Graduate studies - Program admission GPA calculation

The Admission Grade Point Average (Admission GPA) is an indicator of recent academic performance in undergraduate and graduate study, and is used as a criterion for determining your eligibility for entrance into Faculty of Health Disciplines graduate programs.

Most four-year baccalaureate programs consist of 120 units, or credits of course weight. Admission to FHD graduate programs is calculated using the final 10 half-course equivalents of your undergraduate or graduate study (generally equivalent to your last year of study at the undergraduate (senior) level, or 30 credit hours).

Applicants who have taken additional university senior level courses (undergraduate or graduate) for credit after completing their degree will also include those courses in the GPA calculation. Courses included in calculating your Admission GPA are used in reverse chronological order (i.e., working backwards from the most-recent senior level undergraduate or graduate courses completed).

Whenever possible, the Faculty of Health Disciplines is flexible when counting your credits, to ensure that your credits are used to your advantage.

How to calculate your admission GPA

1. Request a transcript from each post-secondary institution you attended. You may be using several transcripts for this calculation. Because admission GPA is calculated on the last 30 university credits completed on your post-secondary transcripts, you will include in your calculation any university courses completed after your degree was completed.
   
   You will not include the following in your calculation:
   • courses using a pass/fail grading scheme
   • continuing education and professional development courses
   • practicum or clinical courses (with or without grade point value or percentage grade)
   • courses where you received an F, and subsequently repeated and passed the course
   • courses where you received a W (withdrawal) or WF (Withdrawal Failure), both without academic penalty
   • any N/NCR/NC (not for credit) courses
2. In order to calculate your admission GPA, all of the alpha and percentage grades possible on your transcripts need to be converted to a Grade Point Value (4-Point Scale). All conversions must be done using the Athabasca University’s Undergraduate Grading Policy.
   • For transcripts with 4-Point Scale grades, no conversion needs to be made; continue to #3
   • For transcripts with both percentage and alpha grades, such as MUN, use the percentage grade to convert to the 4-Point Scale from the link above.
   • For transcripts with alpha grades only, where the school's grading scale is a match for Athabasca University (A+ to F), convert to the 4-Point Scale from the link above.
   • For transcripts with alpha grades only, where the school does not issue A+ grades (e.g. McGill), treat any A grades as A+ and convert as above.
   • For transcripts with 9-point Stanine grades such as the University of Alberta and the University of Victoria, use the following conversion table:
     
     

     Letter Grade	4-Point Scale	University of Victoria 9-Point Scale	University of Alberta Stanine
     A+	4.00	9.0	9.0
     A	4.00	8.0	9.0
     A-	3.70	7.0	8.0
     B+	3.30	6.0	7.0
     B	3.00	5.0	-
     B-	2.70	4.0	6.0
     C+	2.30	3.0	-
     C	2.00	2.0	5.0
     C-	1.70	-	-
     D+	1.30	-	4.0
     D	1.00	1.0	-
     F	0.00	0.0	0-3.0

3. Determine the Course Weight of each course.
   • Weights can be found on the back of each transcript. They are typically described as either: 0.5 (half-credit) vs. 1.0 (full-credit), 1.5 (half-credit) vs. 3.0 (full credit), 2.0 (half-credit) vs. 4.0 (full-credit), or 3.0 (half-credit) vs. 6.0 (full-credit)
4. Calculate your GPA, using the following equations and the example below as a guide.
   1. List all the courses that can be used to calculate Admission GPA (defined previously), in reverse chronological order, following the example below.
   2. Multiply the Grade Point Value (A) by the Course Weight/Credit (B) to calculate the Grade Point (C) of each course.
   3. Add up all the entries in the Course Weight/Credit column to get a Course Weight/Credit total (E).
   4. Add up all the entries in the Grade Point column to get a Grade Point total (F).
   5. Divide the Grade Point Total (D) by the Course Weight/Credit Total (E) to calculate your Admission GPA.

Example (guideline only)