Benefits of Having a Weighted or Unweighted GPA System

Mineral Point High School should use a weighted grade point average (GPA). According to Albert.io, a weighted GPA “takes class difficulty into consideration when determining what grade each student receives.” This rewards students for taking challenging classes.

Our school operates on an unweighted GPA scale, which means every course grade is equal when determining your grade point average. In high school, students get many more opportunities to branch out and challenge themselves by taking classes such as AP classes, Honor classes, Dual Enrollment classes, IB classes, Capstone projects, etc. However, these courses are hard to offer in small rural schools such as Mineral Point. As the guidance counselor at Mineral Point High School, Mrs. Brunson, says, “You don’t normally see those [honor classes] in smaller schools because it’s a capacity issue. You don’t have enough staff to take care of that or students.”

Discussing whether using an unweighted or weighted GPA is a frequent conversation among our students in rigorous courses. Yet, many students do not know how their school measures their grades. They only know that the outcome is given at the end of every quarter/term and shown as a number — their GPA. Would it not be better if those taking rigorous courses could see their GPA reflect the challenges they create for themselves intending to impress colleges?

In an unweighted GPA, no one can get over a 4.0. No matter how many classes you take or how difficult the classes are, 4.0 is the maximum. This is considered to be the primary concern of an unweighted GPA and why Mineral Point should use a weighted GPA. Students would be compelled to take more challenging classes in order to get their GPA above a 4.0 as they strive for a 5.0. When asked about this, Mr. McWilliams said, “An A+ in calculus should be worth much more than an A+ than some elective.”
If a student decides to challenge himself and take an advanced class (i.e., AP History), they will get a whole extra point at the end of the quarter, getting a higher GPA. Here is an example from Shermassian consulting, “Mario, who only took AP courses, gets a 5.0, 4.0, 5.0, and 5.0. Those scores summed and divided by 4 (the number of courses) gives him a weighted GPA of 4.75.” This would be advantageous to Mineral Point High School students.

Another purpose for establishing a weighted GPA system would be that it also gives students an advantage when it comes to being accepted into a specific college of their choosing. Once Drew Aschliman, a student at MPHS, learned more about the different types of GPAs, he lent his support to weighted GPAs. He said, “I think higher [weighted] cause you know, all the bigger schools do go over a 4.0, and they have a better advantage of getting into a bigger college.”

For the reasons above, Mineral Point High School should use a weighted GPA in order to fully support students’ academic goals and encourage them to take challenging courses.