<p>I'm a little confused here... I'm a mechanical engineering major, so would my major GPA include only courses that began with "ME" or would I include all courses required for the degree, including math and physics?</p>
<p>It would include all classes starting with ME as well as any math, physics and chemistry classes counting towards the major (especially the required ones).</p>
<p>End of the day, they get your transcripts and can look for themselves at what they deem important. </p>
<p>Be as honest as you can and include whatever you feel is relevant. I really don't think it is super critical what you put in that box on the application.</p>
<p>I remember anguishing over this very question for awhile...then I finally did the calculations for every permutation of classes for my "major". Given they usually only give you one decimal place on applications, no matter how I factored it I came up with the same number. Then again, if you "bombed" a class that honestly does not fit your interests for grad school but on a long shot might fit into a "major GPA" I really don't see a huge issue with excluding it. Just remember, they do get your transcripts.</p>
<p>I calculate it based on all the courses I was required to take for my major using my institution's course catalog as a reference. But there is a lot of gray area here. You could also calculate it based off of all the courses you took that are related to your major and field... however you just have to use your judgment. The reason I didn't use the second method was because nearly every course I took in undergraduate (including most of my electives) were related to my major and field... so then my major gpa turned out to be essentially my cumulative GPA.</p>
<p>I asked my major adviser about this--she said it depends on the school. First I would ask the schools themselves; they might come back at you with something vague and ask you to ask your adviser. In that case, I would calculate all your "ME" courses, then try putting in the extraneous stuff needed for your major (not your general bachelor humanities distributions and whatnot). Pick the one that's higher :p (But don't pick and choose to make it higher--that's just slimy).</p>
<p>Why don't you just ask your registrar's office? Most universities calculate both the cumulative GPA and the major GPA and put both on your transcript.</p>