GPA Worry

[kreddits]

Hey guys, this is my first time posting on here (exciting i know). Just had a quick question that I was hoping someone on the internet could help me with. So I go to a 4 year university but I've also been taking summer courses at this community college.

So the question: When PT schools calculate ur cumulative gpa, do they just combine all the grades together and get the average of that or do they get your grade from the community college and 4 year university and just average those 2.

Reason i'm asking is that i took gov at this community college in hs just so i could get the credit so i slacked off, getting by with a C. didn't really know it would matter for grad school or not so now i'm just enraged at myself.

so thanks for reading this. i can always depend on the internet

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[myzougrad]

A lot of schools are using PTCAS for the application. PTCAS includes all college credit GPAs to calculate the overall GPA. I had nearly a year of college credit from a community college that I took during high school. There are some schools that only calculate the GPA on the last 50 or 60 credit hours before you apply. You might want to check them out but I don't think one C is going to keep you out of PT school if the rest of your stats look good and you do some volunteering and shadowing.

 

[andy0311]

Actually DPT schools, like any other program look really down upon community college classes, that's the easy way of trying to raise your GPA. There not going to factor your two Gpa's together. You will have two separate GPA's. Also DPT schools factor which school you go into for instance lets say you graduated from Princeton with a 3.0 and another person graduated from a school unheard of with a 3.5. DPT admissions will take the person that graduated from Princeton b/c it's obviously a tougher school. Also what you major in plays a huge factor. Lets say a bio or chem major graduated with a 3.0 and a history major graduated with a 3.3 from the same school. DPT Admissions will take the bio or chem major b/c it's obviously a tougher program. So which school you graduate with a Bachelors , where you take your pre-req classes and what you major in plays a HUGE role in DPT admissions like other programs. I have a lot of friends that took science courses at community colleges and they ended up having to re-take them at a college university and they end up still doing poorly in the sciences.

 

[Lizarde]

Based on my application experience, I must disagree with your statements that community college courses and "lesser" schools in general are looked down upon. I took the majority of my sciences at community colleges after completing an undergrad degree in dance. I was accepted at Duke and UNC with no problems. I double checked with the admissions staff and no one had an issue with my classes. In fact, my community college A&P professor is my favorite teacher ever. He had a PhD, years of teaching experience, and there were only 15 in the class... compare that to the experience you may get at a University with a TA teaching the class and lab.

Actually DPT schools, like any other program look really down upon community college classes, that's the easy way of trying to raise your GPA. There not going to factor your two Gpa's together. You will have two separate GPA's. Also DPT schools factor which school you go into for instance lets say you graduated from Princeton with a 3.0 and another person graduated from a school unheard of with a 3.5. DPT admissions will take the person that graduated from Princeton b/c it's obviously a tougher school. Also what you major in plays a huge factor. Lets say a bio or chem major graduated with a 3.0 and a history major graduated with a 3.3 from the same school. DPT Admissions will take the bio or chem major b/c it's obviously a tougher program. So which school you graduate with a Bachelors , where you take your pre-req classes and what you major in plays a HUGE role in DPT admissions like other programs. I have a lot of friends that took science courses at community colleges and they ended up having to re-take them at a college university and they end up still doing poorly in the sciences.

 

[callmecrazy]

Actually DPT schools, like any other program look really down upon community college classes, that's the easy way of trying to raise your GPA. There not going to factor your two Gpa's together. You will have two separate GPA's. Also DPT schools factor which school you go into for instance lets say you graduated from Princeton with a 3.0 and another person graduated from a school unheard of with a 3.5. DPT admissions will take the person that graduated from Princeton b/c it's obviously a tougher school. Also what you major in plays a huge factor. Lets say a bio or chem major graduated with a 3.0 and a history major graduated with a 3.3 from the same school. DPT Admissions will take the bio or chem major b/c it's obviously a tougher program.

I have to disagree with all of this. Many schools do combine all of your classes and all of your prereqs when calculating GPA, and PTCAS does not make the distinction between schools concerning GPA. The rest of what you say is only hearsay, and what I've heard from various schools is that they look at things very differently from how you've stated. Many schools value diversity in backgrounds/majors (ie.they don't want a class full of science majors), and a good number of schools would easily look over anyone with a 3.0, regardless of where they went and what they're major was; schools like to keep their avg acceptance GPAs up.

To the OP: If you are applying through PTCAS, they will calculate your GPA in a whole myriad of different ways: by year, by subject, by prereqs, etc. They do not "average" the GPAs from different schools because you may have taken many credits at one school and just 2 at another (at least when I applied) . Instead, each course is proportionately factored in based on the credits. And on that note, don't fret over one C if you've done well since then; it's very, very minor in the big picture. In addition, there is a space on the PTCAS that allows you to explain any "discrepancies" in your grades if you feel like you need to.

 

[Montans]

I got into PT school off of community college credits, so I think it will depend on the program if they accept them or not. As for the GPA, I am not sure. When I applied they looked at my undergrad GPA and then at the GPA of all my prereqs, but this was pre the application service. If that C in government is the only thing and you have gotten As and Bs in all your sciences, they will probably just look past it, and if they ask, explain that you were young and didn't realize how serious you had to be, but that you learned from the experience and have since applied yourself diligently to your studies.

 

[DancerFutureDPT]

I'm agreeing with Lizarde...I have an undergrad degree in communications & dance as well, and I too did ALL my science prereqs (with the exception of psych classes + anatomy) at community college, and I got accepted into two highly ranked programs, and interviews everywhere I applied (even though I ended up withdrawing my app once I got accepted at my top choice).

If you're taking cake classes at community college just to raise your GPA, they'll notice, but if you're re-taking classes and/or your degree is in something else and need to do the prereqs there, then you're fine.

 

[kreddits]

well i go to ut austin right now majoring in bio and thinking of minoring in something. i'm doing fairly well (managing A/B). Do you guys recommend that maybe i should retake this government class at the community college i took it at? im going to take 2 gov. classes at ut but the one i took at community college doesn't transfer, it only transfered to my hs.

 

[DancerFutureDPT]

gov't isn't a prereq for PT school (at least none that I've seen)...as long as you got a C or better, I see no reason to retake anything that's not a pre-req.