Learning Activities
Activity 9.1
Send an email (https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2015/04/16/advice-students-so-they-dont-sound-silly-emails-essay)
Practice constructing emails that are professional in nature and clearly communicate their intended message. Send an email to one of your professors constructed with the points made above in mind. Let the professor know you are sending the email as part of a class and would appreciate a reply. You might want to send one to each of your professors to ensure a timely response. Remember:
Greeting (Good Morning, Good Evening, Dear Dr….)
The body of your email, complete with what you need to know, or what action you need taken.
Closing (Regards, Thank you, Sincerely)
And, your full name. Often there are people in a class with the same first name.
Using the steps in the advisor section above, schedule your advising appointment for next semester.
Advisors are always available to help you and can reaffirm you are on the right track. However, advising appointments are short in nature and sometimes hard to get, so the more you can figure out on your own, the better off you will be.
Check https://www.shsu.edu/dept/registrar/calendars/advance-registration.html for the date advising opens and the Registration Schedule.
Activity 9.2
Calculating Quality Points and GPA
As we discussed earlier in the chapter, calculating a GPA can seem very intimidating. However, once you know which numbers to plug into the formulas, it is really very simple! In this activity, we will calculate a semester GPA by hand. Grab a piece of scratch paper and a calculator and let’s get started!
Sammy Bearkat took the courses outlined below and posted the following grades for each course:
ENGL 1301 | B |
HIST 1302 | A |
SOCI 2319 | C |
BIOL 1408 | B |
UNIV 1101 | A |
First, let’s start by determining the number of quality points Sammy earned for each course. Let’s do the first one together. Sammy earned a B in ENGL 1301. A “B” is worth 3 points per credit hour (reference the table earlier in the chapter). Three points per credit hour for the B x 3 credit hours (ENGL 1301 is worth 3 hours because the second number is a “3”) = 9 quality points. Calculate the remaining quality points for all courses listed above.
You have determined how many credit hours each course is worth and how many quality points Sammy earned for each course, so let’s do some simple addition. Add up all the credit hours for the courses. Next, add up all the quality points. You should have two numbers: total number of credit hours and total number of quality points earned. Now, let’s calculate Sammy’s semester GPA. Take the number of quality points and divide it by the total number of hours. You should see that Sammy’s semester GPA is a 3.07.
Using the Semester GPA Prognosticator
Now that we have an understanding of how to calculate a semester GPA by hand, let’s learn how to use the semester GPA tool for quick and easy use.
From the SAM Center webpage, select the option for Advisor Tools. Scroll down the page until you see the section titled GPA Calculators. Select the link for Semester GPA Calculator. For each of the scenarios below, use the Semester GPA Calculator to determine the semester GPA.
KINE 2115 | A | BIOL 1408 | B | MATH 1314 | B | ||
UNIV 1101 | B | MATH 1332 | C | GEOG 1401 | C | ||
ENGL 1301 | A | HIST 1301 | A | POLS 2306 | B | ||
HIST 1301 | B | POLS 2305 | F | ENGL 1301 | B | ||
KINE 1331 | B | ARTS 1301 | D | ||||
MUSI 1310 | C |
Using the Overall GPA Calculator
We have learned how to calculate a semester GPA by hand and by using the Semester GPA tool, so let’s take a look at the Overall GPA Calculator. This tool allows you to see how your cumulative or overall GPA is affected by your semester grades. The Overall GPA Calculator also allows you to account for a course you might be repeating. From the SAM Center webpage, select the option for Advisor Tools. Scroll down the page until you see the section titled GPA Calculators. Select the link for GPA Prognosticator. Don’t let the title intimidate you—this Excel sheet will allow you to see how your overall GPA will change with your new grades!
Once you have the GPA Prognosticator open, access your unofficial transcript. After your unofficial transcript loads, scroll to the very bottom of the page. At the bottom, you will see three different lines for GPAs displayed: total institution, total transfer, and overall. If you did not complete coursework (i.e., dual credit courses) prior to arriving at the university, there will be no information displayed, and all three lines will show 0.0 for GPA. After you successfully complete your first semester of classes, you will see information listed in the Total Institution and Total Overall lines. If you did complete coursework prior to arriving at the university, the total GPA hours and quality points you earned from those courses will show in the Total Transfer and Total Overall lines. Credits received by examination (e.g., AP, IB, CLEP) do not earn a grade and thus will not affect your GPA. As you begin taking courses, your total transfer GPA will not change. However, those GPA hours and quality points are important as they still count toward your overall GPA.
To get familiar with the GPA Prognosticator, let’s first see how your overall GPA would change if you made all As for this term. In the overall GPA calculator, you will see a portion in the top left that says, “ENTER Current Hours Attempted.” This is where you will enter your GPA hours from your unofficial transcript, using the information listed in the Overall line item. If you have not completed any coursework, your unofficial transcript will show 0, which is normal, so place that number in the appropriate box. Next, in the box that says, “ENTER Current Grade Points,” enter the quality points listed on your unofficial transcript from the information listed in the Overall line item; this will also show 0 if you have not yet completed any coursework. If you have dual credit courses, you should see a GPA displayed in the “Projected GPA is” box. If you did not have any GPA hours or quality points to enter, your projected GPA will be blank.
In the New Courses section of the spreadsheet, enter in your course information, along with the total number of hours associated with each course. Enter As for each course and watch as your Projected GPA changes! If you have no previous coursework, your GPA should now show as a 4.0. If you did have previous coursework completed, you will now see what your projected Overall GPA would be if you made all As this term.
Now that we are a little more familiar with the spreadsheet, let’s use the following case study to see how Sammy’s overall GPA would be affected:
Case Study 1: Sammy is struggling to meet the 2.5 overall GPA requirement for his accounting major. Sammy is in his last semester of coursework needed to graduate but has to make the right grades to meet the 2.5 GPA requirement. Currently, his GPA is a 2.42. His unofficial transcript shows 105 GPA hours and 255 quality points in the Overall line item. Sammy is currently enrolled in 15 hours for the fall term but has never taken any of these courses before, so none of them are repeats. What grades does Sammy need to meet the 2.5 GPA requirement?
Case Study 2: Sammy finished his last semester of coursework for his accounting major but unfortunately did not make the grades needed to raise his GPA to the 2.5 mark required for graduation. For the next term, Sammy must return to SHSU to repeat a course and raise his GPA to the 2.5 requirement. In his last semester, Sammy took ACCT 4316, ACCT 4317, BUAD 3355, MGMT 4390, and ACCT 3347. In addition to the 2.5 overall GPA requirement, Sammy must make a C or better in any course with the ACCT prefix. Unfortunately, in his last term, Sammy posted a D in ACCT 3347. Sammy is showing 120 GPA hours and 294 quality points in his Overall line item on the unofficial transcript. Sammy is already required to repeat ACCT 3347 for a better grade because a D does not suffice. Using the Repeated Courses section of the Overall GPA calculator, enter in Sammy’s ACCT 3347 course, the old grade of D, and use the “What If” column to project what grade Sammy would need to make in his repeat of ACCT 3347 to meet the 2.5 overall GPA requirement for graduation.