What Is a Good GPA? High School and College Guide

What is a good GPA, tier by tier?

These are unweighted GPAs on the common 4.0 scale, from a perfect 4.0 down to a B average. Each row links to the page for that GPA, with its percent, weighted version and what it takes to raise it.

Under 3.0, every tenth still has its own page on the GPA scale, all the way down to 0.0, with the honest picture for that number and a plan to bring it up.

What is the average high school GPA?

The latest national figure is 3.11, the average GPA of the class of 2019 in the NAEP High School Transcript Study, up from 3.0 in 2009. So a 3.0 is a little under the average, a 3.3 is a B+ average and comfortably above it, and anything from 3.5 puts you well ahead of most graduates. Averages differ a lot from school to school, which is why colleges read your GPA next to your school profile and the classes you took.

Is a good GPA weighted or unweighted?

The tiers above are unweighted, where an A is 4.0 in every class. A weighted GPA adds a bonus for harder classes; on the most common rule Honors adds 0.5 and AP, IB or dual enrollment adds 1.0. That makes an A in AP worth 5.0, a B in Honors 3.5 and a B in AP 4.0, so weighted GPAs run up to 5.0 and a 4.2 weighted can sit next to a 3.8 unweighted on the same transcript. When you compare your GPA with a college's numbers or a scholarship line, check which kind it means. The high school GPA calculator shows both from the same list of classes (rule: Rockingham County Schools (NC), state ten point grade scale and course weighting).

What is a good GPA in college?

College GPAs use the same 4.0 scale, but the lines that matter are set by your college, not by a national average:

• 2.0: the usual good academic standing line. Fall under it and most colleges put you on academic warning or probation.
• 3.0: a common minimum for scholarships, internships and graduate school applications.
• 3.5: a typical dean's list line each term, and the usual cum laude line at graduation.
• 3.7 and 3.9: typical magna cum laude and summa cum laude lines; the cum laude GPA guide has published examples.

Grading differs by college and by major, so the best yardstick is your own school: the catalog states the standing, dean's list and honors lines, and many registrars publish grade distributions. Track your semester and overall numbers with the college GPA calculator.

What GPA do colleges want?

There is no single number, so look it up for each college on your list. Search the college's name plus "Common Data Set": section C12 gives the average high school GPA of its first-year students and section C11 shows what share of them had a GPA in each range, such as 3.50 to 3.74. Many admissions offices also post a class profile with the same figures. If your GPA sits at or above the middle of those numbers, it is a strength; if it is lower, a rising trend and harder classes help your case.

How can you raise your GPA?

Your GPA is an average of every grade so far, so the earlier you act the more it moves. A few worked examples, computed with the same math as our calculators:

• In college, a 3.2 after 60 credits needs a 3.80 average over the next 60 to graduate at 3.5, the usual cum laude line.
• In high school, a 3.0 after two years (24 semester grades) needs a 3.60 over the last two years to finish at 3.3.
• Late moves are smaller: a 3.0 after 90 credits, followed by a perfect 4.0 over the last 30, ends at 3.25.

The biggest levers are the classes with the most credits, retaking a class where your school replaces the old grade, and catching a slipping grade before the final. The raise GPA calculator tells you the term GPA you need and how many terms it takes, and the cumulative GPA calculator adds a new term to the GPA you have.