NursingCAS GPA Calculator
Calculate your GPA exactly as NursingCAS calculates it — including all attempted coursework from every institution you attended, with no grade replacement applied. NursingCAS produces four separate GPA figures that nursing programs use to evaluate your application. This calculator replicates all four.
Calculating your general nursing school GPA? Use the Nursing School GPA Calculator. Need to check your science prerequisites separately? Use the Science GPA Calculator.
How NursingCAS Calculates Your GPA — The Four Categories
When you apply through NursingCAS, the system reads your official transcripts and recalculates your GPA using its own standardized methodology. The result is four separate GPA figures that are sent to every nursing program you apply to. Understanding how each is calculated — and how it may differ from your university transcript GPA — is essential before submitting your application.
NursingCAS calculates your cumulative GPA using every graded undergraduate course from every institution you have attended. This includes courses where you received a W (withdrawal after the add/drop period), which appear on transcripts but are excluded from the GPA calculation. Pass/fail courses are excluded from GPA but their credits are counted toward your total credit hours.
If you retook a course and received a higher grade, NursingCAS includes both the original grade and the retaken grade — unlike your institutional transcript, which may show only the higher grade under a grade replacement policy. This is the most commonly misunderstood aspect of the NursingCAS calculation, and it means your NursingCAS cumulative GPA may be lower than what appears on your official transcript.
NursingCAS calculates a separate science GPA using only your natural science courses. The courses that count as science in NursingCAS typically include: Biology (with lab), Chemistry (with lab), Anatomy and Physiology I and II (with lab), Microbiology (with lab), Statistics, Biochemistry, Pathophysiology, Nutrition, and other courses classified as natural sciences in the NursingCAS taxonomy.
The science GPA is used by nursing programs to evaluate your foundation in the sciences that directly underpin nursing practice — pharmacology, physiology, and clinical decision-making.
Many nursing programs require a specific set of prerequisite courses and calculate a separate prerequisite GPA from those courses alone. The prerequisites vary by program — one BSN program may require eight specific courses while an ABSN program may require twelve.
Your NursingCAS application allows each program to view a prerequisite GPA calculated from only the courses they specify as prerequisites. The prerequisite GPA can be higher or lower than your cumulative GPA depending on how you performed in the specific courses that particular program considers essential.
Some nursing programs request or calculate a Last 60 Credit Hours GPA — the GPA from only the most recent 60 credit hours of your undergraduate record. This metric is designed to capture your most recent academic performance and is particularly useful for applicants who started college with a weak GPA but improved substantially over time.
A strong Last 60 GPA paired with a lower cumulative GPA signals an upward trajectory, which admissions committees in competitive programs view favorably. If your Last 60 GPA is meaningfully higher than your cumulative GPA, highlight this in your personal statement.
Why Your NursingCAS GPA May Differ From Your Transcript GPA
Grade replacement is not applied
Your university may replace a repeated course grade on your transcript — showing only the higher grade — under an institutional grade forgiveness or grade replacement policy. NursingCAS does not honor this policy. Both the original grade and the retaken grade are included in the NursingCAS GPA calculation. The practical effect: students who retook courses expecting grade replacement will find their NursingCAS GPA is lower than their institutional transcript GPA.
All institutions are combined
If you attended more than one college or university — including community colleges, summer programs, or transfer institutions — NursingCAS combines coursework from every institution into a single GPA calculation. Your primary institution's transcript GPA does not include courses from other institutions. The NursingCAS cumulative GPA does.
Pass/fail courses are excluded from GPA but counted in credit hours
Courses in which you received a P (Pass) or NP (No Pass) grade are excluded from the NursingCAS GPA calculation because no numeric grade point is assigned. However, the credit hours for these courses are counted toward your total attempted credit hours. This has no effect on the GPA calculation itself but increases total credit hours reported.
W grades appear but do not affect GPA
Courses in which you received a W (Withdrawal) after the institution's add/drop deadline appear on your transcript and are visible in your NursingCAS application, but the W is excluded from the GPA calculation. Programs can see how many W grades you have received — multiple W grades may prompt questions in an interview — but they do not numerically reduce your GPA.
Quarter hours are converted to semester hours
If any of your institutions use a quarter-hour credit system rather than a semester-hour system, NursingCAS converts quarter hours to semester hours before calculating your GPA. The conversion factor is 1 quarter hour = 0.667 semester hours. This normalization ensures fair comparison between applicants from quarter-system and semester-system institutions.
Student C attended two institutions. At Institution 1 (semester system), she earned: Biology A 4cr, General Chemistry D 4cr (first attempt — retook), General Chemistry A- 4cr (second attempt), Anatomy A 3cr, Physiology B+ 3cr, English A 3cr. At Institution 2 (quarter system, converted), she earned: Microbiology A 3cr (converted from 4.5 quarter hours), Statistics B+ 3cr (converted from 4.5 quarter hours).
Institution 1 transcript GPA (with grade replacement for Chemistry): Excludes the D, counts only A-. Transcript science GPA: (4.0×4 + 3.7×4 + 4.0×3 + 3.3×3) ÷ 14 = 3.71.
NursingCAS cumulative GPA (both Chemistry attempts, both institutions): D (1.0×4 = 4.0 QP) + A- (3.7×4 = 14.8) + Biology A (4.0×4 = 16.0) + Anatomy A (4.0×3 = 12.0) + Physiology B+ (3.3×3 = 9.9) + English A (4.0×3 = 12.0) + Microbiology A (4.0×3 = 12.0) + Statistics B+ (3.3×3 = 9.9) = 90.6 quality points ÷ 27 credit hours = 3.36 cumulative GPA.
Lesson: her transcript GPA was significantly higher than her NursingCAS GPA due to grade replacement and multi-institution combination. She needed to address the Chemistry retake story in her personal statement.
NursingCAS GPA Benchmarks by Nursing Program
The following benchmarks reflect general NursingCAS GPA expectations across major nursing program types. Verify requirements with individual programs — thresholds vary significantly.
| Program Type | Min Cumulative GPA | Min Science GPA | Competitive GPA Range | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BSN (Traditional) | 2.75 – 3.0 | 2.75 – 3.0 | 3.3 – 3.6 | Prerequisite GPA weighted heavily at competitive programs |
| ABSN (Accelerated BSN) | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.3 – 3.5 | Recent science performance scrutinized closely |
| RN-to-BSN Bridge | 2.5 | 2.5 | 3.0 – 3.3 | Active RN license typically required |
| MSN — Nurse Practitioner | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.3 – 3.5 | Clinical hours and RN experience carry significant weight |
| MSN — Clinical Nurse Specialist | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.2 – 3.5 | Research interest and clinical specialization valued |
| CRNA (Nurse Anesthesia) | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.5 – 3.7 | ICU RN experience mandatory; GRE required at many programs |
| DNP (Doctor of Nursing Practice) | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.5+ | Leadership portfolio and scholarly work evaluated |
| Post-Licensure BSN Completion | 2.5 | 2.5 | 3.0+ | Prior nursing licensure is primary qualification |
Five Mistakes That Affect Your NursingCAS GPA Calculation
Assuming grade replacement applies
The most common NursingCAS GPA surprise. If your institution uses grade replacement and you retook a course, your institutional transcript GPA does not reflect the original grade — but NursingCAS does. If you retook General Chemistry after receiving a D and earned an A on the second attempt, your NursingCAS science GPA includes the D. Many applicants do not discover this discrepancy until their NursingCAS application is processed and the calculated GPA appears, by which point applications have already been submitted. Always calculate your NursingCAS GPA before the application cycle begins.
Forgetting community college or transfer coursework
Any course taken at any accredited institution — including community colleges taken years earlier — is included in your NursingCAS cumulative GPA. Students who took general education requirements at a community college before transferring to a four-year university sometimes overlook these credits entirely. If those community college courses included any weak grades, they will reduce your NursingCAS cumulative GPA even if your four-year institution transcript looks strong.
Misclassifying courses as science or non-science
NursingCAS classifies courses using its own taxonomy, which may differ from how your institution categorizes them. Psychology, for example, is typically classified as non-science in NursingCAS even though it may be listed under a social sciences department at your school. Nutrition may be classified as science at some institutions but not at others depending on the department. Misclassifying courses in the NursingCAS application affects which GPA category they contribute to. Review the NursingCAS course classification guide before entering your coursework.
Not entering courses from all attended institutions
NursingCAS requires you to list every institution you attended and every course taken at each. Some applicants omit institutions where they took only one or two courses, or where they withdrew before completing any credits. Even a single institution omission can trigger a verification flag and delay application processing. Use the calculator on this page with all institutions combined to see your true NursingCAS cumulative GPA.
Misunderstanding the prerequisite GPA
Your NursingCAS prerequisite GPA is not a single fixed calculation — it is recalculated differently by each nursing program based on the specific prerequisites that program requires. A program that requires eight courses calculates your prerequisite GPA from those eight courses. A different program requiring twelve courses calculates a different prerequisite GPA from those twelve. This means your prerequisite GPA can vary from program to program depending on how you performed in each program's specific required courses. Use the Prerequisite GPA panel in the calculator above to model your prerequisite GPA for each target program separately.
Other Professional School GPA Calculators
NursingCAS is one of several centralized application services that recalculate GPA using their own methodology. If you are applying to other health professions programs, these calculators replicate the GPA calculation for each system:
AMCAS GPA Calculator
GPA for MD medical school applications
AACOMAS GPA Calculator
GPA for DO osteopathic programs
CASPA GPA Calculator
GPA for PA school applications
AADSAS GPA Calculator
GPA for dental school applications
VMCAS GPA Calculator
GPA for veterinary school applications
BusinessCAS GPA Calculator
GPA for MBA programs
Nursing School GPA Calculator
General GPA benchmarks for nursing programs
ABSN GPA Calculator
GPA requirements for accelerated nursing programs
CRNA School GPA Calculator
GPA benchmarks for nurse anesthesia programs
Science GPA Calculator
Calculate your science GPA for health professions
Frequently Asked Questions
Applying to multiple professional programs?
Each application service calculates GPA differently. Use the professional school GPA hub to compare your profile across NursingCAS, AMCAS, AACOMAS, CASPA, and other systems.