Applying for college? Or planning to pursue Grad school? How is your GPA going?
Admit it or not, your GPA employs a HUGE role in determining whether or not you will be stepping your foot into the university of your dreams. In such cases, if your GPA does not meet the criteria, what do you do? Scramble on the floor and cry? NO.
You take precautions in advance like using an online GPA calculator to know where you stand.
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Summary:- For aspiring college applicants, this blog serves to help them out with understanding the importance of GPA, before it is too late! |
What is GPA? Why Should You Care About GPA?
GPA or Grade Point Average is that witch haunting a lot of students by appearing in their nightmares. Slight exaggeration, but it does haunt students and keeps them up at night.
In simple terms, a GPA or Grade Point Average refers to the number which indicates the average of your accumulated final grades.
For example, if you had submitted 20 assignments during one semester in college, you will add up all those grades and divide them to find out the average. The average number will let you know about your academic performance.
CGPA or Cumulative GPA then further refers to the number of the total grades acquired during an extended time period such as from 9th grade to 12th grade, or at the end of your Bachelor’s degree.
There are various education systems in the world. Each of them grades the students in its own way. Some may grade on the basis of Alphabets like A, B, C and so on; while some may grade on the basis of percentages.
On a general scale however, the grade system corresponds with the percentile and GPA in the USA as demonstrated by the table below:
| Percentile | Letter Grade | GPA |
|---|---|---|
| 97-100 | A+ | 4.0 |
| 93-96 | A | 4.0 |
| 90-92 | A- | 3.7 |
| 87-89 | B+ | 3.3 |
| 83-86 | B | 3.0 |
| 80-82 | B- | 2.7 |
| 77-79 | C+ | 2.3 |
| 73-76 | C | 2.0 |
| 70-72 | C- | 1.7 |
| 67-69 | D+ | 1.3 |
| 65-66 | D | 1.0 |
| Below 65 | F | 0.0 |
Checked out the table? If your scores are above 90% or you have received A+ overall, your GPA is actually equivalent to 4.0! Whoa!
However, if your percentage is falling below 65% or you have gotten an F overall, then you sure are in some hot water.
Whatever happens, let yourself, your colleagues, and even let your future children know that a GPA is not something to be tossed aside. It is of IMMENSE importance I will say. Are you even aware of how important it is?
What reasons mark the importance of a GPA?
| 1. It lets you know where you stand in your academics | |
| 2. It is one of the criteria when applying for college admissions | |
| 3. It is a measure for assessing yourself in a quantitative manner | |
| 4. It goes in your Resume or CV when you apply for job opportunities | |
| 5. It reflects your time management skills and your ability to commit |
As you can read across the reasons I have listed, your GPA not only reflects your academic performance but also how well you were able to manage time and commit to your studies. Not every student possesses the interest, or has the ability to commit to education full time.
Many youngsters plagued by sheer distractions such as partying out with friends may ignore their studies. However, when the clock strikes twelve and the deadlines ring upon your head, there is no saving you. You need to submit your assignments in time otherwise your GPA will be affected.
One rather important point; your GPA goes in on your college applications as well. The admission officers also check if you are eligible for the admission or not. So if you want to want to breathe the air of your dream university, you cannot ignore your GPA.
Your GPA is also included in your Resume or CV. Many students who score below the average acceptable standard do not mention it in their Resume or CV because it portrays them in a bad light.
Employers may judge you if you were a serious student or not, because that might prove if you can work as a stable and dedicated employee. See the connection?
Have You Calculated Your GPA Before Sending Out Your College Application??
You do not need to be a genius to understand the workings of GPA Calculation. If you live in the United States of America, you probably already know about it. GPA matters when you are in high school, and matters EVEN MORE when you are in college.
So at any point that you feel like your GPA does not matter, I would suggest you break out of the bubble! IT DOES MATTER!
If the time has arrived for you to start sending out your college applications, then BAM, your GPA is now of utmost importance.
Lucky for you, there are plenty of online tools such as University of Florida GPA Calculator commonly known as UF GPA Calculator. While all of these calculators are more or less the same, it is better if you understand how to calculate GPA yourself as well.
In this regard, you should first of all, be able to differentiate between WEIGHTED and UNWEIGHTED GPA.
| Unweighted GPA is basically measured on the 0 to 4.0 scale without factoring in the difficulty of the assignments or anything. It simply takes all of the grades and gives you their average. With Unweighted GPA, you cannot determine what kind of courses or classes the student has taken. | Weighted GPA factors in all aspects such the nature of the assignments, regular class or honors class etc. This is measured on a scale of 0 to 5.0 and they will better reflect your accomplishments such as if you took a difficult course or class. |
However, you as a student do not need to worry because college admission officers are pretty much aware on how to judge a student from their GPA. If you put forward your Unweighted GPA, they will check your overall report which contains your extracurricular activities, any extra classes you took and much more.
Let me present to you an example:
Suppose that you have received the following grades in three of your subjects namely Biology having 2 credits, Mathematics having 2 credits and English having 3 credits.
- C in Biology
- B in Mathematics
&
- A in English
Since we know that C equals to 2.0 on the GPA scale, B equals to 3.0 and A equals to 4.0, you will simply multiply the grades by the number of credits that are there for each specific course.
For instance, if your credits for each subjects are as:
- 4 points for Biology
- 6 for Mathematics
&
- 12 for English
THEN
Your total grade points will equal 22 (4+6+12). Your total credits equal 7 (2+2+3). Divide 22 by 7 and you get 3.14. Not bad, huh? If you want to calculate your CGPA but you do not have all of your grades yet, you can simply add up all of those accumulated GPAs and divide by the number of GPAs.
A Low GPA Does Not Mean The End of The World!
If you have been enlightened on the importance of GPA, and you want to start prepping for college, chances are that you are looking for ways to improve your GPA as well.
If you browse on search engines, you may receive answers such as UF GPA Calculator Engineering that might confuse you. The workings of all these calculators are more or less the same and they even provide snapshots with the steps, so that you know how to use them.
Through these calculators, you can find out if your GPA or CGPA meets the eligibility criteria for applying to a scholarship or not.
However, having a low GPA does not mean it is the end of your academic career. Even college admission officers know that very well. They check your complete reports which showcase your other skills such as involvement in extracurricular activities, or any extra classes you took and much more.
While applying for a scholarship, one thing that can still save you and perhaps even win you the scholarship is your college application essay.
A college application essay is a compulsory essay which goes along with your college application. If your essay impresses the admission officers, then pal it is good news for you!
You can start by practice writing and checking out samples on the internet. Or even better, you could spare a few bucks and hire a scholarship essay writing service to get a top-notch essay for yourself! EazyResearch is one credible name with a whole team of expert essay writers who are natives of the United States, who will craft your essay like you have written it yourself.
So folks, your grades are not hinting any better, immediately look for online GPA calculator for college or high school and check your GPA. If you have time left, start working on improving your performance.
If there is not much time left, then utilise the time you have left in improving your grades and also start focusing on how you can craft the best kind of college application essay ever! Adios!
Author Bio
Efficient at playing with words, Elijah Gabrielson is one talented technical writer who cooks in his free time and keeps up-to-date with technology trends.
