Calculating Your SOPHAS GPAs
Overview
During Verification, SOPHAS 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 SOPHAS 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, etc.).
SOPHAS 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 SOPHAS 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) | |||||
SOPHAS GPA Types
SOPHAS calculates several GPA types, including:
1. Year-Level GPAs
Using Quality Points, SOPHAS calculates a GPA for several academic years.
- Freshman and Sophomore academic years are combined to create a Lower Division (Fr/So) Undergraduate GPA.
- Junior and Senior academic years are combined to create an Upper Division (Jr/Sr) Undergraduate GPA.
- GPAs from your Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior academic years are subsequently:
- Combined with any post-baccalaureate coursework to create a cumulative undergraduate GPA, and
- Combined with any post-baccalaureate coursework plus any graduate coursework to create an overall GPA.
Year-Level GPA Example:
| Year | Credits | Quality Points | GPA |
| Lower Division (Fr/So) Undergraduate | 114 | 285.6 | 2.51 |
| Upper Division (Jr/Sr) Undergraduate | 126 | 392.4 | 3.11 |
| Total | 240 | 678 | 2.83 |
| Post-Baccalaureate | 28 | 112 | 4.0 |
| Cumulative Undergraduate | 268 | 790 | 2.95 |
| Graduate | 66 | 245.4 | 3.72 |
| Overall | 334 | 1035.4 | 3.10 |
2. Course Subject Category GPAs
SOPHAS breaks down your overall GPA by course subject category (regardless of academic year). During Verification, SOPHAS makes changes to course subjects that are categorized incorrectly, ensuring these GPAs reflect the appropriate coursework.
Course Subject Category GPA Example:
| Course Subject Category | Graded Credits | Quality Points | GPA |
| Biology/Chemistry/Physics and Life Science | 84.0 | 270 | 3.21 |
| Business | 6.0 | 15.0 | 2.50 |
| Health Science | 12.0 | 31.8 | 2.65 |
| Math/Statistics | 6.0 | 13.8 | 2.30 |
| Other | 3.0 | 12.0 | 4.00 |
| Public Health | 15.0 | 40.8 | 2.72 |
| Social/Behavioral | 15.0 | 45.6 | 3.04 |
| Total | 141.0 | 429 | 3.04 |