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Do colleges look at a weighted GPA? We’ll cover the difference between a weighted and unweighted GPA, what colleges look for in terms of GPA, and how to calculate each type.
According to a report published by the National Association for College Admission Counseling, the five most important factors considered during the college application process are:
Although your grades, known as grade point average (GPA), are important, there's confusion surrounding what GPAs colleges look at: weighted or unweighted, or both. We’ll answer this question, explore the difference between a weighted and unweighted GPA, examine what GPA colleges look at, and explain how to calculate your final grades.
Let’s talk about what a weighted GPA means. A GPA illustrates the average value of your final grades. A weighted GPA represents the average value of your final grades earned in classes, considering their difficulty.
Several more difficult classes include:
Weighted GPAs are measured on a 0 to 5.0 scale to account for the increased difficulty of some classes (though some schools use a 12.0 scale). This means that usually, the highest possible weighted GPA you can achieve is a 5.0.
Pay attention to the specific guidelines that your school uses, as some schools may differ in what counts as a 5.0 course.
Here is a standard scale for weighted GPA:
Source: Indeed
But what is a good GPA? It often comes down to your individual institution's expectations. While some schools may be happy with a weighted GPA of 3.7 or above, top colleges often admit students with a weighted GPA above 4.0.
Unlike a weighted GPA, an unweighted GPA doesn’t consider course difficulty and is measured on a 0 to 4.0 scale. This can be problematic for some students, as an unweighted GPA doesn’t reflect the extra time, effort, and skills advanced-level courses take to complete.
Here is a table outlining a typical unweighted GPA scale:
Source: US News & World Report
Colleges consider your unweighted or weighted high school GPA alongside other grades, including your semester GPA and cumulative GPA.
Admissions officers know when they’re looking at a weighted or unweighted GPA based on an applicant’s school report, conversations with the guidance counselor, and previous information about the applicant’s high school.
Admissions officers look at your official transcripts to contextualize your GPA and understand which classes you thrived in.
Your high school transcript will usually display your:
Although most high schools provide colleges with your unweighted or weighted GPA, universities often recalculate it. Colleges do this to create an even playing field for all applicants since there’s no universal high school grading scale.
Dominique Dadekian, a former admissions officer at Dartmouth College, shares her thoughts about what students know about weighted and unweighted GPAs.
"Really start to understand what the transcript looks like, the GPA scale, and the different types of classes offered at your school and what that's going to look like because again, you want to do this when you have control so you can control what that transcript is going to look like at the end and so you're not surprised by, wait, why is my GPA being reported as unweighted instead of weighted or why didn't this class count as much as I thought it was going to. All of those things, understanding the ins and outs of what the transcript is going to look like from your specific high school is really, really crucial and it will help you kind of have a leg up when college application season comes."
Now that we understand the difference between an unweighted and weighted GPA, we can learn how they’re calculated. For an unweighted GPA, “all classes are worth the same weight and each letter grade corresponds to a number from 0-4.” As noted in the table above:
Some colleges will consider or ignore plusses and minuses, so research what factors your preferred school considers when calculating your GPA. To account for plusses and minuses, you can use an unweighted GPA scale like the one below:
To calculate your unweighted GPA, use these lists and assign your grades a corresponding number. Then, add the numbers to create a total, and your final GPA is this total divided by the number of classes where you earned a grade.
Source: Quad Education
To calculate your unweighted GPA, use these lists and assign your grades a corresponding number. Then, add the numbers to create a total, and your final GPA is this total divided by the number of classes where you earned a grade.
If you received two A’s and three B’s, you would have:
(A = 4.0) x 2 = 8.0
(B = 3.0) x 3 = 9.0
Then, add the assigned numbers together to create a total. In this example, the total is:
8.0 + 9.0 = 17
Once you have a total, divide the total by the number of classes you took. In this case, the total number of classes was five, so your unweighted GPA is:
17 (total points for grades received)/ 5 (number of classes) = 3.40
Let’s look at another example where a candidate received three A+s, two A-s, and a B-. Our assigned numbers are:
(A+ = 4.0) x 3 = 12.0
(A- = 3.7) x 2 = 7.4
(B- = 2.7) x 1 = 2.7
Our total is then:
12.0 + 7.4 + 2.7 = 22.1
Finally, our GPA is our total divided by the number of classes:
22.1 (total points for grades received)/ 6 (number of classes) = 3.68
Let’s talk about how to calculate a weighted GPA. Calculating a weighted GPA is slightly harder since certain classes are worth more than others; AP, IB, and honors classes are worth more than their standard-level equivalents. Whether or not your cumulative GPA is weighted depends on the regulations of your specific school.
Take a look at these tables to see how numeric and letter grades in AP, Honors, and standard-level classes are converted into overall grades on a 5.0 GPA scale. Here is a standard weighted GPA scale:
Source: The University Network: Weighted vs. Unweighted GPAs
Similar to calculating an unweighted GPA, use the tables provided to assign numbers to your grades in AP and Honors classes and add them together to create a total. Then, divide the total by the number of grades you have for the courses you took, and you have your weighted GPA.
Let’s look at an example of how to calculate a weighted GPA. Evan received the following grades in his high school classes:
First, let’s assign a numeric value to each lettered grade:
Adding these numbers together creates the total of:
3.0 + 4.0 + 3.7 + 4.5 + 3.5 = 18.7
Finally, dividing Evan’s total by the number of classes taken gives us his weighted GPA of:
18.7 (total points for grades received)/ 5 (number of classes) = 3.74
Emily received the following grades in her high school classes:
First, let’s assign a numeric value to each lettered grade:
Adding these numbers together creates the total of:
4.2 + 4.0 + 4.0 + 4.7 + 3.3 + 2.8 = 23.0
Finally, dividing Emily’s total by the number of classes taken gives us her weighted GPA of:
23.0 (total points for grades received)/ 6 (number of classes) = 3.83
Curious about your class standing? Check out our Class Rank Calculator below to find out!
If you still have questions about weighted GPAs, check out these FAQs!
It depends, but evaluating the class profile data of the schools you want to apply to is a good start. You can use this data to compare your stats to admitted students and determine what is a good weighted GPA.
Most colleges recalculate your GPA using their methods to standardize the admissions process. However, the methods used by programs vary considerably.
There are several ways you can improve your weighted GPA. The most obvious choice is to take more challenging courses and excel in them; however, there is a fine balance between pushing yourself and getting in over your head.
Colleges don’t want to see you take too many AP classes and achieve low grades. They also don’t want to see you achieve a 4.00 GPA in standard-level courses.
Colleges look at your GPA, whether it’s weighted or unweighted. The GPA they consider is according to what is provided to them by your high school.
The weighted GPA requirements of in-state and out-of-state applicants can vary considerably between colleges. For example, the University of New Orleans has the same GPA requirements for in-state and out-of-state applicants.
The University of California, on the other hand, has different GPA requirements for in-state and out-of-state applicants.
Since Ivy League schools are highly competitive, the average weighted GPA of incoming classes tends to be approximately 4.0 or 4.1.
Use the above tables to assign numbers to your grades in AP, Honors, and standard-level classes and add them together to create a total. Then, divide the total by the number of courses you took, and you will have your weighted GPA.
If you’re still struggling to calculate your weighted GPA, consider using a free online GPA calculator such as Iowa State University’s or Texas A&M’s.
In this case, weighted GPAs are more important in the admission process than unweighted GPAs. Weighted GPAs can help show how difficult an applicant’s course load is.
So, do colleges look at your weighted GPA? The answer is yes, and no. Colleges review whatever GPAs your high school provides them with, but they typically recalculate them to ensure students are evaluated on a level playing field.
Universities may also consider your class rank, the difficulty of your high school’s curriculum, and the classes you completed. When calculating your weighted GPA, remember to account for the difficulty of your classes. Good luck with your application!
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