Academic Performance

Grade Point Average (GPA)

A strong Grade Point Average (GPA) is an essential component of a competitive application to a health professional program.

Most programs require a grade of C or higher in prerequisite coursework, although some, particularly Physician Assistant (PA) programs, may have higher minimum requirements. Courses below the minimum accepted grade must generally be repeated. While a C may satisfy a prerequisite, competitive applicants typically have GPAs of 3.6 or higher, depending on the profession and program.

Health professional programs typically evaluate three types of GPAs:

  • Science GPA: Coursework classified as science by the applicable centralized application service (commonly referred to as BCMP—Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics).
  • Non-Science GPA: Coursework outside the designated science categories.
  • Cumulative GPA: All coursework combined.

These GPAs may be evaluated cumulatively and by academic year to assess overall performance and academic trends. Undergraduate and graduate GPAs are generally calculated separately.

Some courses outside traditional science departments may also qualify for the science GPA based on their content. Review our list of Northeastern courses for guidance. Final classifications are determined by the applicable centralized application service.

Understanding Your GPA

One way to calculate your Northeastern Science, Non-Science, and Cumulative GPAs would be to run a “PreMed” degree audit. Any student at Northeastern can run a “PreMed” Degree Audit. “PreMed” Degree Audits sort your classes into Science, Non-Science, and Overall categories and calculate your corresponding GPAs for you. Follow these instructions for running a “PreMed” Degree Audit:

1. Log-in to your StudentHub

2. Click on the Resources tab

3. Click on Academics, Classes & Registration

4. Click on My Degree Audit

5. Under Audits select “Request New”

6. Click “Select a Different Program”

7. Under “College” select “Special Programs” and “Special Programs Pre-med – PRE-MED” should prepopulate

8. Choose the most current catalog year

9. Click “Run Different Program”

10: Finally, under “Audit Results” you will see “MED-GPACALCULATED GPA for PRE-MED”. Click on the adjacent right facing arrow to view a drop down of your courses into Science, Non-Science, and Overall GPA categories.

Note: The GPA calculations on your Northeastern Degree Audit may vary from the GPA that your Health Professions Program may calculate. For example, transfer credit and original grades from repeated courses are not included in your Northeastern GPA but will be included in the GPAs your Health Professions Program calculates.

It is important to know how your GPA compares to national averages for your indented health profession. This helps you ensure you meet the expectations for the individual programs you are interested in.

Here are some links to help gauge where your GPA ranks:

What goes into your Science GPA, Non-Science GPA, and Cumulative GPA varies by application service. Thus, you may wish to manually calculate your Science, Non-Science, and Overall GPAs based on the application service(s) that you intend to utilize.

Candidates can use THIS TEMPLATE to manually calculate their GPAs based on the application services they plan to use.

Watch the video below for step-by-step instructions on how to use the GPA calculator template.

Before deciding to withdraw from or repeat a course, students are encouraged to speak with their professor to assess their academic standing and options for success.

Withdrawn Coursework

Withdrawing (“W”) from a course is generally recommended only if a student is at risk of earning below the minimum acceptable grade. Most health professional programs require a C or higher in prerequisite coursework, although some, particularly Physician Assistant (PA) programs, may have higher minimum requirements.

If you are earning a passing grade, withdrawing may be less favorable than completing the course, as admissions committees may question the reason for the withdrawal. Rather than withdrawing to protect your GPA, students are encouraged to complete the course and demonstrate improvement through stronger performance in future coursework.

Repeated Coursework

Health professional programs require applicants to report all attempts of repeated coursework, including the original grades, even if those grades are excluded from Northeastern’s GPA calculations. Centralized application services generally include all attempts when calculating application GPAs.

For this reason, we do not recommend repeating a course in which you earned a passing grade (typically a C or higher). Instead, students should focus on demonstrating academic growth through stronger performance in subsequent coursework.

Your GPA is an important metric on your application, but it is not the only metric. It is uncommon for applicants to have a 4.0 GPA. However, the average GPA for admitted students across health professions is above 3.6. If you are significantly below this GPA, speak with your PreHealth advisor about options for enhancing your GPA prior to applying. 

Additionally, Northeastern has a number of resources on campus to help you succeed both in and out of the classroom:

Being admitted to a health professions program takes years of preparation and mastery of difficult science coursework. Thus, it is common for people to pursue additional education after completion of an undergraduate degree in order to become a more competitive applicant.

The two most common forms of additional education are either a Special Master’s program or a Post-Baccalaureate program.

Additional information on Special Master’s and Post-Baccalaureate programs can be found on our Gap Year webpage.