Decoding GPA: Insights for College Admissions with Jess Chermak

Mar 19 2024 • 33 mins

In this episode, Lisa and Jess discuss:

Looking at school profiles can help you and your student better understand how their school uses GPA.
Understanding how colleges recalculate GPAs and how your student can use GPA calculators to better grasp their standing.
Identifying the five core classes that most colleges use to generate the recalculated GPA used in admissions and what grades won’t matter on the transcript.
Why grade inflation is a huge problem, including the inability of colleges to interpret a transcript accurately.

Key Takeaways:

GPA is not standardized across high schools, so colleges recalculate it. They typically only use core academic classes from 9-11 grade.
Weighted GPAs are not very meaningful since every school calculates them differently. Focus on unweighted core GPA. Grade inflation is also a major issue, making GPAs less reliable indicators of college readiness.
Colleges and universities do not typically see senior-year grades because of the timing of application deadlines.
While a weighted GPA or inflated grade might feel good to your teen or you, it does not help with college applications or add meaning to transcripts.

“A GPA is a grade point average. When you finish sophomore year with a 3.1, you're not actually going to be able to increase that GPA significantly by the end of junior year. That should not deter you from trying really hard to increase your GPA.” – Jess Chermak

About Jess Chermak: Jessica Chermak is an Independent Educational Consultant with over a decade of experience in academia and helping students navigate the college admissions process. She graduated from Chapman University with a BA in Psychology, and was awarded the SMART Scholarship to attend the University of Denver for an MA in Forensic Psychology. She is a Certified Educational Planner, a Licensed Professional Counselor, a Professional Member of the Independent Educational Consultants Association, and has served on the board of the College Consultants of Colorado.

Episode References:
Arizona State University GPA Calculator: registrar.asu.edu/grades-and-records/gpa-calculator
#042 Will grade inflation hurt your teen? flourishcoachingco.com/podcast/042-will-grade-inflation-hurt-your-teen/
#110 How to Know if College is Still Worth It flourishcoachingco.com/podcast/110-how-to-know-if-college-is-still-worth-it/
University of California Required Courses and Grades admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/admission-requirements/freshman-requirements/subject-requirement-a-g.html

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Connect with Jess:
Website: virtualcollegecounselors.com/
Email: info@virtualcollegecounselors.com
X: twitter.com/VirtualCollegeC
Instagram: instagram.com/virtualcollegecounselors/
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/virtual-college-counselors/
Facebook: facebook.com/TheVirtualCollegeCounselors
YouTube: youtube.com/channel/UC9IMV1yWMBhLBhJ68zwaNlA