Calculating Your Combo Grade Point Average
Your cumulative GPA is an average of the grades you have received for all courses you have taken for credit at MSU. Your cumulative GPA can be found on your grade report each semester.
Your technical GPA is an average of the grades you have received for all your technical courses. Technical courses teach STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) foundation topics and are often courses taken from the College of Engineering, College of Natural Science and from Lyman Briggs College. For example, STT 351 and ENT 205 are considered technical courses that are used in calculating your technical GPA.
Courses in the colleges of Engineering and Natural Science that are NOT INCLUDED in the technical GPA include:
- Courses beginning with ISB, ISP, or NSC
- EGR100, EGR 160, EGR 291
- MTH 1825, MTH 101, MTH 102, MTH 103A
- CSE 100, CSE 101
- LB 300 or higher courses, LB 126, LB 133, LB 181
- ME280, ME285, ME 300
- CE274
Your combo GPA is the average of your cumulative GPA and your technical GPA. To calculate, add your cumulative GPA and your technical GPA, then divide by 2. Your combo GPA is used for admission to the College of Engineering.
Click here for a spreadsheet to aid in the calculation. (Excel .xls)
An Example:
J. Spartan has taken the following courses with the following grades (t=technical GPA course):
Course Credits Grade Credits x Grade= Point total
t ENT 205 3cr 3.5 | 3 x 3.5= 10.5
t CEM 141 4cr 2.5 | 4 x 2.5= 10
t CEM 161 1cr 3.5 | 1 x 3.5= 3.5
ISS 215 4cr 3.5 | 4 x 3.5 = 14
t MTH 132 3cr 3.0 | 3 x 3.0= 9.0
Total 15 cr / 47. 0 pts
Cumulative GPA: Multiply credits by the grade for each course, add these together, and divide by the total number of credits:
- (47 pts / 15 crs)=3.1333 gpa
Technical GPA: Multiply credits by the grade for each technical course, add these together, and divide by the number of technical credits:
- (33 pts / 11 crs)=3.000
Combo GPA: Average the cumulative and technical GPAs:
- (3.1333 + 3.000 = 6.1333 / 2)=3.0666
Note: Students should be aware that technical courses are counted twice, once in the cumulative GPA and then again in the technical GPA. Also, remember that numeric grades at MSU include 4.0, 3.5, 3.0, 2.5, 2.0, 1.5, 1.0, and 0.0, so to attain at least a 2.9000 Combined GPA, you need to earn mostly 3.0 or better grades in your courses.
