AMCAS GPA calculation question

[kdog024]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

I had a question regarding how AMCAS calculated my GPA, and wanted to see if there is some policy that I am not aware of or if AMCAS potentially made an error while calculating my GPA.

Two of my courses during undergrad were cross-registered independent study course where I did neuroscience research in a lab. On my transcript for my primary undergraduate institution, it says that I received 5 out of a total of 5 quality points and 4 out of a total of 4 quality points as I received an A in both semesters. Based on how my other grades were calculated in my verified application, it seems like the 5 quality points should be translated to 5 semester hours and 4 quality points should be translated to 4 semester hours. However, in my application for these two courses, AMCAS gave .30 and .40 semester hours for these two courses, which is a drastic drop that had a relatively significant impact on my GPA. I was wondering if this is an error on their part and I should submit an academic change request, or is there some policy that AMCAS has that resulted in this drop in semester hours.

 

[eigen]

I had a question regarding how AMCAS calculated my GPA, and wanted to see if there is some policy that I am not aware of or if AMCAS potentially made an error while calculating my GPA.

Two of my courses during undergrad were cross-registered independent study course where I did neuroscience research in a lab. On my transcript for my primary undergraduate institution, it says that I received 5 out of a total of 5 quality points and 4 out of a total of 4 quality points as I received an A in both semesters. Based on how my other grades were calculated in my verified application, it seems like the 5 quality points should be translated to 5 semester hours and 4 quality points should be translated to 4 semester hours. However, in my application for these two courses, AMCAS gave .30 and .40 semester hours for these two courses, which is a drastic drop that had a relatively significant impact on my GPA. I was wondering if this is an error on their part and I should submit an academic change request, or is there some policy that AMCAS has that resulted in this drop in semester hours.

Generally, quality points is credit hours * grade on a 4.0 scale. For a typical lecture course (3 credit hours), an A would be 12 "quality points".

4 quality points would usually indicate an A (4.0) for 1 credit hour (semester hour), while 5 would indicate a 1.25 credit hour course.

Both 1 and 1.25 seem typical for undergraduate research.

As mentioned, you need to check for the actual number of credit hours on your transcript. Is your school semesters/trimesters/quarters?

 

[kdog024]

Quality points shouldnt be the issue. How many quarter hours was each of these IR

Thank you for replying🙂
The two courses were worth 1 credit and 1.25 credits respectively.
My school does 1 credit= 4 semester hours or 6 quarter hours. Therefore, a 1.25 credit course should be 5 semester hours. This conversion seems to have been used for all my other classes besides these two classes.

 

[eigen]

Are you sure you're not confusing credit hour with course credits?

A semester hour is a US-wide standard that is equivalent to 45 hours of instruction + a minimum of 90 hours of out of class work (3 hours per week of class + 6 hours out of class for a standard 15 week semester). Some universities (mine among them) count 1 course credit as equivalent to 4 credit hours/semester hours.

What does, say, organic chemistry appear as on your transcript?

 

[kdog024]

Are you sure you're not confusing credit hour with course credits?

A semester hour is a US-wide standard that is equivalent to 45 hours of instruction + a minimum of 90 hours of out of class work (3 hours per week of class + 6 hours out of class for a standard 15 week semester). Some universities (mine among them) count 1 course credit as equivalent to 4 credit hours/semester hours.

What does, say, organic chemistry appear as on your transcript?

Thank you for your help!
Organic chem with lab appears as 1.25 under a column titled as just credit, and in my transcript, it says that the 1-course credit is equivalent to 4 semester hours, which seems to be similar to your university I think? Apologies if I am still misunderstanding.

 

[LizzyM]

It seems to me that all of your courses should be treated the same. As long as they are all treated the same, the number of credits shouldn't matter as GPA is a proportion.

1 credit at 4.0 = 4
1.25 credits at 4.0 = 5

The 4.0 is a grade of A and the 4 and 5 are the number of grade points awarded for a grade of A for the intensity of the class (1 credit, 1.25 credits)

Now if a course was 1 or 1.25 credits and AMCAS only gave you 0.3 or 0.4 credits and multiplied 0.3 (4) to get 1.2 grade points, it appears that you have been cheated and should ask that it be reviewed and corrected.

 

[kdog024]

It seems to me that all of your courses should be treated the same. As long as they are all treated the same, the number of credits shouldn't matter as GPA is a proportion.

1 credit at 4.0 = 4
1.25 credits at 4.0 = 5

The 4.0 is a grade of A and the 4 and 5 are the number of grade points awarded for a grade of A for the intensity of the class (1 credit, 1.25 credits)

Now if a course was 1 or 1.25 credits and AMCAS only gave you 0.3 or 0.4 credits and multiplied 0.3 (4) to get 1.2 grade points, it appears that you have been cheated and should ask that it be reviewed and corrected.

Thank you for everyone's help. I will make sure to fill out an academic change request today!