calculating GPA for vmcas

[hoodle]

My college uses letter grades and +/-, so I have to calculate my numerical GPA myself. How does VMCAS like it? For example, is an A- a 3.75, a 3.67, or what? Also, credit hours. My college does it very simply (1 credit = 1 course, unless you're taking a double-credit seminar, which is worth two courses, or a half-credit class, which is... half a class). How many credit hours is each semester class? Thanks...

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[flokemahe]

how much each letter grade is worth, ie A=4, B+=3.3, B-=2.7. AND my two primary transcripts assign slightly different values to each grade - if I recall correctly one transcipt uses B-=2.67 and one is B-=2.7.

As far as your credit hours, I have NO idea. Does that mean your transcripts show about 4-5 credits per semester/quarter?? I thought all schools used credit hours!I'd contact your schol about that one, surely they've encountered the issue before. Generally, 1 hour of lecture per week=1 credit. So if your lecture class meets 3 days a week for 1 hr, it's 3 credits. Labs are 2-3hrs/wk per 1 credit, and discussion sections are somewhere in between

 

[pressmom]

I think I did two different things because I had all kinds of problems. I went to Duke, which does credits (as in one credit = 3 or 4 hours). If that's the only type of course you have then I would make

A+ = 4.0
A = 4.0
A- = 3.67
B+ = 3.33
B = 3.0
B- = 2.67
C+ = 2.33
C = 2.0
C- = 1.67
etc.

And just add the grades and divide by credits.

Now if you're like me and you also went to another school that does hours, I did it like this. NCSU counted my Duke credits as 4 hours, so I multiplied 4 hours x 4.0 = 16 or 4 hours x 3.33 = 13.3, etc. and did the same for my NCSU courses 2 hours x 3.0 = 6 added up the products of the multiplication and divided it by the total HOURS. I recommend stopping every few and writing down a sub total to make your life easier.

Does this make sense? If not, PM me.

 

[cyrille104]

This is all stuff you need to ask your registrar office. Don't just put A-=3.75 if it's worth 3.67 at your school - they'll think you're a big fat liar. For example, at my school an A-=3.7...so before calculating your GPA using pressmom's advice, you need to find out how it's done at your school. Your registrar office can also tell you how to convert to semester hours. I'm sure there were plenty of undergrads at your school that appled to grad school before...you should be able to find the information you need relatively easily.

 

[hoodle]

Well, see, I looked online at my school's registrar, and an A- (for example) is a 3.67. However, sometimes application services want GPAs calculated in a consistent manner, and given that the VMCAS isn't up yet, I was just curious about other people's calculation experiences. But I guess if they just want students to self-report, then it depends on your undergrad institution's individual protocol.

 

[pressmom]

The only problem with the way the school does it is sometimes it just isn't in line with the standard. For example, NCSU uses an A+ = 4.33 system, so my GPA was something like 4.0/4.33, which translated into something like 3.9/4.0. It isn't fair to use an A+ = 4.33 when most schools don't.

 

[cyrille104]

Yeah, you have to just do it how your school does it. You send transcripts to each school anyway, so they'll see it anyway. Unless your GPA is not on a 4.0 scale (like pressmom's), it's usually standard. If A-=3.67, then B+=3.33, and if A-=3.7, then B+=3.3, so it evens out in the end.

 

[kate_g]

Be aware than in VMCAS you have to list each individual class, the number of credits, and the grade. If some of your transcripts give "1 unit" for a standard 3-hour-a-week class and others are "3 hours" for the same class, then if you stay true to your transcripts and fill in "1" and "3" those courses will weigh differently in the cumulative GPA that VMCAS calculates!

In my case, almost all of my classes were on the "hours" system, but I had a couple post-bacc classes in the "1 class = 1 unit" system. There were only a couple but one was a prereq, and I went back and forth a lot and honestly I forget if I listed those classes as 3 credits or 1 in the big VMCAS list. Either way I put a short note in the "explanations" section mentioning the difference in credit systems and explaining that although the transcript gave the physio class as "1 unit" it was actually a standard 3-hour course that met the prereq.

 

[hoodle]

Be aware than in VMCAS you have to list each individual class, the number of credits, and the grade. If some of your transcripts give "1 unit" for a standard 3-hour-a-week class and others are "3 hours" for the same class, then if you stay true to your transcripts and fill in "1" and "3" those courses will weigh differently in the cumulative GPA that VMCAS calculates!

but... but... (stammer)

that would mean that each physics class I took at a state university on the quarter system, each worth 5 credits, will be worth 5 classes (such as chem, orgo 1 and 2, biochem, and microbiology?) That's asinine! It just can't be! There must be some way of standarizing things so as to make it all work out. I'll go talk to my registrar about converting credits at Swarthmore into class hours.

Presumably, each is worth 3, as I think 3 is the standard for a semester course and 5 is the standard for a quarter. All labs are included in the main grade, and there are no science classes at Swarthmore without labs... so I wonder if that adversely or positively affects me compared to others?

Odd, all this grading stuff. We all work so hard, but then insignificant-seeming institutional differences cause so much trouble and can create or magnify discrepencies between people.

 

[cyrille104]

I really don't think it hurts you. They see all styles of credits, and I'm sure they know what each one means. If they see you had physics and didn't get an extra credit for it, I'm sure they can figure out that it means you don't get credit for labs. If you think it's confusing, explain it in the explanation section. Credit conversions are really the least of vet school applicants' problems...

 

[tiddlywinks]

Yeah, I thought I had some major problems because at my school we have "units" which are supposed to be the total amount of time per week we spend on that course (in and out of class) and 3 units are equivalent to 1 credit.

Some of my classes are actually 12 units. But the VMCAS only lets you put numbers from 0 -9 in the credits space. So I just filled it all out in 'units', put 9's where there should be 12's, and explained it in the extra section at the end. That's what the people at the VMCAS help line told me to do - once VMCAS is up and running you can always call them to check, too.