What exactly is the "last two years" of GPA?

[grad29]

Is the last two years of GPA the last 60 credits? The last 4 semesters of transcripts? The last 2 calendar years? 

Edited August 10, 2015 by westy3789

[avflinsch]

The last 4 terms should be the last 2 years - Assuming that you are on a traditional 2 term/year system (with optional summer/winter sessions). If you took summer/winter courses - include them also.

[grad29]

The last 4 terms should be the last 2 years - Assuming that you are on a traditional 2 term/year system (with optional summer/winter sessions). If you took summer/winter courses - include them also.

 

Okay - what about if in the summer term I took 9 credits, where in the fall/spring semesters I took 18? They would still look at the last 4 terms?  

[PoliticalOrder]

The last 60 credits.

[grad29]

Two different answers. One saying the last 4 terms and one saying the last 60 credits. The later seems more logical to me? 

[fuzzylogician]

Ask the schools. Since you got two answers the conclusion is that there is no one correct answer and therefore you want to know how the particular school you're applying to interprets the request.

[shadowclaw]

Asking the school for clarification is the best bet, but what schools seem to want when they ask that question is your GPA for the past 2 calendar years (in this case, fall 2013 - summer 2015). 60 credits is roughly equal to four semesters, not including summer and intersession terms, which not all students participate in. Asking specifically for 60 credits leads to problems, because in practice, students don't take exactly 15 credits each semester, and some do take summer courses. So they would run into students cherry picking the best grades from one of their semesters to round out the 60 credits. Similarly, asking for four semesters might mean leaving out a semester that they're interested in because a summer session is counted as a semester. Does it really matter? Probably not, but if these different calculations result in vastly different GPA's, it could make the difference between your application undergoing further review or being automatically rejected.

Personally, in an instance where an application asked for the last two years, I went with the last two calendar years.

[grad29]

Ask the schools. Since you got two answers the conclusion is that there is no one correct answer and therefore you want to know how the particular school you're applying to interprets the request.

 

I could make that conclusion or I could perhaps more accurately make the conclusion somebody doesn't know what they are talking about, considering this is an internet forum. Although it doesn't seem a stretch to say there are different ways to measure a student's cumulative over the "last two years". It was more a question of curiosity than anything. I don't need to put it on my application but I like to see how I stand compared to other students who have already been admitted to the program, which is why I wouldn't bother asking. 

[grad29]

Asking the school for clarification is the best bet, but what schools seem to want when they ask that question is your GPA for the past 2 calendar years (in this case, fall 2013 - summer 2015). 60 credits is roughly equal to four semesters, not including summer and intersession terms, which not all students participate in. Asking specifically for 60 credits leads to problems, because in practice, students don't take exactly 15 credits each semester, and some do take summer courses. So they would run into students cherry picking the best grades from one of their semesters to round out the 60 credits. Similarly, asking for four semesters might mean leaving out a semester that they're interested in because a summer session is counted as a semester. Does it really matter? Probably not, but if these different calculations result in vastly different GPA's, it could make the difference between your application undergoing further review or being automatically rejected.

Personally, in an instance where an application asked for the last two years, I went with the last two calendar years.

 

And...we have a third answer! Now we've covered them all. Last 4 terms, last 60 credits, the past 2 calendar years. I think basically if I need to calculate it for anything I will just ask for clarification (or just take whichever GPA measurements ends up yielding the highest . Fuzzy's conclusion confirmed. 

Edited August 10, 2015 by westy3789

[fuzzylogician]

... or I could perhaps more accurately make the conclusion somebody doesn't know what they are talking about, considering this is an internet forum ...

 

If you don't trust our answers, why are you wasting our time with your questions?  

[ExponentialDecay]

I could make that conclusion or I could perhaps more accurately make the conclusion somebody doesn't know what they are talking about, considering this is an internet forum. 

 

You could, and then you would be two things:

 

1) Wasting your and our time

 

2) Having to ask the school anyway

Edited August 10, 2015 by ExponentialDecay

[random_grad]

4th answer: if you bachelor's has 4 years, last two years means courses you took starting with the term immediately after officially completing your 2nd year.

This might be more or less than 60 credits (in the event when you took more credits than needed for your degree as a whole or in the event when you took more than 60 credits in the years preceding the transition to 3rd year status). This may also be more or less than 2 calendar years or 4 terms. This is how I calculated this and it seems to me like the most logical approach.