Grade Point Averages – What Do They Mean?

In Broward County schools, you have four grade point averages and each is important in its own way.

Here’s everything you need to know about GPAs.

Checking on your student’s GPAs:

Every student - and their parents - should be familiar with a student's GPAs.

If you go to a Broward County public high school, you can log onto the Virtual Counselor page on the Broward County website to see three of the four GPAs detailed below. In order to set up a parent or student account, you will need the student's ID number which can be found on their report card or administrative documents.

Cumulative (Unweighted) Grade Point Average:

A 2.0 cumulative unweighted GPA is necessary to graduate from a high school in Broward County.

This GPA also tells you exactly where the totality of the points you received from grades falls on a 4.0 scale. Each A counts for 4 points; B for 3; C for 2; D for 1; F equals 0.

A simple example: if a student takes two classes and receives one A and one B, that equals (4 + 3)/2 and that student would have a 3.5 cumulative unweighted GPA.

Core GPA:

This is the most important GPA for the majority of Florida's state universities, along with selective and highly selective universities.

Many universities recalculate GPAs, and they usually only take into consideration the academic classes when doing so. The core GPA is usually the closest equivalent to the recalculated GPA.

Again, the core GPA only takes into consideration academic courses that the student took; all English, math, science, social science, and world language classes are counted in this GPA. The grades from art, PE, band, and any other non-academic class such as student government, are not considered when calculating this GPA.

In addition, if a student is in honors, AP, AICE, Capstone, or Dual Enrollment classes, each of those classes adds extra weight to their Core GPA.

This GPA is on a 4.0 scale but because of the weight of those higher level classes, the GPA can go well above a 4.0.

Weighted GPA:

This GPA shows universities the rigor of the classes that a student took, and takes into consideration all honors, AP, AICE, Capstone, and Dual Enrollment classes. Both academic and non-academic classes figure into the weighted GPA.

This is on a 4.0 scale but if a student takes many high level courses, the GPA can be above a 5.0.

Bright Futures GPA:

Yes, Bright Futures also has its own GPA, and it's important to know where a student stands with Bright Futures so that they can work toward obtaining the highest level scholarship possible.

You can verify your BF GPA by entering your Florida county, last name, and student ID number. You will then access your Bright Futures information. On the left hand side you can see your BF GPA. Know that the GPA cited is from a specific date which can be found in the upper right hand corner of the site. The BF website is only updated a few times per year, so you must check back regularly to see the changes.

Bright Futures scholarships range from approximately $9,000 to $12,000* over a four year time period, and are often the most important scholarship a student can obtain in the state of Florida. Read my blog on Bright Futures to learn more.

I can help you better understand the college application process and scholarships. Contact me today.

*New legislation caused a one year increase in FAS scholarships to full tuition for the 2017/2018 academic school year. The continuation of this legislation will be decided upon prior to the start of the 2018/2019 school year.

The yearly amount of scholarship usually granted is based on a per hour rate and is calculated based on how many hours a student takes per semester.