calculating grade averages on a 4.0 scale

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 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.

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 

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

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 

List the Grade for each course. Total the Grade Points. 

Count the number of courses. In this example, the number of courses is 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

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