Worried about GPA, new here!

[Misterlili]

Hey guys, I'm new and I'm real oblivious about Physical Therapy School. Any info helps, but I want to start with my GPA. Well I'm at the University of Houston, and I did real poor in my intro to Bio and Chem classes. I made a C- in Bio1361 and a C in Bio1362. I made a C- in Chem 1331 and a D+ in Chem 1332. Obviously those are poor grades and I plan to retake all of them besides Bio1362. If I do real well in the rest of my classes, Well at the University of Houston they average the grades for your GPA. If I do real well in the rest of my classes and my GPA is very strong, will the PT schools look heavily on how poor I did my freshman year? I was wondering if someone could give me insight on how GPAs are calculated according to PT schools. I saw another thread earlier, but I'm just not very clear on it. Thank you for your time guys!

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[markelmarcel]

As far as when you retake a class that is up to the university you are attending/what schools you would apply to.

For example, say in Bio 1 I got a D and then I retook it and got a B. Some schools allow you to "erase" that first grade (the D) and replace it with a B. (At the school I work at you can fill out a form to get the grade replace and the old, "bad" grade doesn't count towards your GPA anymore. Don't know about policies elsewhere.)

Other schools will average the two grades together- so they look at your D and your B and say, well that averages to a C.

There are lots of reasons people don't do well as freshmen. They don't have good study skills from high school, they have problems adjusting to college life, etc. Don't let a bad start stop you. You'll grow as a student!

 

[lizzo76]

There's also a third possibility... some schools just add your replacement grade into the mix, as they would any other additional class you take. They neither average the old grade and the new grade, nor replace the old grade outright. This does not help your GPA as much as it would if the outright replaced your old grade (obviously) OR if they averaged the two grades.

For instance... let's say you have taken 10 courses. These are your grades for each course (A=4, B=3, C=2, D=1):

4, 3, 2, 1, 4, 4, 3, 3, 2, 3 = 29 Overall GPA = 29/10 = 2.9

Completely replace a D (the 1) with a B (3). Overall GPA is now 31/10 = 3.1

-or-

Average the D and B, so you end up replacing the D (1) with a C (2). Overall GPA = 30/10 = 3.0

-or-

Just add another grade - the B (3) into the mix...

Overall GPA = (29 (first 10 courses) + 3 (B in your replacement course)) / 11 = 2.9090909090

As far as whether PTCAS has some standard way of dealing with this, I don't know... I haven't looked into them that much at this point. But I know that my undergrad college simply tacked any new grade onto all my other grades. So as far as helping my GPA... retaking a course really wouldn't help that much, even if I'd gotten an A. (And the numbers above are somewhat arbitrary... you'd really end up with many more grades by the end of undergrad... I used 10 just for the sake of an example. With many more grades, retaking a course, regardless of how the school calculated GPA, would help your GPA less than what is indicated in my above example, although it might help your science GPA as much as shown in my example.) But as far as helping to dismiss any notions of "she's bad at science" - retaking a course would be valuable. That assumes, though that everything is carefully scrutinized and they see that X course was retaken and I went up from a D to a B or an A.

 

[goyo1010]

Hey guys, I'm new and I'm real oblivious about Physical Therapy School. Any info helps, but I want to start with my GPA. Well I'm at the University of Houston, and I did real poor in my intro to Bio and Chem classes. I made a C- in Bio1361 and a C in Bio1362. I made a C- in Chem 1331 and a D+ in Chem 1332. Obviously those are poor grades and I plan to retake all of them besides Bio1362. If I do real well in the rest of my classes, Well at the University of Houston they average the grades for your GPA. If I do real well in the rest of my classes and my GPA is very strong, will the PT schools look heavily on how poor I did my freshman year? I was wondering if someone could give me insight on how GPAs are calculated according to PT schools. I saw another thread earlier, but I'm just not very clear on it. Thank you for your time guys!

Hey,

I'm current at UH, too! Go Coogs. haha. Yeah, I'd recommend you retake those classes and try to at least make a B+ in the Bio and Chem classes if you want to stay competetive for PT school admissions. Take a look at the average GPA of the entering freshman class for the year, e.g. TWU's is about 3.73/4.0. I know that our GPAs are based on A, A-, B+, B, B-, etc. so our GPA calculation may be lower or higher. Depends on your grades. The specific PT school has their own method of determing your GPA. Sometimes, they just take the GPA your school provides for you. many times, they actually take the last 60 hours or something and use that as you "overall GPA". Also, the PT school may calculate your science/math GPA and also take that into consideration. It's really up to the PT school and if they use PTCAS or applytexas or their own application.

If your improve your BIO and CHEM class and do WELL in PHYS 1301/1302 classes, you should be fine. They look much more kindly upon science and math grades better than B's.

What's your major? I'm a Kinesiology - Ex Sci major at UH. Graduating in May and going to TWU in Fall 2011.

 

[markitatillman]

goyo1010-

so you got accepted into the DPT program at TWU congrats! if you don't mind what were your stats(gpa,gre,observation hrs)! I applied for the november 1st deadline put haven't heard anything yet!

 

[goyo1010]

markitatillman-

hey, thanks! Yeah, the waiting will alst till mid-December. Don't worry! I'm sure you're gonna be okay

University:
University of Houston
(graduating a year early!)
Major:
Kinesiology - Exercise Science (Health Professions track)
Honors College
Overall GPA:
managing a 3.75 having worked 2 jobs
Pre-Req GPA:
3.89
GRE: V:560; Q:680; W:6 (heck yes with the analytical writing part)
Extra-Curric:
Outreach programs, e.g. visiting and assisting the elderly, the homebound, the sick, the hospitalized, nursing homes.
Tutoring kids from elementary to high school.
Violinist for church.
Health and Human Performance Honor Society
National Society of Collegiate Scholars.

Volunteer:
140+ hours at outpatient, acute care, and general hospital settings as observer/shadower

 

[cameronWA]

markitatillman-

hey, thanks! Yeah, the waiting will alst till mid-December. Don't worry! I'm sure you're gonna be okay

University:
University of Houston
(graduating a year early!)
Major:
Kinesiology - Exercise Science (Health Professions track)
Honors College
Overall GPA:
managing a 3.75 having worked 2 jobs
Pre-Req GPA:
3.89
GRE: V:560; Q:680; W:6 (heck yes with the analytical writing part)
Extra-Curric:
Outreach programs, e.g. visiting and assisting the elderly, the homebound, the sick, the hospitalized, nursing homes.
Tutoring kids from elementary to high school.
Violinist for church.
Health and Human Performance Honor Society
National Society of Collegiate Scholars.

Volunteer:
140+ hours at outpatient, acute care, and general hospital settings as observer/shadower

Good job.