Last 45 Calculation

[that redhead]

As someone with a super-weak cumulative GPA, my last 45 credit hour GPA is important to me. Since I've been taking summer and winter classes, my last 45 hours don't fit neatly into my last three semesters. The cut off is a semester that has some bad grades as well as quite a few As. When I calculate my last 45 GPA, I use the As to calculate. Will schools do this as well?

Thanks 🙂

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[TrocarKarin]

Nope, for the most part, schools will use the entire semester. For instance, if you had your last 45 spanning 3 semesters with 20 credit hours each, your last 45 would actually be your last 60. The only school I know of that does it differently is Wisconsin, and they have their equation on their website.

 

[that redhead]

Nope, for the most part, schools will use the entire semester. For instance, if you had your last 45 spanning 3 semesters with 20 credit hours each, your last 45 would actually be your last 60. The only school I know of that does it differently is Wisconsin, and they have their equation on their website.

Hm. That doesn't make much sense to me. 😕

 

[BlacKAT33]

Each school that asks for the last 45 credit GPA usually has instructions on their site for it.

From what i remember, most schools go by the rule that you include the whole semester/quarter where the last 45 credit falls. So if 45 credits brings you back to the semester where you got bad grades and As, they will count that whole semester. (so technically it would be 47, 50, 55, or w/e the sum of the credits when you add the whole semester)

 

[TrocarKarin]

Hm. That doesn't make much sense to me. 😕

I don't know if I just explained it badly, but here's how some of the colleges explain it.


From LSU's site:

The Last 45 Credit Hour GPA is computed by using the most recent 45-60 semester hours of course work, with the exception of kinesiology courses. The entire last semester is included when calculating the Last 45 Credit Hour GPA. (If only 3 more credit hours is needed from one semester during which 18 credit hours were taken, all 18 credit hours would be factored into the Last 45 Credit Hour GPA.)

From NCSU's site:

The cumulative GPA includes all college courses. The GPA for the last 45 credit hours goes back a semester at a time. If a student completed 44 credit hours in his/her final three semesters, the College of Veterinary Medicine would go back 4 semesters to calculate the last 45 credit hours, meaning it may be calculated for 46 hours or more.

 

[thedogisgreen]

They just calculate it using all of the grades up through the semester that includes your last 45, so even though it is called your last 45 GPA, it may include 50 or 60 units - however many it happens to add up to.

 

[that redhead]

Ah, I understand now. Thanks everyone 🙂

 

[DPG1700]

That is not necessarily true for all schools. None of the 11 schools I applied to worked like that, in fact I remember one school telling me I could pick which classes from that last semester that I wanted to count in my 45 hr gpa (and of course I chose all As 🙂 ) So it must all depend on the school

 

[luplodw]

Hmmm I called Kansas and they told me that I could just use my better grades to fulfill the 45 hours.

 

[milkmaid]

How exactly do you calculate the last 45 GPA? I've come out with at least 3 or 4 different GPAs and I'm sure most of them aren't right. 😛 🙄 My calculator spit out a 4.14 GPA at me once and that's just mathematically impossible.

 

[Minnerbelle]

How exactly do you calculate the last 45 GPA? I've come out with at least 3 or 4 different GPAs and I'm sure most of them aren't right. 😛 🙄 My calculator spit out a 4.14 GPA at me once and that's just mathematically impossible.

Find out up to which semester you need to include. Say you need to count the last 3 semesters, then there are a couple of ways to do it, but the simplest would be:

First do the following:

(gpa semester 1) x (# of credits semester 1) + (gpa semester 2)x (# of credits semester 1) + (gpa semester 3)x(# of credits semester 3)

Then take that number and divide by the total number of credits taken in all 3 semesters.


*Just remember order of operations - multiplication before addition!

 

[emersondust]

I took a summer class at a college that is not my current institution that falls within the last 45 credits I have taken -- do I include this class in my calculation? If I use it, it puts me at 45 credits; if not, I would then include the whole semester before that ... so it really changes things.

 

[milkmaid]

That helps, thanks Minnerbelle.

 

[StartingoverVet]

I took a summer class at a college that is not my current institution that falls within the last 45 credits I have taken -- do I include this class in my calculation? If I use it, it puts me at 45 credits; if not, I would then include the whole semester before that ... so it really changes things.

It is the last 45 credits, not the last 45 credits at one institution. So the summer class should count. Now, there may be some school that does things differently so always check with your institution of choice. But really, mostly you don't calculate this yourself so it is one of those things out of your control, don't sweat it if you can't change it.

By the way, I always wondered about the fall quarter/semester completed after applying but before decisions are made, do they recalc with the new grades? Never saw an answer on that one before.

 

[that redhead]

I should have assumed that not all schools fell into the same way of doing things 🙄 I guess the best thing to do is call and ask, since my GPA is significantly changed if I'm allowed to only include the better grades to from the semester that contains some of my last 45.

👍 about Kansas, though, since that's a school I'm applying to!

 

[Ehkehfemal]

Does anyone know where study abroad credits fall into this? I did a bunch of my undergrad gen eds abroad this past semester in England and I'm applying this fall. The university uses a different grading system and I don't know if this counts as my 45 credits- they're also not the same kind of credits at all, so I'm not even sure how to calculate this. I know my University of PA wants to know my GPA for the last 45 hours...any ideas? Thank you!

 

[Minnerbelle]

Does anyone know where study abroad credits fall into this? I did a bunch of my undergrad gen eds abroad this past semester in England and I'm applying this fall. The university uses a different grading system and I don't know if this counts as my 45 credits- they're also not the same kind of credits at all, so I'm not even sure how to calculate this. I know my University of PA wants to know my GPA for the last 45 hours...any ideas? Thank you!

Does it not show up on your university's transcript? It must if you're using those classes abroad to count towards your university's graduation requirements. Just look at that transcript, and use the number of credits (and grades if that's recorded). If it just got recorded as pass/fail on your university's transcript, I would go and talk to your registrar or pre-med advisory committee (they deal with those all the time, so they may have pointers). If it's pass/fail on your university's transcript, you will have to have transcripts sent from your abroad institution, or else I think you'll have to count those as pass/fail courses. I got a packet of grade/unit conversions for every imaginable type of grading system from the pre-med committee when I was applying, so I'm pretty sure that info is out there.