How is weighted GPA calculated?

Answered

Only if you know how your high school calculated a weighted GPA can you re-create your weighted or unweighted GPA. Not all high schools have weighted GPAs so you should check with your school to see if they have a rubric for determining which classes are weighted or not.

I attended 2 different types of high schools, a top public school in an affluent suburb and a top 5 boarding school. The public school had a typical weighting system where all AP classes were given an extra point so an would be 5 points on a 4-point scale. The same was true for specific non-AP classes like languages classes at 4th level or above and accelerated STEM classes like accelerated Chemistry, or Pre-Calc. Some high schools give 2 points for IBs and 1 point for anything called honors. Others do not. This variation is why colleges require a school profile from your guidance counselor to decipher what the weighted GPA means on the transcript. My boarding school did not have a weighting system, only a 100-point system. Since it was heavily grade-deflated anyone graduating with a cumulative GPA above 90 or above had honors status and anyone with 93 or above high honors. 1% of my class had a 95 and the 3rd quintile was in a range of 89-90.5.

Nevertheless, the students from my boarding school got into better colleges like Ivys, Elites, and Top Liberal Arts colleges across the board because the course rigor was substantially harder than AP or IB level courses and students were required to do a sport each trimester or 3 per year so we had many recruited athletes. The Ivy acceptance rate was 30% vs 1% at my public school.

So don't think or assume you need a weighted GPA. Good luck.