With the school year being almost over, students’ slowly await the end of the year and their favorite or least favorite thing…report cards.

     According to a study done by usnews.com in 2009, the average female GPA went from 2.77 to 3.10 in a span of almost 20 years. This shows that a demand for a higher GPA has steadily increased throughout the years. 

     However, recently there has been some controversy on whether or not a high GPA really even matters when considering going to a good college.

Some choose to try and achieve the highest GPA possible, taking all upper level classes and possibly achieve top 25 or even valedictorian by the end of their high school career.

     Junior Grace Bowen chose to pursue a full IB curriculum, filling almost her entire schedule with higher level classes that are associated with the name.

     Bowen has about three hours of homework every day, most of it being research based, reading and annotating.

“If I could choose now, I would probably have gone with more honors classes instead because sometimes the work does get really overwhelming and it feels like I don’t have time to myself,” Bowen said.

    Taking the full International Baccalaureate program, Bowen believes that having a high GPA is a high advantage when it comes to scouting and pursuing a college.

     “I definitely feel like GPA plays a large role in colleges deciding on whether or not they want you, as getting in top 25 and valedictorian looks really good on a college resume,” Bowen said. “Although it does kind of suck sometimes having to not be able to take classes I want to because my entire schedule is filled from the program.”

     On the contrary junior Keirsten Amos, chose to stick with on level and honors classes. With this decision, she chose to not worry too much about the ever-growing tension to have a high GPA in high schools today.

    Instead of three hours, Amos has about an average of an hour of homework a night, mostly studying and working for her ASL class.

     “I’m happy with where I am right now when it comes to the classes I’m taking, as I participate in sports which already takes up a lot of my time already,” Amos said.

     With track season recently starting, Amos is required to practice three to five times a week, leaving very little time to relax within the week.

     From this, she leaned more towards pursuing honors classes to still give herself time within the week to relax and pursue personal activities instead of spending all of her extra time doing homework.

      “I feel that taking harder classes is definitely worth it if you’re wanting to go into a prestigious college so you have background knowledge going into it,” Amos said. “But at the same time, it kind of takes away your personality and life outside of school which I believe is just as important as your life inside of school.”

     Whether or not there is a right decision on choosing to pursue a high GPA or not, there really isn’t.

     When looking at the statistics of multiple Ivy League schools, when looking for a GPA they mostly look for about a 3.5-4.0. On a non weighted scale, that would be about a B to an A range.

     While some believe that it is an essential piece of information to have on a college resume if considering going to a higher level school, others believe that it really isn’t that big of a deal and that colleges are looking at different factors rather than an accumulative GPA.