For starters, there are actually several different GPA computations that might be relevant. Let's look at three. The overall GPA is calculated for all courses taken. This GPA is the one most people have in mind when they refer to a student's GPA. It indicates how well the student performed over a broad spectrum of courses, some they were interested in and some where they would have preferred to have had a root canal. It includes all courses required for general education, required by the minor, and required by the major. It also includes "extra" courses. These courses might have been required by a major that the student abandoned or might have been taken by the student simply because the student has a personal interest in the field. Note, these extra courses could have either a positive or negative impact on the overall GPA but have nothing to do with the requirements for the degree attained.
A second GPA that is calculated by many universities is the "major GPA." This GPA includes all courses that are required for the major. For an Information Technology major at Illinois State this includes the required ITK courses but also includes math, science, speech, and business courses that are required beyond the general education requirements. This GPA is more limited in scope than the overall GPA and is more indicative of the student's performance in career-oriented coursework.
A third GPA that could be of interest is one over courses taken only in the major department. In our case, over all ITK courses taken. This is a more restrictive average but more indicative of the student's performance in subjects directly relevant to the major. This GPA is not reported by the university on student transcripts but can be manually calculated.
Employers should also be aware of some other ramifications of the way in which the GPA is calculated. In particular, a university's policies on the dropping of a course and on the re-taking of a course can have a dramatic impact on a student's GPA. Illinois State University has very restrictive policies in these regards where many universities have very liberal policies.
Not to bore you with the fine details, but a student at Illinois State must drop a course before the end of the eighth week, i.e. at mid-term, or have the course count in their GPA. At many universities a student can remain in a course to nearly finals week before deciding to stay in or bail out. This allows students at other universities to get a very good idea of how they are doing in a course and to drop out if they are making less than a "C".
