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Calculating Your AHCAS GPAs

If your program requires...

(Note: see the Colleges Attended & Transcript Entry sections for more information on transcript and coursework requirements.)

...then AHCAS does the following with GPAs...

... and your application's final status is...

Official Transcripts + Full Coursework Entry

Calculates three GPAs and makes them available to your programs:

Verified

Official Transcripts + Prerequisite Entry Only

Provides your programs with per transcript and overall GPAs.

Verified

Official Transcripts + No Coursework Entry

Provides your programs with per transcript and overall GPAs.

Verified

Unofficial Transcripts + Prerequisite Entry Only

Does not calculate or provide GPAs to programs.

Complete

Unofficial Transcripts + No Coursework Entry

Does not calculate or provide GPAs to programs.

Complete

No Transcripts + No Coursework Entry

Does not calculate or provide GPAs to programs.

Complete

 

Overview

During verification, AHCAS uses the information you entered in the Transcript Entry section to calculate several GPAs, including GPAs for each institution you attended. To calculate these GPAs, each A-F or 0-100 grade you entered in the Grade field is first converted to a AHCAS numeric grade value, then multiplied by the attempted credits. The resulting product is Quality Points.

Your total Quality Points are then divided by your Attempted Credits to determine your GPA.

Non-graded credits are not included in your GPAs. Non-graded credits are earned credits for which you did not receive actual letter grades (e.g., advanced placement credits, "pass" or "satisfactory" credits, college board AP exams, courses taken as pass/fail, etc.). Note: a grade of WF (i.e., equivalent of a withdrawn with penalty, withdrawn failing, etc.) is factored into GPA calculations as an F.

AHCAS calculates all GPAs in semester hours. Courses that were completed in quarter hours are converted to semester hours. The conversion ratio is 1.0 quarter hour = 0.667 semester hours.

Use the GPA Calculator to see how AHCAS will calculate your GPA.

Example:

Course

Transcript Grade

Converted Numeric Grade Value

Attempted Credits

Calculation

Quality Points

MATH 1100

A

4

4

4 x 4

16

ENGL 1310

B

3

3

3 x 3

9

GEOL 1610

C

2

4

2 x 4

8

PHED 1000

D

1

3

1 x 3

3

PSCI 1040

F

0

3

0 x 3

0

Total

 

 

17

 

36

GPA Calculation: 36 (Quality Points) / 17 (Attempted Credits) = 2.12 (GPA)

GPA Types

AHCAS calculates several GPA types, including:

Year-level GPAs

Using Quality Points, AHCAS calculates a GPA for each academic year. GPAs from your Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior academic years are subsequently:

  1. Combined with any post-baccalaureate coursework to create a cumulative undergraduate GPA, and
  2. Combined with any post-baccalaureate coursework plus any graduate coursework to create an overall GPA.

Year-Level GPA Example:

Year

Credits

Quality Points

GPA

Freshman

66

166.2

2.52

Sophomore

48

119.4

2.49

Junior

66

223.2

3.38

Senior

60

169.2

2.82

Total

240

678.0

2.83

Post-Baccalaureate

28

112.0

4.00

Cumulative Undergraduate

268

790.0

2.95

Graduate

66

245.4

3.72

Overall

334

1035.4

3.10

Course Subject Category GPAs

Course Subject Category GPAs are based on your overall GPA in each course subject category, regardless of academic year. During verification, AHCAS ensures course subjects are placed in the correct categories so that GPAs reflect the appropriate coursework.

To view which course subject GPAs are calculated by AHCAS, refer to AHCAS Course Subjects.

Course Subject Category GPA Example:

Course Subject Category

Graded Credits

Quality Points

GPA

Biology/Chemistry/Physics

84.0

270.0

3.21

English

6.0

15.0

2.50

Mathematics

6.0

18.0

3.00

Other Science

34.0

90.1

2.65

 

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