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Northeastern uses three-decimal grade points with plus and minus grades: an A is 4.000, A− 3.667, B+ 3.333, B 3.000, B− 2.667, C+ 2.333, C 2.000, C− 1.667, D+ 1.333, D 1.000, D− 0.667 and F 0.000. There’s no A+. Only an F counts as zero: a U in a course you take satisfactory/unsatisfactory stays out of your GPA, and so do W, S, the incomplete grades I and X, and IP for a course still in progress. If you retake a course, only your most recent grade counts in your GPA, in all cases; the earlier grade stays on your transcript marked E, for excluded.
Northeastern’s points: A 4.000, A− 3.667, B+ 3.333, B 3.000 and so on.
The plus/minus cutoffs Wikipedia lists for US colleges: A+ from 97%, A 93, A- 90, B+ 87, B 83, B- 80 and so on down to D- at 60. It is not universal, so use your syllabus's cutoffs when they differ.Source: Wikipedia, “Academic grading in the United States”.
Your class cutoffs
Letter
Lowest %
Remove
Each letter starts at its lowest percentage and runs up to the next letter.
Rounding and decimal places
Follow your syllabus. A displayed percentage can round up while the unrounded score stays below a cutoff.
Only changes how results are shown. Extra places appear when rounding would push a score over a letter cutoff.
A letter typed as a score counts as the lowest percentage for that letter on this scale. Use the original percentage when you have it.
Only scales that publish GPA points can convert a percentage. Check that your school uses these same points.
Example courses. Change them to yours, or
CourseGradeCredit hours
Include your earlier GPA
Quality points are the more exact input when the displayed GPA has already been rounded. Do not include these same credits again in the course rows.
Raise my GPA: what would it take to reach a target?
These are future credits beyond the courses and earlier record entered above.
Pass/fail or a retake: what would change?
Whether a pass/fail course leaves the GPA and whether a retake replaces the old grade are your school’s rules; the table below shows Northeastern’s.
One grade higher: which course moves your GPA most?
Each line raises one course by one grade on the grade points above and leaves the others as entered, so a course that carries more credit moves the GPA more. A course you haven’t finished can be marked “Planned” in its ⋯ menu: the GPA so far then leaves it out, and the projection counts it at the grade you chose. A grade already on your transcript changes only under your school’s retake or grade-change rules.
Compare with a GPA line (dean's list, scholarship, good standing)Course groups and equal weights
Set a course's group or term, or mark it planned, in its ⋯ menu. Groups are just your labels: they don’t apply AMCAS or other application-service GPA rules.
Import courses from a transcript or spreadsheet
Copy the courses from your unofficial transcript, degree audit or a spreadsheet and paste them here, one course per line with its grade and credits. Term headings such as “Fall 2025” keep the courses in their terms. Your grades stay in this browser.
Line
Course
Read as
This replaces the courses above. You can put them back afterwards.
Save my courses or compare versions
Nothing is sent to us. Untick the box to forget them.
To compare plans, save the courses as they are now as a version, change them, and save again. Versions stay in this browser until you delete them.
Open a file you saved with “Save the versions to a file”, in this browser or another. It is read in your browser and sent nowhere.
Northeastern’s rules checked in its 2026–2027 Academic Catalog. Sources are at the bottom of the page.
Grade points at Northeastern
Northeastern multiplies each course’s grade points by its credit hours, adds them up and divides by the hours that count. Enter your courses above with these points already set.
Northeastern University letter grades and grade points
What W, pass/fail, incomplete, retakes and transfer credit do at Northeastern
A course left out of the GPA adds no points and no hours. In the calculator, choose its code or “Not counted”; a code that counts as zero lowers the GPA like a failing grade.
How Northeastern counts each code
Code
What it means
In the Northeastern GPA
F
Fail
Counts 0.000, and its semester hours count in your GPA, so it pulls your average down. If you stop doing the work but don’t withdraw by the deadline, you’re still responsible for the course and will likely get an F. An F doesn’t normally meet a prerequisite. If you retake the course, the new grade replaces the F in your GPA. Rule
D+, D or D−
Poor achievement; D grades are given only to undergraduates
Worth 1.333, 1.000 and 0.667, and they count in your GPA. A grade below your program’s minimum is an academic deficiency even though you passed, and you may have to clear it, for example by retaking the course. The university requires a C in the First-Year Writing and Advanced Writing requirements. Any grade below C− keeps you off the Dean’s List that term. Rule
S or U
Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory, in a course you take on the satisfactory/unsatisfactory (pass/fail) system
Neither one counts in your GPA, so a U doesn’t pull it down; an S counts toward your total degree requirements. If you’re not on probation, you can take one S/U course a semester, with your college’s permission, in a course offered that way; it generally counts only as an open elective. Declare it by the end of the second week of the semester; the instructor may extend that to the end of the eighth week of a full semester or the fifth week of a half semester. You can’t clear a U by taking the same course S/U again, unless the course is graded only S/U. Colleges set their own limits: Engineering allows at most 9 S/U semester hours toward your degree, 4 a semester, only in general electives outside the college; Khoury and Science allow S/U only in electives outside your major, minor and NUpath; D’Amore-McKim only in nonbusiness open electives. An S/U course makes you ineligible for the Dean’s List unless there’s no alternative or your program requires it. Undergraduates don’t get a P: it’s a School of Law grade. Rule
W
Withdrawal (student-initiated withdrawal after the add/drop period and before the withdrawal deadline)
Doesn’t count in your GPA, but it counts as attempted credit for academic progression, which can lead to probation or dismissal. In a full-semester class you can drop with no grade in the first 14 calendar days (seven in half- and third-term classes). After that, through the day before the last week of the term, you get a W; in the last week no withdrawals are accepted and you get a letter grade. For full-semester classes, add/drop ends September 22, 2026 and the withdrawal period ends December 13, 2026 in fall 2026; in spring 2027 they end January 26 and April 25, 2027. Shorter sessions have their own dates. Not attending isn’t withdrawing, and you pay for a course you get a W in. Rule
I or X
Incomplete
Not counted in your GPA. Your instructor may give one when you haven’t completed a major part of a required course, such as homework, a quiz or final exam, a term paper or a lab project, and may say no. You complete an Incomplete-Grade Contract with your instructor that spells out what you owe. You have at most 30 days from the end of the term, or an earlier date your instructor sets. If the work isn’t in by then, it gets no credit and your grade is figured on the work you did, so it doesn’t simply turn into an F. An incomplete keeps you off the Dean’s List, and if it leaves you short of 12 earned hours you may get a temporary probation decision until it’s resolved. Rule
IP
In progress
For courses that run over several terms. The incomplete time limit doesn’t apply, and while it’s an IP it isn’t counted in your GPA. Rule
NG
Grade not reported by faculty
A temporary code: the Registrar may enter it after the grading deadline if your instructor hasn’t entered a grade, and your instructor then resolves it. The Grade Table gives it no numerical equivalent, so it carries no points until the real grade is posted. Rule
NE
Not enrolled
The Grade Table gives it no numerical equivalent. You’re responsible for the costs of a course in which you receive an NE. Rule
L
Audit (no credit given)
No credit and no grade points. If you’re full time, you can audit one class a term as an overload above 16 semester hours at no extra charge; first-year students can’t audit. You can’t audit co-op, labs, language courses, off-campus or online courses, or any course required for your major or degree. Rule
AD or AW
Administrative drop or Administrative withdrawal
Given when an approved academic appeal removes you from a course: an AD when you shouldn’t have a W, an AW for administrative, academic or disciplinary reasons. Neither carries any academic penalty or counts toward your GPA. Rule
T
Transfer
Credit from another school is posted as T, and the Grade Table gives T no numerical equivalent, so it adds no grade points to your Northeastern GPA. The undergraduate catalog doesn’t otherwise address transfer grades in the GPA. Rule
E
Course excluded from GPA (a transcript course comment)
Marks an earlier attempt of a course you retook: it stays on your transcript but is left out of your GPA. The attempt that counts is marked I, course included in GPA. Rule
Repeated course
You took the same course again
You may retake a nonrepeatable course to earn a better grade, and in all cases only your most recent grade counts in your overall GPA, even if it’s lower than the first. The earlier grade stays on your transcript marked E (excluded); the new one is marked I (included). Courses whose description lets you repeat them up to a set number of completions work differently: every completion up to that limit appears on your transcript and every grade counts in your GPA. If you can’t retake a course, you may petition to substitute a substantially similar one; with your advisor’s approval and the agreement of the department that offered the first course, its grade is labeled Substitute and treated as a retake. If your advisor sends you to a preapproved course at another school to clear a deficiency, your original Northeastern grade stays on your transcript. Rule
Transfer credit
Grades from another college
Transfer credit is posted as T, which has no numerical equivalent in the Grade Table, so transfer courses don’t add grade points to your Northeastern GPA. A course needs a C or better to be considered; pass/fail courses aren’t considered, and remedial, developmental, ESL, physical education and military courses don’t transfer. Liberal arts courses over 10 years old and math and science courses over 5 years old can’t be considered. You can transfer up to 60 semester hours from a two-year college or 80 from a four-year college or a combination; if you’re admitted to D’Amore-McKim from a school that isn’t AACSB-accredited, the cap is 60. Advanced credit, such as AP credit (generally for a 4 or 5), is capped at 32 semester hours. You need at least 64 Northeastern semester hours for a bachelor’s degree. Once you’re enrolled, you’re expected to take your courses at Northeastern; a course elsewhere needs your college advisor’s prior approval and a C (2.000) or better to be considered. Rule
Northeastern GPA lines
These are Northeastern’s published undergraduate lines, each with the other conditions its catalog sets. Your college or program may set its own, higher lines.
Published GPA lines at Northeastern
GPA line
What it means
Also required
1.800 overall in your first year; 2.000 cumulative after that
Good academic standing
You also need to earn at least 12 semester hours in the semester just completed. Your freshman year runs until you’ve earned 32 semester hours. Colleges add their own rules. The university page and Khoury call the first-year 1.800 an overall (cumulative) GPA, while Engineering and Science call it a semester GPA. Khoury first-years also need 2.000 in the major after their first spring. D’Amore-McKim requires 2.000 in business courses and 32 semester hours in your first year to become a sophomore. Full rule
Below the good-standing GPA, or fewer than 12 semester hours earned
Academic probation
Starts the following semester and shows on your internal record, not your transcript. If a pending incomplete leaves you short of hours, the probation decision is temporary until it’s resolved. On probation you can’t take a course S/U and can’t make the Dean’s List. Full rule
Still on probation after two semesters, or below 1.000
Academic dismissal
You may be dismissed after two full-term semesters on probation, and it may appear on your transcript. Your college may also dismiss you for a GPA below 1.000 or fewer than 4 earned semester hours in any semester or cumulatively; Engineering says this applies regardless of your prior standing. Pending incompletes aren’t factored in. You can appeal to your college’s Academic Standing Committee, which generally grants no more than one more semester to reach good standing. Full rule
3.500 term GPA
Dean’s List
Fall and spring only. You need no incomplete and no grade below C−, a full load (at least four courses or 16 semester hours, with a few college exceptions), no probation of any kind, and no course taken S/U unless there’s no alternative or your program requires it. Full rule
3.500–3.699 / 3.700–3.849 / 3.850–4.000
Cum laude / magna cum laude / summa cum laude
Fixed GPA ranges, not percentages. You need 64 semester hours in residence at Northeastern, and the same rule applies to being chosen class marshal. The honor is printed on your diploma. Full rule
2.000 cumulative
Minimum GPA to graduate
You must be in good standing and meet residency (64 Northeastern semester hours) and all program requirements. Engineering and Science also require 2.000 in your major courses, and Science can dismiss you from the major below that. D’Amore-McKim requires 2.000 and a C average in all business courses. You need a C in the First-Year and Advanced Writing requirements. Full rule
2.000 overall
Student organization leadership
The minimum to hold an elected or appointed leadership position in any student organization. Athletes follow NCAA standards. Full rule
To see how far you are from one of them, enter it under “Compare with a GPA line” in the calculator, or as your target in the target GPA planner.
A worked example
At Northeastern a retake replaces the old grade, and a U doesn’t count. Say you got a D in a 4-credit course last spring and retake it this fall for a B, earn an A− and a C+ in two other 4-credit courses, and get a U in a fourth taken satisfactory/unsatisfactory: (3 × 4 + 3.667 × 4 + 2.333 × 4) ÷ 12 = 36 ÷ 12 = 3.00. The U is left out, and the D stays on your transcript marked E but no longer counts. If both the D and the B counted, as at some schools, these courses would give (1 × 4 + 36) ÷ 16 = 40 ÷ 16 = 2.50.
The calculator gives an estimate from the grades you enter. Your official GPA is the one on your Northeastern academic record.
For any other college, the college GPA calculator starts on the common plus/minus 4.0 points and takes your school’s own. Cumulative GPA combines terms you already have, and the GPA guide answers what a GPA means.
