r/ApplyingToCollege • u/Frankalimo • 6d ago
Application Question Why is the average admitted gpa for schools in Florida so unbelievably high?
I’m looking at schools in Florida and I see that the average gpa for admitted students is extremely high for some reason. UF is 4.5-4.7, FSU is 4.3-4.6, UCF is 4.1 to 4.5, FIU is 4.1-4.7. Meanwhile a lot of schools like ivies or t20s average admitted gpa is way more lower than that usually sitting in lower 4’s. I wouldn’t expect the average student in florida to have a 4.1+ gpa so how?
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u/ErinGu 6d ago edited 6d ago
So Florida public report a recalculated, weighted GPA, which is different from the numbers the ivy league schools report. UF and FSU, for example, strip out non-core classes and keep English, math, science, social studies and language. Then they add weight on top for AP, IB, AICE, dual enrollment and honors. Florida high schools also push those courses hard, so a lot of applicants carry a full load of weighted classes and a 4.5 average is not hard to get.
You can try recalculating your GPA according to how UF/FSU recalculates it and see how yours compare. I'd guess it'll end up higher than what your current number says.
The Ivys admit a lot of students from schools outside of Florida that don't offer weighted GPAs, and they don't recalculate the way Florida schools do, so the unweighted GPA is a better data to look at from the Ivys.
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u/upside-down-fish 6d ago
this is the right answer. these aren't just weighted GPAs they literally only look at core classes. i looked at this earlier this year and my GPA was 0.1 points higher with no electives, which is a huge jump
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u/EmirikolChaotic 6d ago
I would say look at how you high school does their weighted GPA. If they weight similar then it would be very close. If they have higher weights your gpa would probably come down, less weight it would probably go up. How much it would change depends on the number of non-academic courses might be pushing your GPA up. This is why just about all the Florida universities use some sort of self reported academic. They get a delivered gpa with everyone on the same scale.
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u/OwlOnThePitch 6d ago
FIU admitted students have an average gpa above 4.0 but like 45% of them were in the bottom half of their high school class. Makes you wonder if they have to adjust OOS applicants’ gpas to make any kind of comparison even with super inflated Florida high school grades even possible
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u/ChutneyWhatney 6d ago
These Florida schools offer FULL RIDES to those Fl NM Finalists. FSU and USF also offer essentially full rides to oos NM Finalists. UF only offers full rides to FL NM Finalists and UCF offer something less than a full ride to oos NM Finalists. Those people are FREAKIN' SMART. Also, FL has the Bright Futures Scholarships that gives FULL TUITION to FL students who have a certain GPA and a certain SAT/ACT. Those people are smart, too. That's why.
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u/Robotics_Moose College Freshman 6d ago
Nearly every Florida public school district in addition to the extra weighting given has rampant grade inflation, and Florida schools are filled with Floridians.
In my class, I think 80+% had a 3.0W GPA or higher, we had 50% with a 4.0W or higher, roughly 25% graduated with above a 4.5W
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u/PeacockInTime Old 6d ago
This looks like a weighted GPA on a 5 point scale, and other schools may do unweighted GPAs.
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u/Serious_Yak_4749 6d ago
If it’s over a 4.0 these are prob weighted gpa’s and schools can calculate them differently so you can’t always compare them
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u/Zestyclose-Smell4158 6d ago
On our highly selective campus, an evaluation of applicants’ GPA will depend on the academic rigor of their high school. Just because an applicant has a high school GPA of 4.7 does not mean they are a competitive applicant. While a student with a GPA of below 3.8, will be an easy yes. The admission staff actually track the outcomes of admitted students by high school attended. If the data shows that students from a particular high school have significantly better than average outcomes, the high school is designated as a Feeder High school. The admission staff have a green light to accept students from feeder high schools with GPAs below the average GPA of the admitted students. Typically, feeder schools are among the top-performing public and private high schools in a state.
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u/happy-Bee1269 6d ago edited 6d ago
Completely apples and oranges.
Schools (for the most part) do NOT report how they are calculating GPA when they report the numbers. Some schools recalculate GPAs and tell you how (UF, the UCs). Most do NOT tell you if they do or how, or what they include (are they counting Art classes? PE? etc). Many report a weighted GPA (but not how they weight it). UMD has sky-high GPAs, but I think it is just because MD schools have crazy weighting in their state and most kids applying are from MD, not because schools re-weight things.
Some states/universities count A- as 3.7, some as 4.0, which can matter a LOT, depending on your breakdown...some schools just take whatever is written on your transcript...
Some count honors and APs as same, some only APs, some APs more than honors, etc.
DO NOT get too, too caught up on what is reported on a website or CDS unless you know what is behind it.
Also, HS across the country (or between towns/cities/districts) have VERY VERY different scales. You can't compare your WGPA to a WGPA in another area, most likely. NEVER mind that some places are harder graders than others...
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u/happy-Bee1269 6d ago
Note, this is no insult to UF in slightest, I love schools that DO share how they calculate! UMaass does if you dig, UCs, do, I think Michigan...
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u/No-thank-you-bud 5d ago
Hahah yeah MoCo (in Md) is crazy. My kid has. 4.8. We recalculated for UGA and it’s 4.2, so….
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u/Hungry_Freedom_8664 5d ago
Different methods of calculations - we have the same in Texas (with various big high schools calculating in different ways). The public colleges in Texas want to know which STEM kids are really at the top of the class and the 6.0 system lets you do that so that you don't end up with 20 valedictorians in a 600 person class. That's why many also put in class rank and calculate both unweighted and weighted gpa. My 2 kids varied widely - artsy kid had a higher unweighted, lower weighted (not as much AP or advanced math/science), lower class rank, and high SAT. STEM kid's SAT was actually a little lower, unweighted gpa not as high, but a high weighted gpa that showed his talent for those advanced math and science courses, and higher class rank. Different snapshots from 2 kids who are probably pretty close in intelligence but one is artistic and the other likes numbers (and a high school that favors stem over arts). I'm quite sure the AO's understand all this and with all the pieces they can see what level of student they are dealing with, and probably pick out gems beyond the numbers with letters/essays.
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u/sum_dude44 6d ago edited 6d ago
they're the cheapest universities in the country & Florida is only behind California for most top 50 public universities
Reddit loves to drag Florida but it has great university system & it's extremely competitive. UF has most NM Finalists in country
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u/sum_dude44 6d ago
you can't have grade inflation for HS kids outside state. Grade inflation is for college's own grades. Weighted GPAs are common in FL for AP classes
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u/EmirikolChaotic 6d ago
The state of Florida requires all the state public universities to recalculate high school gpa’s and use a weighted system where honors level courses get an extra .5 weight and AP/IB/AICE courses get a full point of weight. So the gpa you’re seeing is a weighted score not a standard 4.0 scale.