GPA Question

[mewtoo]

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This may be a stupid question, but I am confused and think the answer could really impact me when I apply for phd clinical programs.

When they say they want the overall/cumulative GPA do they want your main institution's cumulative GPA or do they want you to also add in other institution's GPAs?

One of my professors said they want your main institution's GPA. I know you send them all your transcripts, but it would make a huge impact if I could add in my community college grades. I only took 2 summer terms there, but one of the grades was a retake of a class I took at my main institution. The difference is from a D to an A. Because I did not retake it at my uni it did not actually replace the D on my transcript. It (in addition to some other transfer A's) makes a big difference- a 3.34 vs a 3.55. It'll go from being at the bottom of the barrel to nearer to normal. Especially since I may be able to raise the 3.55 to a 3.6 by the time I apply.

Also, if you do add in the transfers do you replace (i.e. get rid of the D and put the A in its place) or just add it to it (i.e. have both the D and the A)? If I had taken the retake at my uni it would replace it, but I want to be careful. I'm sure that there's not much worse than people thinking that you are lying in your application.

Is there a standard for this or should I contact the programs I apply to?

Thanks in advance.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

I always calculated it as my overall cumulative GPA (i.e., across all campuses), but contacting the individual programs probably isn't a bad idea.

 

[deleted176373]

Just carry a 4.0 and you won't have to worry about the details. That's what worked for me. 😀

Seriously, the difference between a 3.55 and a 3.6 is noise.
Anything 3.5 or better will be fine, even a 3.35 won't make or break you.
Anything below a 3.3 and you have reason for concern.

Worry about the way everything else looks, in your statement of purpose you can address academic shortcomings by highlighting recent achievements (e.g. carried a 4.0 for the last 2 years after becoming focused on a future in psychology.)

 

[spafticus]

I went to 3 different schools for undergrad (hello transcript mess) and I went with the degree conferring institution because that is where I took most of my Psych classes and acquired the most credits.

I had a 3.2 overall and it was definitely an issue at some places even with a stellar GRE score to accompany it. Fortunately, there are a few schools that don't care about cumulative GPA and only consider major GPA (which was 3.8 in my case). Definitely contact the schools before hand, as well as POIs, because sometimes you can get a head's up on what they want.

 

[paramour]

I attended 3 different universities. They wanted my cumulative GPA for all three combined. I made it a point to list each institution GPA as well (and some of them actually actually requested this information anyway...)

 

[g0708]

The applications usually require that you submit you gpa for each institution attended. Usually it was only the dept application that sometimes wanted a total gpa and subject gpa. Calling individual programs based on their specific applications would be a good idea. Good luck!

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[mewtoo]

Hmm, I guess I'll just have to ask everybody. Let's just hope they want it all added together or they like the major gpa better. I don't think I'd have to worry about my 3.9 in the latter's case.

Oh, and believe me I am worrying about those things too. I'm worrying about EVERYTHING. That's my problem, haha. I dreamed about applying to grad school all night long yesterday and didn't sleep well because of it.

Thanks for the input everybody. :]

 

[hockey99]

Unless they asked for it specifically, I just did my main institution (none of them did by the way). I I needed to state the one class I took outside of it, it just asked for the other school's gpa (ie, the one class grade). I always included both transcripts

 

[futureapppsy2]

I always just reported my graduating institution's GPA (I had around 170 credits there, four somewhere else [summer course], four from another place [online course for a sometimes-pre-req my u didn't offer], and four from a college course I took in high school yet another place). It only made sense to report the institution where I had the vast majority of coursework. Although I still had to submit all four transcripts, which was an expensive pain, I don't think the programs themselves actually cared about those 12 scattered credits (they were all A's or B's, though--it might have mattered more if they were lower?).