High School GPA Policy
Why do high schools weight GPAs?
High schools typically weight the grade point average in order to reinforce and reward the choice of honors, Advanced Placement, or International Baccalaureate courses. Weighting of grades allows high schools to rank students who take college preparatory courses ahead of those who choose not to.
Why do colleges and universities recalculate high school GPAs?
Colleges and universities are increasingly diversifying their criteria for admissions. More admissions officials are now focusing on the actual grades earned by students in the courses they take versus the use of weighted, cumulative grade point average and class rank.
There is little to no consistency between high schools in their weighting systems, making comparisons of reported GPAs difficult based on the numeric average alone.
How does Cedarville University interpret high school grade point average?
Any cumulative grade point average indicated as "weighted" is recalculated using the high school's grading scale, if possible. All grades earned are considered as well as pluses and minuses (with the exception of A+).
All cumulative GPAs reported in numeric averages are recalculated using the school's grading scale, if reported.
Grade point averages are recalculated based on an unweighted 4.0 scale.
What are the benefits of taking a rigorous high school course load?
There are many benefits related to taking rigorous courses in high school, but a few of the most important would be the following:
- Students more likely to successfully graduate from college
- Improves performance on ACT and SAT tests
- Allows for the possibility of testing out of college courses (CLEP, AP, and IB)
How are unweighted grade point averages used at Cedarville University?
Unweighted cumulative grade point averages are considered, along with SAT and ACT scores, for evaluation of admission to the University as well as in the awarding of academic scholarships.
