originally Posted by vandridine

You can take college classes in highschool which will allow your gpa to hit 5. They are AP and IB classes. I know a few people who got their master's degree in 4 years due to doing a ton of IB classes in highschool.

I don't think this applies to every state. My cousins in California had this benefit, whereas my AP classes never had this benefit.

[50shadesofhockenheim]

Actually AP classes in high school are worth 6.0.

The top 10 kids in my high school had above 5.0 (HPAs)

GPA actually only goes to 4.0

[kscarrol]

Originally Posted by E90 LCI

Actually AP classes in high school are worth 6.0.

The top 10 kids in my high school had above 5.0 (HPAs)

GPA actually only goes to 4.0

There are schools using 5 point, 6 point, 10 point even some using a 100 point scale. As Flying Ace noted, it is getting very difficult for universities to compare these differing scales. If a university looks at GPA, the will look at unweight which will push most back that 4.0 GPA max. But how can I compare my 4.0 to another student with a 6.3 GPA? You can't so many go to test scores, the only level playing field they can use.

And being in academia myself, I can tell you there are real questions about how rigorous all the AP courses are. Very easy for a school to label a course AP but how many taking the course can actually pass the AP test. You never see those statistics...

[Flying Ace]

Originally Posted by kscarrol

There are schools using 5 point, 6 point, 10 point even some using a 100 point scale. As Flying Ace noted, it is getting very difficult for universities to compare these differing scales. If a university looks at GPA, the will look at unweight which will push most back that 4.0 GPA max. But how can I compare my 4.0 to another student with a 6.3 GPA? You can't so many go to test scores, the only level playing field they can use.

And being in academia myself, I can tell you there are real questions about how rigorous all the AP courses are. Very easy for a school to label a course AP but how many taking the course can actually pass the AP test. You never see those statistics...

yep. I figured out the game when I was in high school. At my school for certain subjects, we had 3 levels you can sign up for. The standard, an "enriched" version, and the AP version.

The enriched version was much more rigorous than the standard version, but however wasn't that big of a difference with the AP version. The major difference was the speed of the curriculum in the AP version as it had to teach you all the materials for you to sit for the test over 3-4 months. The only other major difference was the AP version gave you the GPA boost across all grading levels.

So to summarize, at my school, a similar level of effort is needed to achieve the same grade at the enriched version of the class as the AP, but the AP class gave you the GPA boost. So naturally, I selected AP classes...got Bs in those classes but still got a 3.25 for each B, and likely I would have gotten a B anyways in the enriched class. This is irrespective of whether I was going to sit for the test or not.

Whatever, nothing wrong with playing within the rules. Now those students who are getting 5.0s and stuff, I am not marginalizing this at all. You'll see most 5.0 students are also passing the AP tests and are actually high achievers across the board with everything.

I also still encourage all high school kids to take AP classes. The basic reason is, if you can do reasonably well in it, it'll condition you for the pace and rigors of college courses. For me, the basic college courses were a walk in the park for me....until I got into my major's core classes.

[kscarrol]

Originally Posted by Flying Ace

Now those students who are getting 5.0s and stuff, I am not marginalizing this at all. You'll see most 5.0 students are also passing the AP tests and are actually high achievers across the board with everything.

Very true!

[Flying Ace]

Originally Posted by DETRoadster

Way to make me feel old, Wede!

No AP classes for me. No advanced degree. No MBA. No PhD. Just a boring old 4-year engineering degree. I cant help but wonder if that's going to bite me in the ass a decade from now when I'm in my mid 50s and all the 30-something hot shots are competing with me for a job, armed with a 7.5 GPA, MBAs, multiple degrees, and what not.

Originally Posted by UncleWede

What, you didn't have dinosaurs and had to walk uphill (both ways) thru the snow, with no shoes, even in the summer???? Oh, the huge manatee!!!!

I went from 4.0 in HS to Electrical Engineering in UCSB. After the BEST 4-year vacation I had even experienced, I was subject to academic disqualification, I had to go to work and go to night school (and get a B in Spanish) to get a BS in Math. Since I was in the groove, and my Uncle Sam was paying, I went on to get an MS in Systems Management from USC (Fight On!)

After all that, I'm a career computer geek . . .

We all know success in life is never scripted for common folks like us. It's all about how you yourself innovate and change as the demands of the employers change.

There is no golden ticket in life. A GPA (btw colleges only go on 4.0 scale), or MBA or anything doesn't ensure shit. Certain people with certain degrees and will get a faster head start, no doubt, but you can't bullshit your way through employment and get away with it. At one point, you have to put up or shut up.

Myself, after college, I've already taken 2 professional certificate tests to further compete within my profession. This will ensure no fresh college kid will ever be able to compete with me off the bat. Now I can definitely fall behind if I don't continue to stay relevant...so that's why I continue to learn about the changes of my industry and from time to time, upload a computer virus to said college kid's computer and frame him.

[wdb]

Eh. Degrees are overrated.

https://www.marketplace.org/2018/02/...rather-diploma