By Allie Campbell
Calendar Editor
By using the unweighted GPA to select valedictorians, Mira Costa keeps the integrity of the AP class system and gives more students the opportunity to be a valedictorian, an honor that is tremendously helpful in the college application process.
Currently, Mira Costa does not weight GPAs. As a result, there were 16 valedictorians in last year’s graduating class, all of whom received a 4.0 cumulative GPA throughout their four years at Mira Costa.
A student who works hard enough to receive a 4.0 un-weighted GPA is clearly strong academically, regardless of the number of AP classes taken. At a school as academically accomplished as Mira Costa, a valedictorian title shows much merit, regardless of whether it was granted based on unweighted GPA or not.
Allowing multiple students to be valedictorians gives more Costa students an advantage when applying to colleges. Many college counselors believe that while colleges acknowledge and favor valedictorians, the difficulty of students’ schedules and extracurriculars are the major factors in the decision process. Students with AP and honors classes don’t suffer under the current policy because colleges see their transcripts and weight their GPA’s anyway.
Additionally, weighting GPA’s would award the valedictorian title to the student who can fit the most AP classes into their schedule and pay for the most AP exams, which wouldn’t be fair to students with scheduling conflicts or those who are unable to afford the tests. Costa’s current policy of unweighted GPA’s is the most fair plan for the greatest number of students.
Weighting GPA’s when determining the valedictorian would create destructive competition between high achieving students. When students are pressured to take too many AP classes, they position themselves to fail and can inhibit the entire class’ pace and proficiency. Competition to accumulate the most AP and honors credits would distract students from the purpose of an AP class: to take a college level course in a subject a student finds appealing.
Though a very hardworking student will excel and become valedictorian in a system with weighted GPA’s. It is a flawed system which hurts the average student. Students will be motivated to take too many AP classes and, subsequently, their education will suffer. A hard working student will excel regardless of the system.
It is in the best interest of high-achieving students and students who are unsure about taking AP classes for valedictorians to be selected based upon unweighted GPA’s.
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