Grades & Prerequisites

Grades Required for Admission

Even if the institution publishes a minimum grade required for admission, the actual grade point average (GPA) required can vary from year to year and, in some institutions, from semester to semester. It is not always possible to predict what the required GPA will be for any institution or for any specific program, since that will depend on how many students are applying, and on how many spaces are available. However, in many cases the actual GPA is significantly higher than the published minimum.

For example, in a recent calendar one university published a minimum GPA requirement of 67% for admission from secondary school. However, the actual required GPA for a secondary school student entering science was 80%. At another institution, the minimum GPA required for transfer students entering Arts was 2.0, but the actual GPA required to enter second year was 2.83.

Grades are Recalculated by the Receiving Institution

When you apply for admission to a program at another BC public post-secondary institution, credits and courses already earned will be considered for transfer and the Grade Point Average (GPA) that you earned at the "sending institution" (the institution you're transferring from) will be recalculated by the "receiving institution" (the institution you're transferring to).  Receiving institutions consider several different factors and employ several different methods when calculating the Admission GPA.  A variation in any single component can result in a different Admission GPA.  Here are some of the things that affect the admission GPA that may be applied differently by different institutions.

1. The number of credits[1] used in the calculation

The calculation could be based on credits or on individual courses and the number of credits/courses used in the calculation may not be the same for all institutions or programs.

2. The criteria used to decide which credits are used in the calculation
   • Not all credits completed are necessarily counted in the recalculated admission GPA. It depends on the institution.
   • Credits counted could be the most recent completed up to a maximum number set by a receiving institution. Different rules can apply if the count-back stops in the middle of a semester. The best grades could be used or an institution may use the whole semester average on a pro-rated basis.
   • Different courses can be used in the calculation depending on the program you are applying for.
   • Institutions handle repeated courses differently. Some include the grades of all courses attempted, while others use only the higher grade of the repeated course.
   • Failed course grades are included by some institutions, but others don't count them if the course was repeated with a higher grade achieved

3. Different course weightings and values

Some institutions give equal weight to all course grades when calculating a GPA, while others may assign greater weight to grades for courses with a higher credit value. For example, three 3-credit courses with grades of 2.5, 3.0, and 3.5 average out to a GPA of 3.0, but if the course with the 2.5 grade was a 4 credit course, it would reduce the overall GPA to 2.95 if it was given more weight; i.e., equal to the number of credits assigned to it.

Each institution has its own credit value system. Institutions will not usually assign more credit to a transfer course than they assign to their own course. So if, for example, a 4 credit course at a sending institution transfers as a 3 credit course at the receiving institution (you would get the same number of credits as a student at the receiving institution), the admission GPA may be affected depending on the other rules in place for calculating it.

Grade Conversion

Most institutions express the Admission GPA in terms of their own grading scale.  This means that the grades from the sending institution are converted into the equivalent grades on the scale at the receiving institution.

Transfer appeals process

If you have a concern with the admission GPA calculated by an institution that you have already followed up on and has not been satisfactorily addressed, you can enquire about the institution's appeals process. There may be a special transfer appeals process in place or else this may be covered by a general appeals process. Ask at the Registrar's Office at the institution.

Prerequisites

Several of the admission policies described above refer to the need for students to have satisfied the prerequisites for any courses for which they wish to register. A prerequisite is a required course which must be taken, and the content mastered, before a student can take a more advanced course in the subject. For example, Math 12 is the normal prerequisite for First Year Calculus.

Prerequisite courses often have minimum grade requirements, such as a 'C'or 'C+'. In this case, a student will not be able to register in the more advanced course until he/she has obtained the minimum grade in the prerequisite.