The Zinch Report

Guess that's good for me! I have a cum. 4.1 GPA from high school -- it'd be higher but my school has limited AP and Concurrent Credit classes. I never had a B. :) But it didn't come easy.

haha..thats good to know.
it does make sense though, hopefully.
if only, i could convince my mom...tehehe.

This definitely makes more sense to me. Like the post mentioned, GPA takes into account things that happen over a longer period of time. Even for people who aren't innately book-smart, anyone can develop a hard work ethic, which is perhaps more broadly valuable. But there is also a population, albeit small, of students who ARE gifted or who DO love learning, but don't really fit into the traditional school system. I'm love the Mark Twain quote "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." This happens with tests and it happens on report cards--I'm sick of people getting good grades because they can make flashcards and finish homework fast, but have no real interest and curiosity or don't really retain what they're learning at all.

That's one thing I love about Zinch, and that I actually love about my own school, is that they both bring out the value of the whole person, not just test scores, and not just numbers. But I'm afraid that this idea gets lost so easily. I mean, I'm interested in some really competitive schools, and I'm freaking out that I'm going to get weeded out early just because of the whole "index score" thing or because of the competition is going to boil down to these details.

i actually just hate standarized tests
basically anything that is in acronyms..haha
because personally i know that i completely freak out on tests and anything that has to do with importance, this probably is not too good, but still its ridiculous that so much could ride on one test.
gpa's are an accumulation over years of hard work and i believe in the long run it pays off more

I 100% agree since I went to the area community college for two semester (14 credits per semester) while I was in my senior year this year and still taking some classes at high school. I carried a 4.0 GPA in my college courses which was impressive compared to my SAT scores. I have a 3.8 GPA (non-weighted) in High School. I had good SAT scores just not the best. I believe that schools look at all the activities you do along with your class standings, current GPA and SAT scores when they make their acceptance decisions except schools like SUNY Geneseo that requires 1250 SAT Score so they don't mess up there Honor School standings. If you want to get in there take the SAT's until you get at least 1250 or you will need to apply as a transfer.

I can see how that could work, and it does make sense, but that's not what I've heard before. I have a teacher who says that it's less the A students that succeed in college, but more the B and C students, because the B and C students can deal with it if they make mistakes, and know how to work for their grade. I think it probably varies a lot from person to person, and why they got the grade they did.

So, according to Ashley, it's possible to get better than a 4.0? I think I heard about that, once, but for some reason it's against the rules in my district to give better than a 4.0, or to give A+'s. For the life of me I've never understood why.

Green_Ambit,
My unweighted GPA is a 4.0, but in high school I took a couple AP classes and a Concurrent Credit class from a local college. My school gives a weighted point-level of 5 for the college classes, which factors into the cumulative GPA. Some districts allow it, others don't. And not all college classes qualify. I took a CC Photography class through a different high school (because my school didn't offer it) but it was a semester college class stretched over a year in high school, so the weighted GPA wasn't allowed.

Your district might see that some schools offer more AP classes than others and deem it unfair for some people to be able to get a perfect 5.0 whereas others who take all the opportunities for AP classes available, can only get a 4.2 (or whatever the case may be). While I think it's lame that you can't get over a 4.0 weighted GPA, I see the point that it's unfair to judge a person without taking into account how many AP classes were offered.

That's why a lot of colleges ask for weighted and unweighted GPA on their applications -- so you can't get away with taking all AP classes and getting a 4.0 because you have straight Bs. Y'know?

oh wow...I should better review my next year subjects to get higher GPA...:)

I have a 4.2 so far since I have AP classes and unfortunately didn't get an a in Pre-Calculus. My SAT scores are above average but not wonderful. My composite is 1840 with reading, writing, and math. I'm hoping the GPA is a better indicator than the SAT scores or the ACT scores that I'm sure are in the gutter.

I hope so because I am not a good test taker especially tests like the SAT where they try to trick you. Although I have a 4.4 GPA, my SAT score is only a 1810. :( It is very frustrating when my friends who have parents that make more money than the president can afford to send them to classes that teach them to "fool" the SAT, such as the Princeton Review classes, when I do not have the same opportunity. Thus, it looks as if they are much more "intelligent" according to their SAT scores; yet, we both have the same GPA. I hope that colleges start to weigh the SAT less because it would be so much more beneficial for people like myself.

woot woot! i knew that but i'm still terrified of the ACT/SAT. do you have any advice on that??

I am lucky enough to go to a public high school that gave me a fee waiver for SAT prep classes that were held at our school. I hope that the same thing will be started at other schools too, because I know that many people cannot afford the classes when they can help at least a little.