GPAs from different colleges

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

luv2sd

Full Member
10+ Year Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2006
Messages
591
Reaction score
2
how do medical schools average GPAs from different colleges?
if I received 3.8 and 3.5 from two different colleges, do medical schools just
add those two numbers together and divide by 2?

:confused::confused::confused:

Members don't see this ad.
 

sillydoc2230

Full Member
10+ Year Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
May 8, 2007
Messages
207
Reaction score
0
they take all your classes as if you took them at one school, scale them to their standard AMCAS tables so all A's or A-'s mean the same (b/c at diff schools they are counted differently) and then give you a new gpa. It won't necessarily be the average of those two gpa's but it will be in that ballpark.
 

luv2sd

Full Member
10+ Year Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2006
Messages
591
Reaction score
2
they take all your classes as if you took them at one school, scale them to their standard AMCAS tables so all A's or A-'s mean the same (b/c at diff schools they are counted differently) and then give you a new gpa. It won't necessarily be the average of those two gpa's but it will be in that ballpark.

wait I thought they assigned different grade points to each letter grade. like 4.0 for A+ and 3.7 for A and 3.5 for A-...

are you sure all A's get the same grade point which is 4?
lol then it's helpful to get a lot of minuses... lol j/k
 
Members don't see this ad :)

sillydoc2230

Full Member
10+ Year Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
May 8, 2007
Messages
207
Reaction score
0
haha i was unclear. i meant that an A will always be 4.0 but at some schools A+ can be 4.0 or 4.3, AMCAS makes it 4.0 standardly. A- is 3.7 standardly for AMCAS. So they just make it a different standardized number for each grade regardless of school. Sorry about the confusion.
 

riceman04

Full Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2005
Messages
8,506
Reaction score
7
wait I thought they assigned different grade points to each letter grade. like 4.0 for A+ and 3.7 for A and 3.5 for A-...

are you sure all A's get the same grade point which is 4?
lol then it's helpful to get a lot of minuses... lol j/k

no...for AMCAS:

A, A+ = 4.0
A- = 3.7
B+ = 3.3
B = 3.0
B- = 2.7

etc...
 

luv2sd

Full Member
10+ Year Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2006
Messages
591
Reaction score
2
no...for AMCAS:

A, A+ = 4.0
A- = 3.7
B+ = 3.3
B = 3.0
B- = 2.7

etc...

so they don't take course credit into account? so an A is always 4.0 whether it's from a 1 credit course or a 4 credit course?
 

sillydoc2230

Full Member
10+ Year Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
May 8, 2007
Messages
207
Reaction score
0
as with any gpa, each class's grade is then weighed differently depending on the credit hours. so no, 1 credit 4.0 is not the same as 4 credit 4.0.
 

riceman04

Full Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2005
Messages
8,506
Reaction score
7
so they don't take course credit into account? so an A is always 4.0 whether it's from a 1 credit course or a 4 credit course?

Well they use quality points to create your gpa...so obviously a 4.0 in a 4 credit course is going to be worth more than a 4.0 in 3 credit course
 

LifetimeDoc

EM Attending
15+ Year Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2006
Messages
2,845
Reaction score
63
Well they use quality points to create your gpa...so obviously a 4.0 in a 4 credit course is going to be worth more than a 4.0 in 3 credit course

quality points for a class = credits * grade point value for grade in class (Ignore all non-grades like Incomplete, Withdraw, Pass, etc)

Add up all credits and quality points, divide quality points by credits, get AMCAS GPA.

Here is a spreadsheet. Just plug in all your graded classes, presto it calculates everything for you! :D
 

postbacker

Membership Revoked
Removed
10+ Year Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
Mar 27, 2007
Messages
1,208
Reaction score
2
I know that AMCAS dings the GPA for minuses, but do they add 0.3 back in for plusses (not the A+, but the other letter grade plusses) as a poster is suggesting here? i am a year away from doing this, but I thought I read this differently in an AMCAS pdf...
 

LifetimeDoc

EM Attending
15+ Year Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2006
Messages
2,845
Reaction score
63
I know that AMCAS dings the GPA for minuses, but do they add 0.3 back in for plusses (not the A+, but the other letter grade plusses) as a poster is suggesting here? i am a year away from doing this, but I thought I read this differently in an AMCAS pdf...

Yes, a B+ is between an A- and a B, in terms of point values...
Grade Lookup Table (Type 1)
a+ A 4.00
a A 4.00
a- A- 3.70
b+ B+ 3.30
b B 3.00
b- B- 2.70
c+ C+ 2.30
c C 2.00
c- C- 1.70
d+ D+ 1.30
d D 1.00
d- D- 0.70
f F 0.00
e/nc F 0.00
e F 0.00
nc F 0.00
u F 0.00
u/r f 0.00

Refer to the Tables tab of my spreadsheet (attachment above) to see how it's all calculated.
 

postbacker

Membership Revoked
Removed
10+ Year Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
Mar 27, 2007
Messages
1,208
Reaction score
2
Yes, a B+ is between an A- and a B, in terms of point values...
Grade Lookup Table (Type 1)
a+ A 4.00
a A 4.00
a- A- 3.70
b+ B+ 3.30
b B 3.00
b- B- 2.70
c+ C+ 2.30
c C 2.00
c- C- 1.70
d+ D+ 1.30
d D 1.00
d- D- 0.70
f F 0.00
e/nc F 0.00
e F 0.00
nc F 0.00
u F 0.00
u/r f 0.00

Refer to the Tables tab of my spreadsheet (attachment above) to see how it's all calculated.

Thanks...how about the D-...now that does wonders for a GPA, huh? I have one B+ so I am pleased with this information.
 
Top