How AMCAS calculates your GPA
When you apply to MD programs through AMCAS, the AAMC verifies your coursework against your official transcripts, converts every grade to its own scale and recalculates your GPAs from scratch. Its GPA reports chapter says medical schools receive a BCPM GPA (biology, chemistry, physics and math), an AO GPA (all other) and a total for each academic status: high school, freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, postbaccalaureate and graduate. Postbac work counts in your undergraduate total and also gets its own row.
The AAMC’s Grade Conversion Guide warns that the result may not match the GPA on your transcript. The rules below show where those gaps come from: retakes, failed classes your college dropped from its own average, and grades from every other school you attended.
The AMCAS grade conversion
| Grade | AMCAS weight | Grade | AMCAS weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| A+ / A | 4.0 | C | 2.0 |
| A- | 3.7 | C- | 1.7 |
| B+ | 3.3 | D+ | 1.3 |
| B | 3.0 | D | 1.0 |
| B- | 2.7 | D- | 0.7 |
| C+ | 2.3 | F | 0.0 |
| AB | 3.5 | CD | 1.5 |
| BC | 2.5 | DE | 0.5 |
The weights come from the conversion charts in the Grade Conversion Guide; the last two rows are for colleges that use half-step grades. The grades factored chapter adds two rules: AMCAS counts plus and minus grades even if your college doesn’t, and an A+ is worth the same 4.0 as an A. If you’re also weighing law school, LSAC does the opposite and gives an A+ 4.33; the law school GPA calculator shows that version.
The formula, with a worked example
Total GPA = Σ(weight × semester hours, all graded courses) ÷ Σ(semester hours)
The calculator opens with a pre-med’s record. Freshman year: a C in General Chemistry I, an A- in biology and a B+ in calculus (4 credits each), an A in English composition, and 3 credits of AP Psychology. Sophomore year: General Chemistry I again for an A, a B in organic chemistry, an A in sociology and a W in physics. Junior year: a B+ in biochemistry, A’s in statistics and medical ethics, and a passed 2-credit art class. After graduating, a 4-credit A in physiology.
The eight science courses add up to 101.9 quality points over 30 hours, a BCPM GPA of 3.40. The three AO courses are straight A’s, 36 points over 9 hours. Together that’s 137.9 ÷ 39 = a total of 3.54. The AP credit and the pass go into supplemental hours, and the W is left out. If the first chemistry C could be dropped, as many colleges do after a retake, the BCPM would be 3.61 and the total 3.71. AMCAS doesn’t allow that. The status table also shows why schools like to see it year by year: 3.20, then 3.64, then 3.77, then 4.00 in postbac work.
What counts and what doesn’t
- Repeated courses. Every attempt counts, per the grades factored chapter, even when your college replaces the grade. If an academic forgiveness policy swapped the original grade for a symbol, you still enter the original grade and credits.
- Failed courses. A letter-graded F counts even if your college leaves it out of its own GPA. Depending on your college’s policy, an IF or an unofficial withdrawal can also count as an F.
- Withdrawals and incompletes. The special course types chapter says a W carries no hours or grade unless your college counts a withdraw-failing as an F. An unresolved incomplete gets no grade; once it turns into a grade, that grade counts. Our guide on whether a W affects your GPA covers the college side.
- Pass/fail, AP and CLEP. Passed and failed pass/fail courses, AP credit, CLEP and other test credit are reported as supplemental hours, not averaged. LSAC, by contrast, counts a failed pass/fail class as 0.00. More on that in does pass/fail affect your GPA?
- No weight at all. Audits, courses in progress, deferred grades, exempt courses and grades missing because of a school error are left out entirely, as is credit from schools that don’t grant degrees, such as vocational or culinary schools.
BCPM or AO? Common classifications
You choose each course’s classification by its primary content. The department doesn’t matter, and the AAMC can change a classification that clearly doesn’t fit. These examples come from the Course Classification Guide:
| Course | AMCAS classification | GPA |
|---|---|---|
| Biochemistry, toxicology, thermodynamics | Chemistry | BCPM |
| Neuroscience, genetics, biophysics | Biology | BCPM |
| Statistics, biostatistics | Mathematics | BCPM |
| Astronomy | Physics | BCPM |
| Psychology, sociology, economics | Behavioral and Social Sciences | AO |
| Kinesiology, nutrition, public health, pharmacology | Health Sciences | AO |
| Environmental science, geology | Natural and Physical Sciences | AO |
| Computer science | Computer Science and Technology | AO |
| Biomedical or chemical engineering | Engineering | AO |
| Medical ethics, logic | Philosophy and Religion | AO |
Two surprises catch people: natural and physical sciences such as geology stay out of the BCPM GPA, and so does pharmacology. For a course that mixes subjects, the AAMC suggests reading its catalog description or asking your prehealth advisor.
Which status each course goes under
The coursework details chapter says each undergraduate status should hold about 24 to 35 semester and supplemental hours, and that a full-time student usually moves up after every two semesters or three to four quarters. College classes taken before your high school graduation are HS, but AP and CLEP credit goes under freshman. Undergraduate courses after your first bachelor’s are postbac, and graduate-level courses not applied to an undergraduate degree are graduate. The worked sample in the Grade Conversion Guide includes high school hours in the cumulative undergraduate row, so the calculator does too.
On a quarter calendar, enter credits exactly as your transcript shows; AMCAS converts them itself using your college’s conversion. The checkbox applies the AAMC’s table of two-thirds, rounded to a tenth, so a 4-unit quarter class counts as 2.7 hours.
Limits of this calculator
- It’s an estimate. Your verified AMCAS GPAs appear on your application once it’s processed; that’s the number schools see.
- Unusual grading systems. Narrative evaluations aren’t factored in at all, and numeric or unusual scales are converted using the grading information your college gives the AAMC.
- MD applications only. The rules here come from the 2027 AMCAS Applicant Guide.
For how your college itself averages grades, use the GPA calculator; for context on the numbers, see what is a good GPA?
GradeDuck isn’t affiliated with, or endorsed by, the Association of American Medical Colleges. AMCAS® is a registered trademark of the AAMC. We read the 2027 AMCAS Applicant Guide in October 2026.