The question isn't: "Does GPA matter in college applications?" EDIT: I guess it kind of is. The answer seems to be a resounding "Very Systematic." Especially considering Paul's above example of the Texas admission system.
The question is: "How does a robotics class that currently lowers a weighted GPA of a >4.0 weighted GPA student attract and retain said student?"
Here are some options I see:
Option 1: Convince said student that the slight difference in weighted GPA won't matter. (as some have claimed on this thread)
Option 2: Give an option for taking the class pass/no pass, so it doesn't effect their GPA.
Option 3: Provide an AP/Honors Robotics class that will provide a 5.0 weighted with an "A"
Option 4: Don't enroll said students in the class but allow participation on the team.
We went with Option 2/Option 4.
Option 1 is probably a hard sell for high achieving kids. We have many students from our school district going to top colleges, and I doubt these students would buy the argument in Option 1. But we still want these kids on the team, so rather than try to convince every high-achieving student to register for something they don't want, we went with different options
Is Option 3 even possible in California? The closest I can think of is AP Computer Science.
Let us know if you end up making any changes to your program to address these challenges! I've always admired the way you run 696, even if its pretty different from the way we've done things up here!
-Mike