I'm DONE!

[Prloko]

ShotoJuku, Soliloquy, Prloko, Jonathan Whatley, Dfrecore, Lindagerr, Hunter91, Life Long Learning, Mamasaphire, MedNat, Bjcheung77, LaterBloomer, Lavagirl, Tedium - All of you were great at helping to cheer me on to the finish line!

So now I have three new questions:

1.) I’m not sure if I need to just sign up for the GRE or if I have to sign-up for certain parts of the GRE? I know its a long shot, but I am looking at applying for full ride scholarships to some of the top schools plus University of Southern California (No GRE required for either program I’m looking at), because I really need to re-build my offline network. If none of them accept me I can always fall back on ENMU or WGU for a regular MBA. I know I’m generally not going to be a top candidate based on my GPA, but I do think that because I have managed to deal with so much - my background shows a great deal of diversity & resilience… which universities want.

2.) I’m really confused on how to calculate the cumulative GPA that I assume I’ll need to list on graduate school applications. All the calculators I find online only allow you to calculate the GPA for like 10 courses at a time. I know I have 2 Fs from years ago (way before joining here), one was my second college course ever ('00 when I was more worried about getting a job than studying algebra) and the second was from about '07 when my computer stopped working and I lost all my files including my final project. Also have a D from statistics years ago, but pretty much the entire class either got Fs, Ds, or Cs so I'm not as worried about that one. I think overall I'm still around 3.0 +/-, and given what I've been through I'd say that's doing well.

3.) Since my credits are done but I haven’t actually commenced yet, does anyone know if I’d be eligible to take the Texas A&M University’s free graduate course in August? I'm thinking I could, but figured it's worth asking the experts.

First, CONGRATULATIONS! Its a huge accomplishment.
Second, Thanks for the kind words. It's always nice to read that I am of help to at least one person Now for your questions.

1) I'm not a big expert on the GRE, but I believe unless the program requires something else, the General Test should suffice. Some programs also give you the option of taking either the GRE or GMAT. A high score opens up opportunities and can help adcoms forgive other less than stellar areas of an application; so study hard.

2) As far as calculating your GPA, you don't need to do that yourself for an application. The school you're applying to will have their own formula. If it's for your own purposes, its pretty straight forward. For the most part, grade points are as follows (from A to F including + and -): 4.00, 3.66, 3.33, 3.00, 2.66, 2.33, 2.00, 1.66, 1.33, 1.00, 0.00. You multiply your grade point by the number of credits the course is worth ( An F is worth 0.00). Calculate your total grade points and divide by the total ATTEMPTED (to include Fs). I wager you can find a calculator online or even make your own in Excel. In your application, you can explain how you made some mistakes early and your later grades are more indicative of your capabilities. Most schools understand the first two years of college are hampered by immaturity. UPDATE: Here is a simple online GPA calculator: http://www.ohe.state.mn.us/sPages/gpa.cfm

3) I have no knowledge of the A&M course, hopefully someone with knowledge can help you out on that one.