When applying, do I have to put a separate gpa consisting of my major’s prereqs?
I’m asking as my overall gpa is higher.
Major: Molecular Bio
Applying to CAL or UCLA
There’s been some speculation over the weight of major GPA in the undergraduate transfer admissions process… some say it doesn’t exist but from all the info that I’ve been able to find, it seems that it is a real thing. Overall GPA is important, but the schools also want to see that you can handle upper division major courses when you transfer. For same majors, it even says on the assist.org page that they want a certain GPA for major prep work, indicating that it is something they look at. Considering that the biological sciences are all impacted majors, I would think that major course GPA is important. So I would say that they do look at a GPA that counts for only your major prep work, in addition to your overall GPA. But it’s not a 100% for sure thing. I mean it just makes sense tho, you can always take “easy” classes to inflate your overall GPA but the grades in your major courses, especially for the sciences, are what really show your strength
UCLA looks at major GPA; other UCs don’t as a general policy but highly selective majors often do.