GPA Question

[mysonx3]

I've been asking a lot of questions that I think I know the answer to just to confirm that I'm correct before I act on what I think is the case. Hope y'all don't mind one more.

I know* that CLEP/DSST don't factor into your GPA, but what about other sources of credit (e.g. Study.com). Will they simply end up as pass/fail as well? What are the Big 3's policies on this?

Also, is there a minimum number of courses you must take through the school in order to graduate with a GPA?

(*or think I know, at least. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.)

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[davewill]

Only courses taken at a actual college or university are going to contribute to your GPA. I remember that either COSC or Excelsior gives grades for SL courses, but that doesn't matter very much since a grad school will almost certainly disregard them anyway.

[katelynn]

GPA has been a concern of mine as well, but apparently all your grades are wiped out once you transfer them into the school of your choice. Your GPA starts counting once you begin taking courses through that institution (ex: taking courses at TESU). I'm almost certain a bunch of students on here decide to take only the capstone course, which makes up their entire GPA. That's how a lot of people can end up graduating with a 4.0 at one of the Big 3.

Edit: this is just my understanding of what I've read on past GPA related threads.

[davewill]

GPA has been a concern of mine as well, but apparently all your grades are wiped out once you transfer them into the school of your choice. Your GPA starts counting once you begin taking courses through that institution (ex: taking courses at TESU). I'm almost certain a bunch of students on here decide to take only the capstone course, which makes up their entire GPA. That's how a lot of people can end up graduating with a 4.0 at one of the Big 3.

Edit: this is just my understanding of what I've read on past GPA related threads.

It depends on what you mean by GPA. Your school will calculate a GPA that they put on your transcript. That one generally only has courses you took at that school. If you apply to grad school, they will want transcripts from all of your schools (not alternative credit providers) and they will calculate their own GPA according to their admissions policies. If it's an employer that wants a GPA, they may be happy with the one on your last transcript, or they may want other transcripts as well.

[dfrecore]

GPA has been a concern of mine as well, but apparently all your grades are wiped out once you transfer them into the school of your choice. 

Edit: this is just my understanding of what I've read on past GPA related threads.

Not at all the case.

For each school that you go to, you will have a GPA at that school.  If you go to 4 different schools, each school will compute your GPA from courses you've taken there.  So 4 separate GPA's.  From what I've seen looking at transcripts for years, they usually call it something like "institutional GPA."  As you transfer between schools, some schools may have an "overall GPA" where they look at their own GPA combined with the old school's GPA.  But it's in addition to, not in place of, their own GPA.  And not all schools do it.

I have taken classes at 5 different schools.  I have 5 separate GPA's, one per school.  TESU did compute a GPA at one point, from my prior schools, to make sure that I met the rule of having at least a 2.0 before I enrolled.  But that was for internal purposes, and was not used for anything else, nor did it show up on my transcript when I graduated - they only put my GPA from my capstone.

And I STILL have GPA's at my prior schools - nothing was "wiped out."

Also, that 4.0, assuming that's what you got on your capstone, is practically meaningless.  Other schools will look beyond the 4.0, to which courses you took, and see that you only took 1 course.  They won't be overly impressed by the 4.0 at that school.

And if you end up applying to a grad school that looks at grades, they will compute their own GPA for internal purposes only - and they actually look at every course that you got a grade for, so won't weigh that 4.0 more heavily than your other courses.  They just pull in the courses they want to look at (either everything, the last 60cr, the last 30cr, or for some, a certain core set of courses), and do their internal calculations.

[katelynn]

GPA has been a concern of mine as well, but apparently all your grades are wiped out once you transfer them into the school of your choice. 

Edit: this is just my understanding of what I've read on past GPA related threads.

Not at all the case.

For each school that you go to, you will have a GPA at that school.  If you go to 4 different schools, each school will compute your GPA from courses you've taken there.  So 4 separate GPA's.  From what I've seen looking at transcripts for years, they usually call it something like "institutional GPA."  As you transfer between schools, some schools may have an "overall GPA" where they look at their own GPA combined with the old school's GPA.  But it's in addition to, not in place of, their own GPA.  And not all schools do it.

I have taken classes at 5 different schools.  I have 5 separate GPA's, one per school.  TESU did compute a GPA at one point, from my prior schools, to make sure that I met the rule of having at least a 2.0 before I enrolled.  But that was for internal purposes, and was not used for anything else, nor did it show up on my transcript when I graduated - they only put my GPA from my capstone.

And I STILL have GPA's at my prior schools - nothing was "wiped out."

Also, that 4.0, assuming that's what you got on your capstone, is practically meaningless.  Other schools will look beyond the 4.0, to which courses you took, and see that you only took 1 course.  They won't be overly impressed by the 4.0 at that school.

And if you end up applying to a grad school that looks at grades, they will compute their own GPA for internal purposes only - and they actually look at every course that you got a grade for, so won't weigh that 4.0 more heavily than your other courses.  They just pull in the courses they want to look at (either everything, the last 60cr, the last 30cr, or for some, a certain core set of courses), and do their internal calculations.

Could everyone just do yourselves a favor and disregard everything I say on this forum, thank you. This is the guy you want to listen to.

[mysonx3]

GPA has been a concern of mine as well, but apparently all your grades are wiped out once you transfer them into the school of your choice. 

Edit: this is just my understanding of what I've read on past GPA related threads.

Not at all the case.

For each school that you go to, you will have a GPA at that school.  If you go to 4 different schools, each school will compute your GPA from courses you've taken there.  So 4 separate GPA's.  From what I've seen looking at transcripts for years, they usually call it something like "institutional GPA."  As you transfer between schools, some schools may have an "overall GPA" where they look at their own GPA combined with the old school's GPA.  But it's in addition to, not in place of, their own GPA.  And not all schools do it.

I have taken classes at 5 different schools.  I have 5 separate GPA's, one per school.  TESU did compute a GPA at one point, from my prior schools, to make sure that I met the rule of having at least a 2.0 before I enrolled.  But that was for internal purposes, and was not used for anything else, nor did it show up on my transcript when I graduated - they only put my GPA from my capstone.

And I STILL have GPA's at my prior schools - nothing was "wiped out."

Also, that 4.0, assuming that's what you got on your capstone, is practically meaningless.  Other schools will look beyond the 4.0, to which courses you took, and see that you only took 1 course.  They won't be overly impressed by the 4.0 at that school.

And if you end up applying to a grad school that looks at grades, they will compute their own GPA for internal purposes only - and they actually look at every course that you got a grade for, so won't weigh that 4.0 more heavily than your other courses.  They just pull in the courses they want to look at (either everything, the last 60cr, the last 30cr, or for some, a certain core set of courses), and do their internal calculations.

So what exactly does this mean as far as alternative sources of credit that "transfer" in? You won't have a GPA for them in any way, correct? (Though I would imagine a grad school may want to see the transcripts, there would be no "official" GPA, since they aren't actually institutions? Is that correct?)

[davewill]

So what exactly does this mean as far as alternative sources of credit that "transfer" in? You won't have a GPA for them in any way, correct? (Though I would imagine a grad school may want to see the transcripts, there would be no "official" GPA, since they aren't actually institutions? Is that correct?)

In almost all cases, the alternative credit will be treated at not graded and won't count towards GPA. For some schools, that may be an issue, for others, no problem. That's why we always tell people to work backwards from their grad degree when planning their bachelor's. If they want a particular degree and/or a particular school, they need to be sure that alternative credit will work for them.

If someone knows they want an MBA, but doesn't care too much which school they get it from, then they don't need to worry. There's plenty of choices compatible with testing out. However, if they want an MS in Math from XYZ school, they better be sure what XYZ school will accept before starting down this path.

[alexf.1990]

So what exactly does this mean as far as alternative sources of credit that "transfer" in? You won't have a GPA for them in any way, correct? (Though I would imagine a grad school may want to see the transcripts, there would be no "official" GPA, since they aren't actually institutions? Is that correct?)

I'm looking at business schools now for my MBA. It's my understanding that grad schools in general don't really care if you used CLEP. The institutional GPA of the college you graduated from is what they're concerned about. The average GPA of the grad school's incoming class will be used in their US News and Review rankings.

I would just focus on getting a high GPA and GRE/GMAT score, as well as strong work experience. Not many programs are going to dig into your transcripts if everything else looks good.

[jsd]

 This is the guy you want to listen to.

Dfrecore is the lady you want to listen to