Glossary
Every term, defined in one sentence.
- GPA
- Grade Point Average. The credit-weighted average of every graded course on a transcript.
- Cumulative GPA
- GPA across every semester, weighted by credits.
- Semester GPA
- GPA for a single academic term only.
- Unweighted GPA
- GPA on the standard 4.0 scale with no bonuses for course difficulty.
- Weighted GPA
- GPA where honors, AP, or IB courses receive a bonus on top of their base grade.
- BCPM
- Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Math, the four subject areas AMCAS separates into a Science GPA.
- AO (All Other)
- AMCAS classification for every course outside BCPM. Reported as a separate GPA.
- AMCAS
- American Medical College Application Service. The centralized application for US allopathic (MD) medical schools.
- AACOMAS
- American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine Application Service. For DO schools. Uses grade replacement on repeats.
- TMDSAS
- Texas Medical and Dental Schools Application Service. Combined application for Texas public schools.
- LSAC
- Law School Admission Council. Operates the Credential Assembly Service that recalculates GPA for law school applications using a 4.33 scale.
- CAS
- Credential Assembly Service. LSAC's verification and GPA-recalculation process for law school applicants.
- a-g requirements
- UC and CSU's required seven subject areas for high school coursework.
- UC capped GPA
- UC's weighted GPA where the honors/AP/IB +1.0 bonus is capped at 8 semester courses.
- Capped vs uncapped
- Capped applies an 8-semester limit on the weighted bonus. Uncapped does not.
- CGPA
- Cumulative Grade Point Average, typically refers to the 10-point scale used by Indian universities.
- Honors course
- A high-school course designated as more rigorous than the standard version. Earns +0.5 or +1.0 depending on the weighting scheme.
- AP
- Advanced Placement. Standardized US high school courses with end-of-year exams. Earns +1.0 in most weighted scales.
- IB
- International Baccalaureate. International curriculum with HL and SL variants. Earns +1.0 in most US weighted scales.
- Dean's List
- School-specific recognition for high semester GPA, typically 3.5+.
- Cum laude
- Latin honors designation. Common thresholds: cum laude 3.5+, magna 3.7+, summa 3.9+.
- Pass/Fail (P/NP)
- Grading option where the course earns credit but does not enter GPA. Excluded from calculation.
- Withdraw (W)
- Grade indicating dropped course past the deadline. Appears on transcript, excluded from GPA.
- Incomplete (I)
- Temporary grade for unfinished coursework. Excluded from GPA until a final grade replaces it.
- Audit (AU)
- Course taken for no credit. Excluded from GPA.
- Grade replacement
- Policy where the most recent attempt at a repeated course replaces the earlier grade in the GPA. Used by AACOMAS and most undergrad institutions.
- Both-attempts-count
- Policy where every attempt at a repeated course enters the GPA. Used by AMCAS, TMDSAS, and LSAC.
- Plus-minus scale
- 4.0 scale variant that distinguishes A, A-, B+, B, B-, etc., with specific point values for each.
- Quarter credits
- Credit unit used at quarter-system schools. AMCAS converts to semester credits using a 0.667 multiplier.
- Credit hour
- Unit of academic work, typically 1 hour of class per week for a semester. Most US college courses are 3-4 credits.