Declaration and Progression Standards

Once you complete 13 or more credit hours in biology, chemistry, physics, and/or math (BCPM) courses at James Madison University, you will be subject to performance standard reviews twice a year. You must maintain a BCPM G.P.A. of 3.00 or above to retain the Pre-Medicine Program declaration. Since medical schools consider all course attempts during the admissions process, the G.P.A. calculations for the Pre-Medicine Program will include all course attempts. If your academic performance standards fall below a BCPM G.P.A., you are at very high risk of not being admitted to medical school. Therefore, if you are unable to maintain a BCPM G.P.A. of 3.00 or above, then your Pre-Medicine Program will be administratively dropped.

Understanding your BCPM GPA

Your Biology/Chemistry (BCPM) GPA is a metric used by medical school admissions to assess your academic strength in the sciences. PPHA assesses your BCPM GPA to determine progression through the Pre-Med Minor (see the previous page on progression standards).

It is important to understand the BCPM GPA is not the same as the Pre-Med GPA you see in MyMadison. To calculate your BCPM GPA, click on the below link and follow these instructions:

Step 1: Access this JMU GPA calculator: https://www.jmu.edu/career/students/firstyear/semester-gpa.shtml

Step 2: Sign into MyMadison to view your unofficial transcripts.

Step 3: Add every course attempt for all Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Math courses (including separate labs) to the calculator. Remember! Repeat and Repeat-Forgive courses should be included here since medical schools will consider all course attempts in GPA assessments.

Step 4: Select "calculate GPA". You can add future courses here to determine what impact future grades may have on your BCPM GPA.