Verification and GPAs

VERIFYING YOUR COURSE HISTORY

After PharmCAS receives ALL of your official U.S. transcripts, the Service conducts a course-by-course verification process. Verification refers to the matching of courses on your official transcripts with the courses you entered on the “Coursework” section of your PharmCAS application. PharmCAS will check the course information you reported on your application against your official transcripts, and will report any discrepancies to your selected pharmacy institutions.

REPORT ALL OF YOUR COURSES EVEN IF THEY ARE NOT A PHARMACY SCHOOL PREREQUISITE!

PharmCAS will return your application to you for corrections or explanation if it identifies a significant number of course discrepancies or omissions. If you fail to properly enter all of your courses when you first submit your application or do not make corrections as requested, you may jeopardize your chances for admission.

Also see Degree Verification policy below.

GPA CALCULATIONS

To calculate a grade-point-average (GPA), PharmCAS determines your total number of quality points by multiplying semester hours attempted by the value of the verified PharmCAS grade. Quarter hours and units are converted to semester hours (quarter hours are multiplied by .667). The quality points are divided by the total number of hours for completed courses. PharmCAS will report your standardized GPA in semester-based 4.0 grading scale.

PharmCAS Grades and Weights

Undergraduate GPAs
• Science, Non-Science, Math and Undergraduate Cumulative

Graduate / Professional GPAs
• Science, Non-Science, Math, and Graduate/Professional Cumulative

Overall Cumulative GPA
• Combined Undergraduate, Graduate, and Professional Study

Course Subject GPAs
• Biochemistry, Biology, Inorganic Chemistry, Math, Microbiology, Organic Chemistry, Other Science, Physics, and Social Science

GPAs by Academic Status
• Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior, Post-BS, Graduate, and Professional

College/University GPA
• Separate GPA for college/university attended based on PharmCAS GPA calculation rules.

PharmCAS GPA CALCULATION RULES

PharmCAS calculates a standardized GPA to help participating colleges and schools evaluate applicants using uniform and consistent criteria, regardless of different institutional transcript policies. PharmCAS GPAs are likely to be different from those calculated by the colleges and universities you attended due to the PharmCAS grade standardization process. (Institutions may choose to use the PharmCAS GPAs or calculate new GPAs for their own institutional use.)

• GPAs include verified course data from regionally accredited U.S. postsecondary institutions only.

• All courses with credit hours and a PharmCAS Grade are calculated into the PharmCAS GPAs, regardless of whether the credit counts toward a degree or counted toward a college/university GPA.

• If the course credit hours or grade are missing, the course is excluded from the PharmCAS GPAs. PharmCAS will NOT calculate GPAs by totaling grade values and dividing by the number of courses completed.

• PharmCAS counts grades and hours assigned by the school where the courses were originally taken, not by any school that has granted transfer credit. (The only exception to this rule is Study Abroad coursework that transferred to a U.S. institution with itemized credit and grades.)

• PharmCAS will include ALL initial AND repeated course work in its GPA calculations (including those repeated under freshman forgiveness, academic bankruptcy, and other related institutional policies).

• Grades and credit hours for all FAILED courses will be included in the PharmCAS GPA, even if they are not included in the GPA calculations of the transcript-issuing institution. The schools to which you are applying may recalculate your GPA excluding repeated coursework.

• The following course types are not counted in PharmCAS GPA calculation:

Advanced Placement
CLEP
Audit
Deferred
Institutional/Departmental Exam
International Baccalaureate
Incomplete
Pass/Fail
Withdrawn/Withdrawn Passing
Withdrawn Failing

• If “Quarter”, PharmCAS system will automatically convert quarter hours to semester hours (Quarter Hour x .667).

• If “Unit”, PharmCAS manually converts unit credits to semester hours for each course.

• PharmCAS determines which courses should be included in each by referring to code in “Course Subject” field.

• Grade value of the course is multiplied by the semester hours for that course. The product of this multiplication equals the quality points.

• Cumulative quality points are divided by the cumulative attempted hours. (Total Quality Points / Total Credit Hours Attempted = GPA)

• All credit hours are rounded to the tenths place.

• PharmCAS GPAs are round at the hundredths place.

• PharmCAS Course Subjects

NUMERIC GRADING SCHEME

Some college transcripts report numeric grades, rather than alpha (letter) grades. Registrars often provide a transcript key to indicate the alpha (letter) value for each numeric grade. The letter value varies by college and university. For example, a “92” may be equal to an “A” at one institution and “B” at another institution. PharmCAS verifies that the applicant selected the correct alpha (letter) “PharmCAS Grade” based on the transcript key. If the transcript does not indicate a corresponding alpha (letter) grade, PharmCAS will default to the standardized grade scale below.

For Transcripts with no alpha grade key

For Transcripts with no alpha grade key

NARRATIVE (NON-GRADED) TRANSCRIPTS

Most U.S. colleges and universities evaluate students’ work with a numeric (e.g., 4.0) or alpha grade (e.g., B+). Some schools evaluate students with a “narrative” – sentences or paragraphs discussing the student’s work. PharmCAS cannot verify narrative transcripts. If received, these transcripts will be photocopied and mailed to your designated pharmacy schools. The following schools use narratives evaluations completely or partially, or have used them during some period of time.

Antioch College
Bennington College
Evergreen College
Goddard College
Goshen College
Hampshire College
Hartwick College
Lindenwood College
New College of the University of South Florida
Pacific Oaks College
Prescott College
Sarah Lawrence College
SUNY at Purchase
University of California – Santa Cruz
University of Massachusetts – Boston
University of Minnesota – Twin Cities
World College West

MILITARY TRANSCRIPTS AND OTHER UNIQUE GRADING SCHEMES

If PharmCAS cannot convert/decipher a grading scheme for a particular feeder school after contacting the Registrar, the staff will mark the courses and credits on the application as un-verified. PharmCAS will include any unverified courses in your list of courses reported to your designated pharmacy schools, but the grades will be excluded from the GPA calculations. Your selected pharmacy schools may decide to incorporate unverified grades in its local GPAs.

REVIEWING PharmCAS GPA CALCULATIONS

You may review your PharmCAS-GPAs by logging onto your account on the PharmCAS web site. PharmCAS GPAs are likely to be different from those calculated by the colleges and universities you attended due to the PharmCAS grade standardization process. Your PharmCAS GPAs will be calculated within FIVE weeks after PharmCAS receives your completed application, ALL transcripts, and the correct fee payment. Please contact PharmCAS by email if you have difficulty accessing your account.

Example:

GPA Calculation
32 (Quality Points) ÷ by 16 (Credit Hours Attempted) = 2.00 (GPA)

DEGREE VERIFICATION

PharmCAS will verify that all degrees reported as earned in the Colleges Attended section of the application also appear on the applicant’s official transcripts. PharmCAS reserves the right to make edits to the application degree fields in order to correct minor typographical errors; however, it is ultimately the applicant’s responsibility to properly enter all degrees on the PharmCAS application. Failure to properly enter your degrees may delay your application in processing or jeopardize your chances for admission.

During the Academic Update, PharmCAS will verify any new degrees earned since the application was initially submitted and verified. PharmCAS will not verify any new degrees earned in the 2010 spring or summer terms.

Pharmacy institutions are instructed not to automatically interpret a PharmCAS-reported "NO" in the degree earned fields to mean that the applicant entered falsified information. PharmCAS and designated pharmacy schools recognize that registrars may not report a degree as earned on a transcript until several weeks after the degree is earned or until the end of the academic year. Pharmacy schools reserve the right to contact the applicant or registrar directly, if they have questions about the status of a degree.

PharmCAS INVESTIGATIONS

The service will investigate and report applicants suspected of submitting false or fraudulent information. If any misrepresentation in data is suspected by or reported to PharmCAS, the applicant will be notified and relevant information will be requested. If misrepresentation in data is confirmed, PharmCAS will notify the schools to which the applicant has applied. In addition, on a case-by-case basis, PharmCAS reserves the right to notify all colleges and schools participating in the Service.