GPA Calculations

Download the ADEA AADSAS GPA Calculation and Grade Table.

ADEA AADSAS GPAs may be different from those calculated by colleges and universities. ADEA AADSAS calculates standardized GPAs to help participating dental schools evaluate applicants using uniform and consistent criteria, regardless of various institutional transcript policies. ADEA AADSAS GPAs will be calculated within four to six weeks after ADEA AADSAS receives completed application, all transcripts and ADEA AADSAS application fee.

To calculate a GPA, ADEA AADSAS calculates total quality points by multiplying semester hours attempted by the value of the verified ADEA AADSAS grade. Quality points are divided by the total number of hours for completed courses. ADEA AADSAS reports GPAs in semester–based 4.0 grading scales.

ADEA AADSAS will not calculate the applicant's GPA until the application has a status of “Complete.”

ADEA AADSAS calculates GPA and reports it in a number of ways:

• BCP GPA: All undergraduate, graduate and cumulative courses identified on transcripts as Biology, Chemistry and Physics.
• Science GPA: All undergraduate, graduate and cumulative courses identified on the transcript as Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Math and Other Science.
• Non–science GPA: All undergraduate, graduate and cumulative courses not used in calculating the Science GPA.
• Undergraduate GPA: All courses for which undergraduate credit is received.
• Graduate GPA: All courses for which graduate credit is received.
• Overall GPA: Includes undergraduate and graduate. For most dental school applicants who have not completed graduate courses, the overall GPA is the same as the undergraduate GPA.
• College/University GPAs: GPAs are reported for each college/university attended.
• The following course types are not included in ADEA AADSAS GPA calculations:
• Advanced Placement/CLEP.
• Institutional Department Exam.
• Audit.
• International Baccalaureate.
• Incomplete.
• Pass/Fail.
• Withdraw/withdraw passing.
• ADEA AADSAS includes all initial and repeated coursework in its GPA calculations.
• Grades and credit hours for all failed courses will be included in the ADEA AADSAS GPA, even if they are not included in the GPA calculations of the transcript–issuing institution.
• ADEA AADSAS calculates GPAs in two different ways: with and without + and –. Some dental schools prefer to use the +/– system and others prefer to use grades without + and –. For example, grades without a +/– will simply round—grades with a + will round down to the next letter grade (e.g., B+ [3.333] will round down to a B [3.000]) and grades with a – will round up to the next letter grade (e.g., B– [2.667] will round up to a B [3.000]).

An Example of How GPAs Are Computed

The GPA is computed by dividing total quality points by the number of semester hours earned with grade (note that the grade of P is not calculated in the GPA). In this example, the student's semester GPA is 3.33 (53.332 quality points/16 semester hours).

Note that grades of P or Credit are not used in computing a GPA.

Factors that may result in a GPA calculation that is different from the transcript include the following:

• Many college/universities count only the new grade in repeated course(s) in GPA computation. ADEA AADSAS counts the previously earned grade and the new grade. For example, if the applicant took Introduction to Biology in Fall 2012 and earned a grade of C, then retook the same course in Spring 2013 and earned an A, ADEA AADSAS would use both the C grade and the A grade to calculate the GPA.
• What is the college/university's grade weighting scale? Some schools use different scales than those used by ADEA AADSAS. For example, at some schools, a B+ grade equals a grade weight of 3.5, but for ADEA AADSAS, a B+ grade equals a grade weight of 3.33.