SMART's calculation of cumulative GPA?

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Guest

SMART's calculation of cumulative GPA?

Post by Guest »

Hi all,

The SMART website says that in order to be eligible you have to have at least a 3.0 cumulative GPA according to the algorithm they use to calculate cumulative GPA, but they don't explain the algorithm. Does anyone know how they calculate cumulative GPA for eligibility purposes, at the graduate fellowship level?

I'm a part-time MS student in computer science, working full-time. I got my bachelor's in 2007 and have been working as a sub-PhD-level researcher for DoD and DHS contractors ever since, with two published papers and a technical poster presentation. I'm planning to apply for full-time PhD programs (and fellowships) next year, and SMART looks like a good one.

I did my undergrad at MIT. I had an undiagnosed illness from sophomore year on that really hurt my academic ability (which has since been diagnosed and treated), and finished well below 3.0 on a 4.0 scale. However, my GPA from my post-bac and my MS are well above 3.0. My high school grades were very good, but I would expect that for the graduate level they don't care about high school (someone please tell me if I'm wrong).

What I'm wondering is how they weight the different grades - undergrad, grad, high school, in-major, out-of-major, in-grad-field, out-of-grad-field, sci/eng, non-sci/eng, and so on - when they do their GPA calculation. This could make the difference in whether I'm eligible or not, and I can't find the info anywhere.

Previous app

They look at the cumulative ungrad and grad GPA...

Post by Previous app »

Just add all of the gpa point credits and divide by all gpa credits. This has to be greater than 3.0. When you start the application it does that for you before you spend any money on transcripts and stuff. Thus it will verify your gpa is > 3.0.

Chris Moulder
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Joined: Fri Nov 27, 2009 6:56 pm
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Re: SMART's calculation of cumulative GPA?

Post by Chris Moulder »

From the handbook:
If a Participant receives SMART funding for an academic institution from which the Participant previously earned a degree, the grades for the previous degree will not be included in calculating whether the Participant meets the academic requirements of the Program.
And there is no specific algorithm for computing GPA. It's a standard scale. A=4, A-=3.66, B+=3.33 etc

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