How to Calculate GPA: Major & Last 60 Credits

Explanation of GPAs
Major GPA

This refers to the GPA of the courses in your major. Some universities calculate this for you, but many do not.  If yours does not, you can calculate it yourself quite easily. Simply determine the number of credit hours you have taken in your major for which you earned each grade, and multiply that by the typical GPA score for that grade. Then average these scores. (For example, if a psychology major took 4 3-credit psych classes, earning As in 2 of them and Bs in 2, and took one 4-credit course for an A, the calculation would be: 10 credits A = 10x 4.0 =40    6 credits B = 6x 3.0 = 18   40+18=58  58/16 credits = 3.63.  Please only include those classes that are in your major department.

Last 60 Credits GPA

Why we look at your last 60 credits: Many students tend to achieve better grades and scores as upperclassmen than they did as freshman. Our experience has been that looking at these scores tends to help applicants look their strongest.

How to Calculate Your Last 60 Credits GPA:

The basic way you calculate this is the same for the major GPA. But rather than include only those classes in your major, you include all courses you have taken in your undergraduate degree, starting from the most recent semester, and working backwards until you reach a minimum of 60 credits. Please use only complete semesters. Thus, if a student took 18 credit hours per semester, that student should use the last 4 semesters, even though doing so results in 72 credits; since 3 semesters would be only 54 credits, the student would need to include the 4th semester, even though this results in more than 60 credits. This measure ends up focusing on the most recent 2 years of your studies. (If you took summer or evening courses at another institution, you should include those courses/grades, as long as they fall within the last 60 credits of your undergraduate degree.) We have created an excel spreadsheet that can make this process easier for you. Click here to download.

Post-Graduate GPA

This GPA is reserved for any credits that you have completed after obtaining your graduate degree. This credits are not to be included in your last 60 credits.