Overall GPA's for Professional Schools

Helping Students Understand GPA Calculations for Professional Schools

Students applying directly to professional schools from MC or those who are returning to MC to take additional courses need to be aware that if they have repeated courses at any college, the GPA calculation by the professional school will likely include all grades, not just the repeated course grade.  

Here is a list of sample professional schools:  UMB Nursing BSN, Medical, Dental, Physician Assistant, Pharmacy, Physical Therapy, and Law Schools.

For any student with repeated courses at any college, if a repeat policy (sometimes called “freshman forgiveness”) excludes the first lower grade(s) and includes only the most recent grade to calculate an overall GPA, then students need know how a professional school will view their GPA.  MC uses an exclusion/inclusion repeat policy.

In most cases, professional schools will recalculate a GPA using the grades for all attempts of a specific course to average those grades, for example, a repeat of a D and an A will both be used in the GPA. This can make a big difference for programs that require a minimum overall GPA for admission, for example, most medical schools require at least a 3.0 for applicants.  When a student has multiple attempts at courses, it can seriously affect an overall GPA when all grades are averaged in.

Students also need to understand that an overall GPA is calculated from all colleges attended.  The GPA from UM, for example, will be combined with an overall GPA from Montgomery College or any other transfer school if the student has attended more than one school.

Do we need to remember this very specific information?  No.  It’s safe to let students know that most professional schools will average in all grades from all attempts at classes to calculate a new GPA for admissions purposes so it is important to ask students to check their transcripts for repeated courses.  Suggest that students do their own research if they plan to apply to a professional school; for example, recommend that they search “GPA repeated courses” on the sites of professional schools to which they are considering applying. 

Here are some specific references:

Nursing - School of Nursing, University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB SON) https://www.nursing.umaryland.edu/admissions/faq/

I’ve retaken a course. How will that factor into my application?
All repeated courses will be factored into your GPA.

Do all Nursing schools count repeated grades?  I’m not sure – but I tell students to check schools of interest.

Medical Schools - The American Medical College Application Service:  https://students-residents.aamc.org/applying-medical-school-amcas/applying-medical-school-amcas

The AMCAS requires the input of every grade from every course taken in your undergraduate career including withdrawals, repeats, failures, and incompletes. If you had grades removed from your transcript due to extenuating circumstances, you are required to input those too. With retakes, AMCAS takes an average of the two grades for an overall grade.

Dental  Schools -ADEA American Dental Education Association

https://www.adea.org/uploadedFiles/GoDental/The_Application_to_Dental_School_ADEA_AADSAS/ADEAAADSASGPAGuideRevisedJanuary2017.pdf Grades and credit hours for all FAILED courses will be included in the ADEA AADSAS GPA, even if they are not included in the GPA calculations of the transcript-issuing institution. Failed courses are courses with grades of F and WF

Physician Assistant Schools -CASPA Centralized Application System for Physician Assistant Programs: https://paeaonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/CASPA-Applicant-Guide-22-23.pdf

Repeated Coursework Applicants are required to enter all course grades and hours for courses taken, even if the course was repeated. When entering repeated course work, applicants should identify these courses as repeated under "course type."” Applicants must enter coursework as shown on transcripts. CASPA will calculate GPAs based on credits reported on official transcripts. CASPA does not recognize freshmen forgiveness or academic renewal.

Physical Therapy Schools - PTCAS Physical Therapy Centralized Application Service

Are repeated courses included in the GPA calculation?

Yes. Information regarding GPA calculation can be found on the PTCAS website in the GPA section or in the FAQs section 

Pharmacy Schools - PharmCas Pharmacy College Application Service https://www.pharmcas.org/application-instructions/verification-and-gpas

PharmCAS GPAs Include:

·         Courses only from colleges and universities in the United States and Canada

·         Repeated courses 

Law Schools - LSAC Law School Admission Council  https://www.lsac.org/applying-law-school/jd-application-process/cas/requesting/transcript-summarization

Those removed from the official transcript due to an institution’s academic forgiveness — only if the grade is not displayed on the transcript. A line drawn through course information or a grade does not eliminate the course from GPA calculation. 

Some of you may remember the days of trying to calculate GPA’s by hand – fortunately, the MC GPA Calculator is a great tool to use and to send to students to use.
http://appserv.montgomerycollege.edu/edu/gpacalculator/

I suggest that students who have repeated classes refer to their transcripts and make a chart listing grades of A through F in the first column and then hand count the number of credits for each of the grades on their transcript, including repeated grades to see what a GPA with repeated grades will be.

Grade    Credits

A	3, 3, 4, 1    =      11 credits of A
B	3, 3, 1, 4, 3 = 14 credits of B
C	3, 4 = 7 credits of C
D	4 credits of D
F	3 credits of F

Then enter the total credits using one line per letter grade in the GPA calculator rather than entering the grades for each course.

GPA conversations with students who have multiple repeats or who are planning to make repeats can delicate; however, students need to understand how repeats may, or may not, move them closer to their goals.  In some cases (most of you do this), if you see a semester where every grade was an F, this can prompt a discussion about whether an Involuntary Withdrawal or an Academic Appeal to retroactively withdraw from classes may be appropriate.  Sometimes students repeat classes because they truly have difficulty with the subject.

In every case, it’s important to refer students to do their own research and to discuss their situations with specific professional schools to confirm how GPA’s will be calculated.

Anne Schleicher, Counselor (Part-time)
Montgomery College Online Transfer Advising Services