Patterns of College Grades across Curricular Areas: Some Implications for GPA as a Criterion

Abstract

Transcript records of over 1,900 college students were transformed into a profile of grades across 12 curricular areas. The record for each subject also included high school grade point average (GPA) and the Scholastic Aptitude Test scores. Intercorrelations among the 12 college GPA variables were comparable to previous research which analyzed GPA over successive semesters. Factor analysis resulted in two GPA factors, General Academic Achievement and Grades Independent of Achievement/Aptitude, indicating that GPA is not unitary, but is also not a multifaceted composite. It was concluded that the system of grades could be considered singular for most predictive purposes.