Prereqs and Major GPA

SBR
Fri, 01 Jan 2010 21:35:34 +0000

AFAIK, I’ve never heard of “major GPA” or its calculation by Duke nor have I seen it on either ACES and transcripts I’ve requested from Duke. So none of this is “official”

Therefore here are my thoughts:

1) “Major GPA” is a very gray area to begin with

2) The most popular methods I’ve seen are: A) use all courses that count towards your major B) use only courses in your major’s department C) use all courses that are required for your major (aka no electives)

3) If you are applying to professional schools, they will often recalculate your GPA anyway based on their requirements so you should really contact the admissions offices of the schools you are interested in. If you are applying to med school, the AAMC is very specific in what you can count towards your BCPM GPA in their handbook.

4) If you are applying for jobs, then you can list a major GPA of your own calculation on your resume absent an official one but you should provide a notation explaining how you did it.

5) Some departments might have internal formulas for calculating major GPA so you should probably direct your inquiries to the department (director of undergrad education, department chair, the office, etc)