College GPA calculator

How is college GPA or semester GPA calculated?

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If you’re curious, here’s how the GPA is calculated. It’s not that hard, actually. All you need to do is:

First, you’d need to translate your letter grades into a 4.0 grade points grading system. In college, there’s no weighted GPA for honors courses or advanced placement classes, like when calculating your high school GPA. The GPA scale is always the same.

The weight of each class is determined instead by the number of credits for each class. Most college courses are worth 3 credit hours, but higher difficulty courses or those with lab time may be worth more credit hours.

Once you have all the credit hours for each course, multiply the grade points by the number of credit hours to get the total number of grade points for that semester.

Now, divide the total number of grade points by the total number of credit hours and you will know the grade point average (GPA) for that semester.

To get the cumulative grade point average you’d need to do the same process for all the courses in all your semesters. Don’t average your different semesters, as each semester will have a different number of credit hours.

Even though calculating your GPA is not that hard, you can use our college GPA calculator to save time and focus on your studies and your assignments.

Are Pass / No Pass courses factored into a GPA calculation? What about incomplete and withdrawals?

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No, a Pass / No pass class is not used to calculate your GPA, so you don’t need to enter them in the GPA calculator. It’s the same with I (Incompletes) and W (Withdrawals). As those courses do not receive grade points, they don’t have an effect on your GPA, and you can ignore them when using the GPA calculator.

What are cum laude, magna cum laude, and summa cum laude?

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If you have an exceptionally high GPA, you can graduate with honors. Cum laude, magna cum laude, and summa cum laude are distinctions awarded by colleges and universities to their best-performing students, and those enrolled in an honors college or an honors program. The GPA scale for these honors vary from college to college but typically a cum laude distinction may require a minimum 3.5 GPA.

What is a good GPA in college?

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The definition of a good GPA ultimately lies in your expectations. For some students, a 2.8 GPA would be a good one if they are finding college studies difficult. For others who have ambitions of continuing their education in a graduate program, a 2.8 GPA would probably not be enough.

The average college GPA in the US is 3.15. There are more demanding colleges where the average GPA is even higher. A good grade point average can increase your opportunities to attend graduate school and will help you position yourself better for the career of your choice, so you should aim for a higher than average GPA.

Even though a 3.0 grade point average would be enough for most recruiters and employers, a higher GPA will allow you more chances to have a better future.

How can you improve your college GPA?

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There are several strategies you can follow to improve your grade point average:

1. Start as early as possible.
2. Make a plan to stay organized and focus on your goals.
3. Ask your teachers and instructors for guidance.
4. Ask for mentorship from other students with higher grades.
5. Join a study group to help you stay focused.
6. Find out if you can re-take a class with a low grade.

Read our ultimate guide on improving your GPA to know more.