<p>I would be enrolling at Brandeis University this fall from India and I was a bit concerned about academics at an American university. Though I know that there will be advisers at the university, I was wondering if you could help me with a few queries.</p>
<p>Firstly, What’s a ‘course’? Is it only one class you take, or is it much longer, such as a semester-long?
Also, how does one distinguish an easy course from a tougher one?</p>
<p>Secondly, what’s a ‘credit’? Do all courses have equal credit? </p>
<p>Thirdly, what’s a GPA and how is it calculated? Does it take into account the level of difficulty of courses? </p>
<p>Thanks a lot everyone, for this Introduction to GPA 101!!!</p>
<p>P.S. Is there any thing known as credit-hour? I think I’ve read it somewhere.</p>
<p>A course is one class that you take, usually a semester-long. You might meet on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays (MWF) for an entire semester. Some schools have weird schedules, like Dartmouth, which has quarters. You take fewer classes at one time (but meet longer/more often) and then move on to the next quarter, where you take a new set of classes. Most follow a semester system. </p>
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<p>The ones the jocks take are easy Courses like “Calculus for Social Sciences” or “Geology” are much more likely to be easier than “Differential Algebra II” and “Astrophysics.” A lot depends on the professors, though. You’ll have to find out once you get there. </p>
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<p>joev answered this one. Some schools do “hours” instead of “credits.” If I say, “I took 15 hours last semester,” that means I was in class for 15 hours a week–maybe my math class was 3 hours (met for an hour and a half twice a week), my English class was 2 hours (met for two hours on one day a week), etc. </p>
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<p>A GPA is a grade point average. The simplest way to explain it is in terms of high school GPA. At my HS, an “A” in a course equaled a “4.” A B=3, C=2, D=1, F=0. So, say I got an “A” in English, Calculus, Spanish, and French. That’s 4+4+4+4=16 points. But I got a “B,” or 3 points in Physics. That’s a total of 19 points. Divide 19 points by 5 courses, and that’s 3.8–your GPA. Some high schools have ‘weighted’ GPA, which means, maybe if it was a honors/advanced/‘hard’ class, an “A” equals 5 points (so the highest GPA you could have would be a 5.0, getting 5 points for every class you took and made an A in). My high school did not have weighted GPA (this is when people refer to ‘uw,’ unweighted GPA), and did not take into account the difficulty of the courses. There is no “weighted” GPA in college to my knowlege. The highest GPA possible is a 4.0. </p>
<p>In college, an “A”=4.0, an “A-” might be a 3.9 or a 3.7–depends on the school. It’s basically add and divide by credit. That’s how it’s calculated.</p>
Courses like “Calculus for Social Sciences” or “Geology” are much more likely to be easier than “Differential Algebra II” and “Astrophysics.” A lot depends on the professors, though. You’ll have to find out once you get there. </p>