how admissions evaluate GPA

[amethyst23]

so I've heard that admissions committees look at the major GPA but how do they actually calculate that? Because that's not actually calculated on the transcript. Do they have some kind of system set up to do the meticulous calculations?

 

 

[YaBoyAR]

Yeah. Usually schools have a pretty fancy system set up where they use a device specifically tailored to crunch numbers. I believe it's called a 'Calculator.' Although, it's likely only the Ivys have such an advanced device.

[LittleDarlings]

One of the schools I applied to had a formula on their site for calculating the GPA, I was like "dafuq is this".  I honestly think it was for certain programs because mine never asked for a specific GPA they asked what my graduating GPA was and I put what was on my transcript. 

 

Sorry I didn't realize this was in the Bio Chem forum... I just saw it on the feed, so my answer might be totally inaccurate

Edited December 20, 2013 by Pinkster12

[Eigen]

Yeah. Usually schools have a pretty fancy system set up where they use a device specifically tailored to crunch numbers. I believe it's called a 'Calculator.' Although, it's likely only the Ivys have such an advanced device.

 

I shouldn't have laughed as hard as I did, but this is exactly right. 

 

And quite honestly, it's really not that hard to calculate. When I was on committees looking at transcripts in undergrad, most of the faculty could take a quick look over the transcript and calculate the major GPA in their head. 

 

It's not like you need calculations accurate to 6 places- generally, there are a very few quantities (hours) and a relatively small number of qualities for each (1-4).