However, private schools have seen a greater increase than public schools, which Rojstaczer suggests is the result of rising tuition costs and high-achieving students pressuring professors to give high grades. It's safe to say that if your college GPA ends up being at least a 3.0, most employers won't be concerned with it. Your GPA will remain significant even after graduation day, so it’s important to start keeping track of the number early in your college career. GPA is calculated by converting letter grades to a standard grade-point scale, which ranges from 0 to 4.0. I consulted GradeInflation.com to find these GPAs. Get the latest articles and test prep tips! Many schools give students two different GPAs: a cumulative GPA that takes into account all their classes, and a major GPA that only includes classes that count toward their major. We combine world-class admissions counselors with our data-driven, proprietary admissions strategies. This could be because they are more vulnerable to the factors I listed earlier that contribute to grade inflation. Olivia Valdes is the senior editor of ThoughtCo and the founder of Zen Admissions, a college admissions advising service. Next, add up the number of credits you earned in each course that semester. 5 Majors with the Lowest Grade Point Averages, 5 Majors with the Highest Grade Point Averages. Grade inflation also significantly affects college GPA at most schools, causing many students to end up with higher GPAs in college than they had in high school. We know what kinds of students colleges want to admit. A-16: MCAT Scores and GPAs for Applicants and Matriculants to U.S. Medical Schools, 2017-2018 through 2020-2021: PDF: Excel: A-17: MCAT and GPAs for Applicants and Matriculants to U.S. Medical Schools by Primary Undergraduate Major, 2020-2021 Below, I've listed 10 schools for each category of selectivity (highly selective, selective, and less selective) and their average GPAs so you can get a sense of the distribution of college GPA. Learn how to get into Harvard and the Ivy League. Over the last 30 years, the average college GPA has risen at every type of college. Each program is different, so the average GPA for these same majors at your college might be much higher or lower than indicated in the table. One factor might be that professors are more vulnerable to student critiques in online forums and are sometimes forced to answer to angry parents if they give poor grades. 3. Average GPA: 3.02 No, it’s not just a subject that you gloss over in high school. These two Ivy Leagues are tied for third place with a 3.63 average GPA, coming in right behind Stanford University. Education - 3.36 GPA ; Language - 3.34 GPA ; English - 3.33 GPA ; Music - 3.30 GPA ; Religion - 3.22 GPA ; At a recent … Chemistry is a tough subject (except when it's between u and me, baby). Moreover, because these colleges are admitting increasingly higher-achieving students, it's more difficult to set standards in classes that are high enough to prevent most people from earning As. For example, until 2014, Princeton University had a policy of “grade deflation,” which mandated that, in a given class, a maximum of only 35% of students could receive A grades. If grad school might be on the horizon for you, don't slack off during your freshman year of college! If you decide to include your GPA on your resume, the cumulative GPA is the one you should always add. Quite often the GPA of technical and hard science degrees is lower because they take harder classes, where professors are unlikely to give a lot of A’s. Merit scholarships often have similar GPA cut-offs. However, Rask’s findings align with a common refrain on many U.S. college campuses: STEM majors, on average, tend to maintain lower GPAs than humanities and social science majors. Aiming for the top schools? All ranges represent the middle 50% of first-year students admitted for Fall 2020. This data is now available to the campus and to the public and can be shared accordingly. The majors I've listed here come from a 2010 report by Dr. Kevin Rask of Wake Forest University. Figuring out the average college GPA is not as straightforward as you might assume it is. After all, every college and university has its own most- and least-challenging courses and departments. The following data, gathered by Rojstaczer in his studies on grade inflation, reflect average GPAs across a variety of institutions over the last decade. Finally, divide the total number of grade points by the total number of course credits. It’s a difficult science, though, as the average biology student has a 3.02 GPA. Why is this? What is the average business major GPA? What ACT target score should you be aiming for? We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Social science majors have the lowest mean GPA of 3.52. Read more here! When assessing the strength of your GPA, you should consider the influence of grade inflation or deflation at … By Major? Thorough research and internship opportunities are critical to this major. hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(360031, 'c8b8e502-c285-4182-9589-5f8ae230e78a', {}); Average college GPAs won't mean much for you if you're still in high school, but it's good to know how GPA works in college because it can impact your future career.