Calculating GPA for Cal State Schools

OK I have seen different information for CS calculations. Some websites look like they simply use the UC method. Other sites say they include 9th grade or even 12th grade classes (UC doesn’t). Other sites mention the “weighted and capped” deal, others don’t mention it at all. Many of the websites have dead links, and/or out of date info. Does anyone know the definitive answer as to what method they use?

CSU uses only grades from your a-g courses taken in the summer before 10th grade through summer after 11th grade.

Use this calculator which is the same for the UC’s. CSU’s use the capped weighted UC GPA for their admissions.

https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/

I just pulled this from the SDSU website for 2018 incoming Freshmen:

“Grade Point Average
Your official GPA for admission to any California State University, including SDSU, may be different than the GPA on your high school transcript. This is because we calculate your high school GPA using your 10th–12th grade a–g courses.
Also, honors points for A, B and C grades are awarded for a maximum of eight semester courses taken in 11th and 12th grades, including up to two IB or AP courses, or honors courses with 11th or 12th grade content taken in the 10th grade.”

So this is different from other Cal State schools right?

Or is it a typo?

If correct how do they process applications starting in Oct. 1 when they don’t even have the first semester Senior year grades yet?

If that is correct, and the student is hoping for better grades in Senior year , does that mean the student should wait to apply or just apply early and somehow they check on the grades at a later date? Same thing with ACT scores. If the student did only “OK” with a 26 on first shot, but is scheduled for Oct 28 test date for another shot at it…with results not being posted until late Dec, early Jan is it wise to apply now, have the ACT sent, and these will replace the previous lower scores? Or just wait until January to apply?

Not sure why the Cal states still state that they use 10-12th grades for their CSU GPA. In theory, if you are on a quarter system, you could have official Senior year fall quarter grades included in your GPA by the time the CSU applications are due on Nov 30th. Also, applicants that take a Gap year prior to applying can have all their Senior grades included in their GPA calculation, but most HS Seniors will not have official Senior grades by the time they apply.

There is no early application vs regular application time for the CSU’s (exception for Maritime Academy). You apply Oct 1- Nov 30th. Some CSU’s will accept up to the December SAT/ACT sittings while some CSU’s like SDSU/SJSU and SLO will only accept up to the October SAT/ACT sittings.

If your HS is on a semester system, then you include grades from summer school prior to 10th grade up to summer school prior to 12th grade for your CSU GPA (capped and weighted at 8 semesters of UC approved Honors/AP/IB or DE courses).

You can look up the approved Honors courses for your HS here: https://hs-articulation.ucop.edu/agcourselist#/list/search/institution

My son is scheduled for the Oct 28 ACT, but those scores, according to ACT website, will not be released until “November 14- Jan 2”. Would that still be OK even though we would have already had to apply to SDSU prior to Nov 30? Would those scores being forwarded by ACT be received and considered in time for a decision?before all slots are filled? Btw the first time he took the ACT he had the results in like 10 business days

SDSU accepts the October sitting so have them sent automatically to the school with one of the free reports. It should be fine and note on the application that he will be taking it in October.

Yes, it looks like the main effect is that frosh applicants who have already graduated high school (gap year(s)) will have their 12th grade course grades included in their HS GPA for CSU.

I cannot find any information on calculating GPA for out of state students whose courses are a MIX of year long and semester long (not ALL semester long courses like they are in CA schools). I understand that we can only add a maximum of 8 honors points, even though my daughter has taken 11 year-long honors/AP courses in 10th and 11th grade. Do year-long courses count twice? Or do year-long courses and semester long courses count the same?

Do the year long courses give one grade for each semester?

Or do they give one grade for the entire year?

@catlover13: Clarification in regards to Honors courses vs AP courses for the 8 extra honors points

OOS Honors courses are not UC approved, so only AP/IB or Dual Enrollment courses will count for the extra Honors points not HS designated Honors courses.

@Gumbymom: Yes, I understand regarding the honors points, She has 2 AP classes in 10th and 2 AP classes in 11th = 8 semesters of AP for the full 8 honors points.

@ucbalumnus: They get a grade for each of four marking periods, as well as a mid-term exam grade, a 1st semester grade (which includes the first two marking periods and the mid-term) and a final grade (which includes all four marking periods, the mid-term, and the final if they aren’t exempt from taking it). The official transcript only lists ONE grade (i.e… “95”) for each course whether its a 0.5 credit or a 1.0 credit course.

Perhaps you can ask directly using the contact information listed here:
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/contact/index.html
https://www2.calstate.edu/apply/Pages/contact-a-campus.aspx

@ucbalumnus I contacted them a while back and they said to just use the final grade for each class to calculate the CSU GPA. It just seemed odd to me that half credit (one semester) courses would count the same as 1.0 credit (year long) courses and I wanted to see if anyone else had a similar experience when applying from out of state to confirm. And it makes a huge difference in the final CSU GPA depending on the way you calculate it so I want to be sure we’re doing it right! Thank you for your help!

Did you ask them specifically if you need to double count the final grade in the year-long course because you also have semester-long courses mixed in?

So I emailed them again today (and sent them her transcript) and the reply I got was that most of her half credit courses won’t count towards her CSU GPA. I figured that PE and Advertising Art would not count. I wasn’t sure about Personal Finance and Civics but I thought they might. She also has some half credit, semester long art classes that I actually thought would count (Ceramics I & II, and Portfolio). They didn’t specifically address the fact that her other courses are graded with a final grade for the year unlike CA schools which have two semesters, they just indicated that the CSU application would automatically calculate her GPA when she applies. So, it looks like we are just going to have to wait and see what happens when she applies. The reason I was wondering was because I was trying to see if her CSU GPA might be high enough for the Webers Honors College. Her actual weighted GPA is going to be about a 4.3 at the end of junior year, but bc of the way CSU calculates it’s looking like her CSU GPA will be lower.

Even if she applies to SDSU and does not get an Honors college invite, any student can still apply to the Weber’s Honor College.
The 2 semesters of Ceramics should count for the VPA requirement and be calculated into the CSU GPA. The rest of the courses you listed will not.

May have found an answer to my own question… Found this on the CSU Mentor Application Instructions…

High Schools with a Quarter System
If the four quarter grades convert to two semester grades on your transcript, enter the semester grades and select “Semester” as the term type.
If four separate grades are recorded on your transcript, enter all four grades into the Fall semester, Spring semester, Summer semester 1, and Summer semester 2 and select “Quarter” as the term type.

High Schools with Year-long Courses
If you are on a yearly schedule (receiving a grade once for a year-long class), specify each course grade twice. For example, if you received an “A” for the course, enter the grade into both Fall semester and Spring semester.

Now I just have to figure out which one of these to use. Daughter’s school gives four marking period grades, a first semester grade, and a final grade. But since the final grade includes the first semester grade, I’m leaning towards using the year-long option. Also, I THINK the actual transcript only includes the final grade. I just don’t want to be wrong and cause a delay in her application. We are attending the out-of-state admissions info session at the open house in March so I will ask then.