Calculating Grade Averages on a 4.0 Scale
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General Instructions
  • If some of your credits are semester hours and some are quarter hours, you must convert all relevant grades to either semester hours or quarter hours. We recommend that you pick the transcript(s) with the least amount of hours and convert to the other. To convert semester hours to quarter hours, multiply each semester hour by 1.5. To convert quarter hours to semester hours, multiply each quarter hour by 0.67. If numerical grades or equivalents are provided on your transcript, convert them by multiplying by the same factors.
  • Failed Courses
    If you failed a freshman or sophomore level course and passed it at a later date, you will include the grade for the passed class only. If you failed and never re-took the class, the failed course must be included when calculating your grade average.
  • If you failed a junior or senior level course and re-took the course with a passing grade, include both the passing and failing grade in your grade average calculation.

Grade Average Information
You will be entering entering up to three of the following grade averages:

  • Undergraduate Average (to be completed by everyone)
  • Junior/Senior Average (calculate this average only if your degree is from a four- or more year degree program)
  • Graduate Average
  • Examples
Undergraduate Average

 

  • If all your undergraduate course work is from one institution and your transcript or educational documents show a grade average, place the average in the appropriate Undergraduate Average area of the application form. If your transcript or documents do not show a grade average, click here for further information.
  • If you attended more than one institution for your undergraduate degree, calculate your Undergraduate Average using course work from all attended institutions.
  • If you have more than one undergraduate degree, include course work from all bachelor's degrees to calculate your Undergraduate Average. Click here for further information.
Junior/Senior Average

 

  • If your degree is from a U.S. institution:
  • Use the last 60 semester hours or last 90 quarter hours prior to receiving your bachelor's degree to compute your Junior/Senior Average. If you attended more than one institution, include course work from all institutions.
  • If you have more than one U.S. bachelor's degree, use the credit hours from your first degree only to calculate your Junior/Senior Average.
  • If your degree is not from an institution in the United States:
  • Use the last two years of undergraduate course work to compute your Junior/Senior Average.
Graduate Average

 

Compute this average using all graduate-level course work taken since receiving your bachelor's degree. U.S. junior or community college course work is not considered graduate level work and should not be included.

Examples of 4.0 Grading Scale Calculations

 

  • 4.0 Scale that uses credit hours
  • 4.0 Scale that does not use credit hours
  • Letter grades with no numerical equivalents provided by institution
4.0 Scale That Uses Credit Hours

 

  1. Multiply each grade by the number of credit hours for that course.
  2. Total the Credit Hours and Grade Points.
Course
Grade

Credit Hours

Grade Points
MGT 402
A = 4
X
3
= 12
BUS 415
B = 3
X
4
=
12
CIS 419
A = 4
X
4
=
16
AAC 462
C = 2
X
3
=
6
Totals


14

46
  1. Divide the total Grade Points by the total Credit Hours:

    46 divided by 14 = 3.29 GPA

 

4.0 Scale That Does Not Use Credit Hours
  1. List the Grade for each course.
  2. Total the Grade Points.

    Course
    Grade
    Grade Points
    MGT 402
    A = 4
    4
    BUS 415
    B = 3
    3
    CIS 419
    A = 4
    4
    ACC 462
    C = 2
    2
    Total
      13
  3. Count the number of courses. In this example, the number of courses is 4.
  4. Divide the total Grade Points by the number of courses.

    In this example, 13 divided by 4 = 3.25 GPA.
Letter Grades With No Numeric Equivalents Given by Institution

Most institutions provide numeric equivalents to convert letter grades to a numeric value. Please refer to your institution document(s) to determine the appropriate equivalents when calculating your grade average.

If your institution does not provide numeric equivalents, please use the following conversion:

A = 4.0 B = 3.0
C = 2.0
D = 1.0
F = 0
A- or A+ = 4.0
B- or B+ = 3.0
C- or C+ = 2.0
D- or D+ = 1.0
F = 0

After converting your letter grades to their numeric equivalents, follow the directions above to calculate your grade average.