- Grades and credit hours are factored into the AMCAS GPA calculations as they were assigned by the school where you took the given course(s). The only exceptions are for foreign coursework transferred to a U.S. or Canadian institution and coursework taken through an official study abroad program.
- The AMCAS program counts all plus (+) and minus (–) grades even if your school does not. For example, at some schools and in the AMCAS calculation, a plus or minus counts as 0.7 or 0.3 (e.g., 3.7 or 3.3 GPA); at other schools, a plus or minus counts as 0.5 (e.g., 3.5 GPA). (For more about grade conversion, refer to the Grade Conversion Guide.) Please note: The AMCAS program assigns the same weight (4.0) to grades of A+ and A.
- The AMCAS program counts grades for all attempts of a repeated course, even if your school does not.
- Depending on how your school considers them, grades of IF (incomplete failure) or unauthorized, unofficial, or administrative withdrawal may be treated as an F in your AMCAS GPA.
- Grades and credit hours for all failed courses are included in your AMCAS GPAs even if they are not included in the GPA calculations of the transcript-issuing institution.
- Narrative Evaluations will not be factored into your AMCAS GPA.
- Academic forgiveness policy: If your school has an academic forgiveness policy and replaces the original grade you received with a special transcript symbol, the original grade and attempted credits must be entered on your AMCAS application, regardless of whether they appear on your official transcript. If the original grade is not entered, the AMCAS program will return your application to you to enter the original grade, which may cause you to miss application deadlines and forfeit fees.
The AMCAS program does not typically verify coursework from some types of institutions (e.g., acupuncture schools, vocational and career schools, Bible colleges) unless an associate degree or other advanced degree is earned. This coursework will not be factored into your AMCAS GPAs.
Your AMCAS GPAs will not include credit earned at an institution that does not:
- Grant associate, bachelor’s, master’s, and/or doctoral degrees.
- Offer a transcript for military coursework.
- Transfer credits to a degree-granting institution.
This coursework will be processed with the not equal (≠) verification mark and will not be counted in the AMCAS GPAs.
Some examples of these types of institutions are:
- Massage schools.
- Acupunctural schools.
- Bartending schools.
- Cosmetology schools.
- Scuba diving schools.
- Vocational, career, and training schools.
- Seminary and Bible colleges.
- Culinary schools.
- Real estate schools.