What is a 3.7 GPA?
On the four-point scale most United States schools use, a 3.7 GPA is an A minus, usually a percentage in the low nineties. Four things decide whether your school agrees: whether plus and minus grades exist, credit hours, weighting for honors courses, and how repeated courses are counted.
That's the short answer. The rest of this page is why your school's number may not agree with it.
The common four-point scale
| Letter | Typical grade points | Typical percentage |
|---|---|---|
| A+ | 4.0, or 4.3 where a school uses one | 97 to 100 |
| A | 4.0 | 93 to 96 |
| A- | 3.7 | 90 to 92 |
| B+ | 3.3 | 87 to 89 |
| B | 3.0 | 83 to 86 |
| B- | 2.7 | 80 to 82 |
| C+ | 2.3 | 77 to 79 |
| C | 2.0 | 73 to 76 |
| C- | 1.7 | 70 to 72 |
| D+ | 1.3 | 67 to 69 |
| D | 1.0 | 63 to 66 |
| D- | 0.7 | 60 to 62 |
| F | 0.0 | below 60 |
Read that as the common convention, not a standard. No national body sets it, the percentage
bands vary widely, and plenty of schools put an A at 90 and above, which moves every row. A+ is
the least settled row of all: some schools don't award it, some award it at 4.0, and some run a
4.3 scale. Our calculator ships a US 4.3 with A+ preset for that reason.
What changes the number?
Whether plus and minus exist at all. Some schools award only whole letters. On those scales there's no 3.7, and an A minus is simply an A worth 4.0. A student moving between the two systems sees their GPA change without any grade changing.
Credit hours. A GPA is an average weighted by how much each course is worth. A 3.7 in a four-credit course and a 3.7 in a one-credit elective don't move a cumulative average equally. Averaging grade points without their credits is the most common way a hand-calculated GPA comes out wrong.
Weighting. Many high schools add points for honors, AP or IB courses, which is why weighted GPAs above 4.0 exist. Weighted and unweighted are different measurements and aren't comparable across schools, because every school decides its own bonus and which courses receive it.
Repeated courses. Some institutions replace the original grade, some average the two, and some keep both on the transcript while counting one. That rule can move a cumulative GPA by a lot, and it's always written down.
Common questions
Is a 3.7 GPA good enough for the school I want?
We're not going to answer that, because the honest answer depends on the receiving institution. Admissions offices publish the ranges they admitted last year, they recalculate GPAs onto their own scale rather than accepting yours, and many weight course rigor separately. A 3.7 alongside the hardest course load a school offers reads differently from a 3.7 alongside the easiest. Go to the published class profile of the institution you care about.
Which grade should I put effort into?
The one attached to the most credit. A one-credit elective and a four-credit course aren't equal levers, and a term spent lifting the elective can move a cumulative GPA by almost nothing.
How do I convert between scales?
Any percentage-to-GPA or four-point-to-hundred conversion approximates somebody's table, and running a converted number through a second conversion compounds the error. If a form asks for your GPA, give the number your transcript prints and name the scale it's on. If it asks for a scale you don't use, ask them how they want it converted rather than guessing.
Related
The GPA calculator models weighted and unweighted averages for a term, the final grade calculator gives the grade you need on a final to reach a target, and the classroom tools hub has the rest of the set.