Calculating Gpa

<p>Hello, if a college says they will calculate your new University GPA with the credits you transfer for admission purposes. Does this mean that if I had a class that is worth 4 or 5 credit hours at my current college and I earned a "B" in it and it is worth only 3 at the university I am applying to that my GPA will be higher then it was on my transcript? Do colleges look at your GPA drastically different if it is much higher at their University rather than on the transcript? Thanks!</p>

<p>some input would be nice!</p>

<p>my guess is that the weight given to each course is determined by your current school's grading policies, not by those of the transfer school. the transfer gpa they calculate for admissions purposes is only relevant because details like whether a B+ = 3.3 or 3.5 and how many credits a course is worth create a picture of your performance in courses similar to those offered by the transfer school... they can then place those grades in the context of the school you attended.</p>

<p>if you got a b in a 5-credit course, it may bring down your transfer gpa a little... but it will probably work in your favor. if you were to compare your 5-credit b to student A who got a b in a 3-credit course somewhere else and student B who got a 5-credit b at a less intense school, you'd be regrded as the strongest student.</p>

<p>Not sure I totally understand your question, but this information may help.</p>

<p>Once you accept a place at your transfer school, the new school will review your transcript and "articulate" your classes (I think that's the word; if not, it's a similar kind-of-odd word). What this means is that the registrar's office and/or faculty in relevant fields look at each course you have taken (sometimes requiring catalog descriptions) and match it to a course at your school to give you credit. They make whatever judgments are necessary if there is no direct match. They will have to evaluate why your 5-credit course differs from their 3-credit course to decide how many credit hours you will get at the new school. Occasionally, some credits won't transfer.</p>

<p>also, holding to the home institution's grading standards is the best way to avoid grade inflation/deflation - maybe this is a better way to express that example:</p>

<p>if we're considering:
student 1 - earned a 5-credit B at an ivy
student 2 - earned a 4-credit B at an average 4-year
student 3 - earned a 3-credit A- at a community college</p>

<p>student 1 would probably be regarded as the strongest applicant when all available course information is considered. BUT if admissions just took the grades at face value without considering credit value or level of intensity, it would look like student 1 and student 2 performed at exactly same level, and student 3 would look like the strongest applicant.</p>

<p>well i think you guys misunderstood what i was asking, i guess i should have made myself clear. take this scenario for example:</p>

<p>I earned the following grades and they are worth the following credits at MY school where spanish is worth 5 credit hours.</p>

<p>math-A 3 credits
science-A 3 credits
English-A 3 credits
spanish-B 5 credits
art-A 3 credits</p>

<p>so my gpa at MY college would be a 3.70</p>

<p>now lets say they "recalculated" my gpa for admissions purposes and spanish is only worth 3 credits...</p>

<p>math-A 3 credits
science-A 3 credits
English-A 3 credits
spanish-B 3 credits
art-A 3 credits</p>

<p>or something to this scenario, so my GPA would be about a 3.80 now? it would actually help my gpa if the classes i had lower grades in were worth less credits correct?</p>

<p>so what i am asking is if this can make a lot of weight in their decision when looking at your "recalculated" GPA compared to your GPA from your transcript?</p>

<p>I don't believe they will re-calculate your GPA for admissions purposes.</p>

<p>i understood the question. i don't think you understand the recalculation process.</p>

<p>college grades have two parts:
the "grade" (letter) and the # of credit hours.</p>

<p>the only adjustment made to the grade point average is the exclusion of non-transferable courses; adjustments to the GRADES themselves (letter grade per credit hour) will not be made.</p>

<p>generally speaking, each credit hour represents a certain amount of time that must be devoted to the course in order for you to be successful; courses with higher credit values are expected to be more difficult or otherwise require more attention (as evidenced by the 5-credit course being the only non-A grade listed). thus, grades in courses with higher credit values have a greater bearing on your grade point average. your final transfer GPA will be 3.70.</p>

<p>well i didn't mean that the grade of a "B" would be changed. i just meant that instead of it counting as 5 credit hours it would count as 3. so i would think that it would raise my GPA because of that?</p>

<p>With your grades, yes, your GPA will go up. However, i'm not so sure colleges recalculate your GPA for admission purposes, because the classes obviously are not the same. Also, it would be impossible to "recalculate" GPAs, because the school may not offer all courses taken by applicants. Instead, they'll see you did well in a 5-credit course, which is good =)</p>

<p>collegerules -</p>

<p>i understand the question! the answer hasn't changed... and neither will your admissions GPA. "no, they will NOT change the course credit value from 5 credits to 3 credits. the GPA they calculate for admissions purposes will not go up."</p>

<p>yes i understand now, im guessing that they just recalculate classes by taking ones out that are like physical education and take out ones that wont transfer. sorry about the misunderstanding.</p>

<p>haha don't worry about it. you've got strong grades! the fact that your only B is in a 5-credit course really does work in your favor.</p>

<p>thanks bro, do they really look at it from that aspect?</p>