FAQ: How do I calculate my GPA?

[The Law]

How to calculate GPAs

In Ontario, the GPA is calculated based on a table released by OMSAS (Ontario Medical Schools Application Service). The table is released every year and can be found here: http://www.ouac.on.ca/omsas/omsas-answers.html (Conversion Table). Outside of Ontario, each school has their own GPA chart.

 

To calculate GPA, you take every course that is on your transcript, convert it to the number of points assigned on that table (for example 90+ = 4.0, 85-89=3.9, etc). Full courses (1.0 credits or 6 credit hours) count twice, half courses count only once. You then add up all the points, and divide by the total number of courses you have taken in each semester.

 

Let's try an example...

 

Joey's final marks are

English - 1.0 credit - 80

Human Sex Psychology - 1.0 credit - 77

Analytical Chemistry - 1.0 - 88

Statistics - 0.5 credit - 90

Biochemistry - 0.5 credit - 83

How to get into med school - 0.5 credit - 86

A bird course that went wrong - 0.5 credit - 77

 

Joey goes to UWO. He looks at the table and sees that UWO is in column 3.

Now, for each class, you look at the table and convert it into the number of points that each mark corresponds to.

 

I am not going to work through each course, but here are some examples:

 

English - received an 80 - look at chart and see this corresponds to 3.7. His English is a 1.0 credit, so it counts twice:

3.7 X 2 = 7.4

 

Continue to do the same:

Analytical Chemistry

3.9 x 2 = 7.8

Biochemistry (0.5 credit, half credits count only once)

3.7

 

Now, do the same for each class on his transcript and add up all the points he earned... you will get: 36.7 points

He took 5 classes each semester, so in total he took 10 courses during the year!

 

36.7/10 = 3.67

 

His GPA is a 3.67.

 

If you are applying outside of Ontario, schools outside of Ontario may calculate the GPA a bit differently, but the principle is probably the same. GO to the school's website, and CHECK to see what conversion scale they use. Additionally, check to see if there are weighting formulas that apply to your GPA. For example, some schools drop lowest marks, some schools weigh later years more, some schools only consider two years, etc...

 

 

Notes to keep in mind:

* Yes, the drop from 80 to 79 is that big

* Yes, one really bad grade can hurt a year's GPA

* Each school belongs to a different column, look at the bottom column to see which conversion scale you should use

* This is only the OMSAS GPA. Sometimes schools (including Ontario schools) apply weighting formulas to this GPA or have their own scales. The information about how GPAs are used is found on each school's website.

Ex. Some schools allow you to drop some of your lowest marks, some weigh most recent years more heavily than more distant ones, some don't look at all of your years, etc...

* American Schools use the AMCAS GPA Scale

 

All of this information (i.e. weighting formulas, whether or not they consider years with less than a full course load, what a full course load is, cutoffs that schools post for interviews, etc...) can be found on the schools' websites. If you cannot locate a medical school's website, you might want to consider going into another profession.

 

I hope this helps.

 

 

 

Additional Questions

1. What if the credit hours were not standard? What about half courses that have lab components that are worth 4 credit hours or courses that are a year long but only worth 3 credit hours (0.5 credits)?

 

In general:

Full year courses that are only worth 3 credit hours or 0.5 credits are counted only once. They count just like a 1/2 year course.

A course that has a lab component and is worth 4 credit hours is equivalent to a 3 credit hours course. The lab component does not make it weigh any more.

 

However:

Individual schools may differ, so if you are really uncertain you should contact the school.

 

 

2. On UofT websites, I have seen charts where 85+ = 4.0 GPA. But then I saw the OSMAS chart and an 85-89 = 3.90

Which chart should be followed? Thanks

 

OMSAS, the U of T chart is for the registrar at U of T.... not for the medical school and applications.

 

 

3. I attended 3 different universities during my undergrad. After I calculate the GPA for each individual school, how do I combine them to produce a single GPA?

 

It depends on when you took the courses and each school will be different. If a school uses a cumulative GPA only, then you just tally up the points for each course you've taken and divide by the total number of classes there are (remember full year courses are worth more). Some schools will not look at years that are part time (if you have this), and for those schools - it will be a bit trickier.

 

4. I studied Education during my last 2 years at UBC. Nearly all of those courses are just marked pass/fail (no grade given). How does this work into the scheme of things? Also, I took 3 or 4 courses per term (including summers) since I had young children. Does that affect things since it's not a full course load?

 

Usually pass/fail courses are just counted for credit, but not towards a GPA. You will have to contact the schools you are interested in applying to and see what their policy is for marks. They may have a max number of P/F courses that they'll accept, or a min number of graded courses that they need in order for you to apply (just speculating)... so your safest bet is to check with each school.

[ashlay]

How to calculate GPAs

 

 

If you cannot locate a medical school's website, you might want to consider going into another profession.

 

 

 

LMAO that is the funniest thing I've ever heard!

[mais87]

However, am using the new OMSAS, and they say that if your course had a lab component that is graded "separately", you get 0.5 credits for it. This is pretty confusing for me. I go to york, and I currently have 2 4-credit courses. I currently have 32 credits (30 credits is full course load) = 10 credits OMSAS. If I were to drop one of my 3 credit electives, I would get 29 credits = 9 credits omsas, or if they do count the 4 credit course as 1.5 credit, = 10 OMSAS. Can anyone confirm for sure that 4 credit = 1.5 credit.

 

"If a science laboratory is graded separately, and is weighted as less

than a half-year/semester course, the OMSAS course length is 0.5."

[grapz]

So what happens if UofT, it lists it under 3 and 7. Which one do i use, or are they the same

[The Law]

If you get letter grades use 7, if you get numbers use 3. I believe the letter grade and the number grade will correspond to the same value.

[the.organizer]

is this the same conversion table for high school students going into university or only for the people who are in university already?

[the.organizer]

Only for University students applying to Medical school.

 

ha.. here i was thinking i had a GPA of 4

puh.

[avenir001]

ha.. here i was thinking i had a GPA of 4

puh.

 

and nowww..u realize it's only 2.3

[the.organizer]

and nowww..u realize it's only 2.3

 

what a 90% is only 2.3?

[bluestar]

On UofT websites, I have seen charts where 85+ = 4.0 GPA. But then I saw the OSMAS chart and an 85-89 = 3.90

Which chart should be followed? Thanks

[The Law]

OMSAS, the U of T chart is for the registrar at U of T.... not for the medical school and applications.

[nelly01]

Hi all,

 

If anyone can help me out with this, that would be wonderful:

 

If you have an 4 year undergraduate degree already and take undergraduate 'pre-med' courses at another university full time in the year following your graduation (to prepare for the MCAT, do some prereqs etc), in what way does that count as part of your GPA? Like for a med school that does a calculation looking at your two best years, could that be one of those years potentially? Or for Ottawa for example, would that 5th year be the most heavily weighted year?

From the info in the OMSAS booklet it is not clear to me...

 

Thanks!

[Byrne]

Do these cutoffs ever change?

 

If they do, do they start for the students entering university in the year in which the cutoffs were changed or do the changes apply to everyone?

[StellarRay]

So I was just looking at the chart, is there really no such thing as a 3.8 OMSAS score unless your school is in Alpha 9.

 

But for U of T a cGPA of 80-84 equals an OMSAS score of 3.7 and a cGPA of 85-89 equals an OMSAS score of 3.9. So I guess there's no such thing as 3.8?

[mcpherv]

So I was just looking at the chart, is there really no such thing as a 3.8 OMSAS score unless your school is in Alpha 9.

 

But for U of T a cGPA of 80-84 equals an OMSAS score of 3.7 and a cGPA of 85-89 equals an OMSAS score of 3.9. So I guess there's no such thing as 3.8?

 

Yep, thats correct.

[activist]

I attended 3 different universities during my undergrad. After I calculate the GPA for each individual school, how do I combine them to produce a single GPA?

[The Law]

I attended 3 different universities during my undergrad. After I calculate the GPA for each individual school, how do I combine them to produce a single GPA?

 

Some might have this question still -

It depends on when you took the courses and each school will be different. If a school uses a cumulative GPA only, then you just tally up the points for each course you've taken and divide by the total number of classes they are (remember full year courses are worth more). Some schools will not look at years that are part time (if you have this), and for those schools - it will be a bit trickier.

[swank]

A question about 4.33 GPA scales:

 

The school I go to uses a 4.33 scale. What I've been told is that most letter grades between the two scales line up except in the case of an A+ (4.00 scales: A=85-100. 4.33 scale: A=85-95, A+=95-100, or something along those lines). So when converting, any A+'s would be dropped down to an A.

 

In my case, I have no A+'s, so would may GPA stay the same when converted, since all the other letter grades seem to line up?

 

Right now I have about a 3.68 GPA on the 4.33 scale with no A+'s. Does this mean my GPA will be about 3.68 on the 4.00 scale since there are no A+'s "pulling my grade up"?

 

I'm asking because it's very hard to get A+ in my classes (sometimes 0-3 people), so it seems like essentially a 4.00 scale if you don't get an A+. My school does not report %s, so I don't want my GPA dropping when I don't understand how I gain an advantage (unless I get a lot of A+s).

 

Any help would be appreciated.

[Canoe999]

Depending on what school your using use the omsas conversion table found: http://www.ouac.on.ca/omsas/pdf/c_omsas_b.pdf

[swank]

Depending on what school your using use the omsas conversion table found: http://www.ouac.on.ca/omsas/pdf/c_omsas_b.pdf

 

When converting, are all classes considered equal? At my school, some classes are worth 3 credits, while others are worth 4. Do I take this into consideration or is it just the sum of the GPAs divided by the number of classes?

[Canoe999]

Not sure about that i know 3 credits is what most schools consider a course but i would check with your pre-health adviser as to how to calculate your 4 credit classes.

[med.student]

very useful. now i know exactly how to calculate my grade point average.

[Elle.86]

Does anyone know how the medical schools deal with American GPAs? I'm a University of Washington Computer Engineering student looking into medical school in Canada. I'm a Canadian-American, third year with about a 3.2-3.4 ish GPA. The percent values associated with the grade points are different in Washington than in Canada. For the most part, an A is about 90 (some courses 95) and above, 3.9-3.0 is about 89-80. Does anyone know if Canadian schools convert each course to percentages or is the GPA taken at face value?

Thanks!

[amberlou]

I studied Education during my last 2 years at UBC. Nearly all of those courses are just marked pass/fail (no grade given). How does this work into the scheme of things? Also, I took 3 or 4 courses per term (including summers) since I had young children. Does that affect things since it's not a full course load?

 

Thanks!!

[The Law]

I studied Education during my last 2 years at UBC. Nearly all of those courses are just marked pass/fail (no grade given). How does this work into the scheme of things? Also, I took 3 or 4 courses per term (including summers) since I had young children. Does that affect things since it's not a full course load?

 

Thanks!!

 

Usually pass/fail courses are just counted for credit, but not towards a GPA. You will have to contact the schools you are interested in applying to and see what their policy is for marks. They may have a max number of P/F courses that they'll accept, or a min number of graded courses that they need in order for you to apply (just speculating)... so your safest bet is to check with each school.