Which GPA Should I Include on My Grad School Application?

[Jack21222]

I am applying to grad schools now, and I have a question on what I should be putting in the space that asks for GPA.

I transferred from a community college, and some of my community college classes go back 11 years. The GPA I'm graduating with from my 4 year university only takes into consideration the classes I took there. They also list on the transcript the classes the transferred over and the grade received there. There are some classes I took at community college that did not transfer at all.

I can make a case for 3 different GPAs.

1) The GPA my university says I'm graduating with (middle)

2) The GPA including all classes that transferred over (highest, by a tiny bit)

3) The GPA including every class I've ever taken in my life (lowest)

Which one should I be entering into these application forms? The grad school will get both transcripts, so they can calculate the GPA however they wish, I'm just curious what I should put in the form.

In a related question, should I bother mentioning the poor grades I received 11 years ago in the personal statement? Or are those grades irrelevant?

 

[Someone1987]

Hello,

I believe you would probably want to put the GPA from the school you are graduating from. You can briefly state in your statement of purpose what your GPA would actually be if you included your transfer classes since it seems it will make it a little bit higher but I don't think this would be a necessity. At least this way there is no discrepancy between the GPA on your primary transcript and your GPA from your application.
Also, since your bad grades are from over a decade ago I would say that you don't need to mention them.

Good luck with your applications. I hated doing them when I applied for graduate schools so I know how annoying the whole process can be.

 

[Pengwuino]

I think whatever GPA that isn't contradicting your transcripts. You could say they would be higher with transferred courses that aren't showing up on your transcript, but a committee would have no reason to believe that's true.

 

[Jack21222]

I think whatever GPA that isn't contradicting your transcripts. You could say they would be higher with transferred courses that aren't showing up on your transcript, but a committee would have no reason to believe that's true.

Well, the transferred courses would show up on the transcript, including grades, they just aren't counted in the GPA calculation on the transcript. It looks like this, at least on my unofficial transcript:

Transfer Credit from COMMUNITY COLLEGE BALTIMORE COUNTY
Applied Toward Bachelor of Science Program
ARAB 101 ARABIC ELEMENTS I 3.00 3.00 A
ASTR 161 GENERAL ASTRONOMY I 4.00 4.00 A

And so on. I'm leaning on not calculating them, and just going by the line at the bottom that says:

Undergraduate Career Totals
CUM GPA : ...

And now that I'm looking at it more closely, I don't think the ones with the transfer credits will be any higher. It might even be slightly lower. That will depend on how I do this semester, though.

 

[Matrix0]

I understand your concern about accurately representing your GPA on grad school applications. It's important to provide the most accurate and relevant information to admissions committees.

In this case, I would recommend entering the GPA that your university has calculated for your degree program. This is the GPA that reflects your academic performance at your current institution, which is likely the most relevant to your grad school application. Additionally, the grad school will have access to your transcripts and can see the grades from your community college classes.

Regarding mentioning your grades from 11 years ago in your personal statement, it may be helpful to briefly address them if there was a significant reason for the poor performance, such as personal or health issues. However, if you have been successful in your recent academic endeavors, it may not be necessary to bring up these grades. Ultimately, the decision is up to you and what you feel will strengthen your application.