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Princeton doesn’t officially compute a GPA, but the registrar publishes a method for when an application asks for one. An A+ and an A are both 4.0 (an A+ was 4.3 before 2000–2001), then A− 3.7, B+ 3.3, B 3.0, B− 2.7, C+ 2.3, C 2.0, C− 1.7, D 1.0 and F 0. A regular course counts 4 semester hours; the senior thesis and four listed language courses (GER 1025, FRE 1027, ITA 1027, SPA 1027) count 8. Only the F counts as zero. P, AUD, INC and W stay out, and so do YR and transfer credit (T). Under P/D/F a C− or better becomes a P, but a D or F is recorded. If you retake a failed course, the F stays on your transcript next to the new grade, so the registrar’s method averages both.
Princeton’s points: A+ 4.00, A 4.00, A− 3.70, B+ 3.30 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 Princeton’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.
Princeton’s rules checked in its Undergraduate Announcement 2026–27. Sources are at the bottom of the page.
Grade points at Princeton
Princeton 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.
Princeton University letter grades and grade points
What W, pass/fail, incomplete, retakes and transfer credit do at Princeton
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 Princeton counts each code
Code
What it means
In the Princeton GPA
F
Failing
Counts 0 points for its semester hours in the registrar’s method and earns no credit toward graduation or advancement. An F under P/D/F is recorded as an F. If you don’t have an extra course to offset it, it creates a course deficiency you make up with an extra Princeton course or a preapproved course elsewhere. Some failed courses must be retaken, such as courses for the language requirement and B.S.E. core math, physics, chemistry and computing. Rule
D
Minimally acceptable, the lowest passing grade
Worth 1.0 and earns credit, and a D in a P/D/F course is recorded as a D, not hidden. Two or more D’s in a term may bring academic probation, two D’s while on probation normally mean required withdrawal, and many departments require a C average in departmental courses, so D’s there may cost you the major. Rule
P
Pass, any grade from A+ through C− in a course taken pass/D/fail
Stays out of the registrar’s GPA method. You can elect P/D/F in up to four courses, one per term, between the start of the seventh and end of the ninth week; P/D/F-only courses don’t count against either limit. Your own departmentals, SEAS technical requirements, courses marked No pass/D/fail and courses outside Princeton can’t be taken P/D/F. You give up the right to see the underlying grade, and P/D/F courses count toward distribution and graduation but not as prerequisites or departmentals. When you declare a major, you may appeal to rescind one P to meet an entry prerequisite, and the letter grade then appears on your transcript. Rule
W
Withdrew after the ninth week
Stays out of the registrar’s GPA method. A W marks a course you left after completing the ninth week of the term. If you leave a term after the ninth week, each course shows a W. Rule
INC
Incomplete, late completion authorized
Stays out of the registrar’s GPA method. You may not carry incomplete courses into a later term, and any Incomplete on your transcript keeps you from qualifying for graduation. Rule
AUD
Audit, satisfactory completion of an audited course
Not an A+ through F grade, so it stays out of the registrar’s method. Rule
T
Transfer credit
Approved outside courses passed with a C or better show a T instead of a grade and don’t factor into your Princeton GPA. Rule
Repeated course
You took the same course again
Retaking a failed course doesn’t replace the F: it stays on your transcript, and the new grade and credit are added in the term you pass. Since the registrar’s method adds points for all courses taken, both grades count. Repeating a course you already passed creates a course deficiency. For federal aid, every attempt counts in the grade measure. Rule
Transfer credit
Grades from another college
Approved outside courses show a T instead of a grade, and the advising office says they don’t factor into your Princeton GPA, though the registrar says Princeton doesn’t officially compute one. You need a C or better (a C− isn’t enough), and you can’t take the course P/D/F. An A.B. student may count at most three preapproved courses from elsewhere, a B.S.E. student four. Transfer students admitted as sophomores may bring up to eleven courses; first-years up to three. Rule
Princeton GPA lines
These are Princeton’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 Princeton
GPA line
What it means
Also required
No official GPA
Princeton doesn’t compute or certify a GPA or rank students
Academic standing rests on F’s, D’s and course counts, reviewed by the Faculty Committee on Examinations and Standing. Financial aid also notes that Princeton does not calculate official grade point averages. Full rule
Two or more D’s in a term
Academic probation may be issued
Poor overall standing or poor departmental performance also puts you on probation. Full rule
One F, or two or more D’s, while on probation
Academic required withdrawal (normally)
The grading rules say two D’s on probation may mean required withdrawal; the standing rules say one F or two or more D’s normally will. Full rule
F in three or more courses (first year)
Academic required withdrawal
So do three course deficiencies in one term or four in the year. Full rule
F in two or more courses in a term (sophomore year on)
Academic required withdrawal
Also an F in a total of four or more courses after first year, or an F in independent work plus another F in the same term. Full rule
33 or 34 courses (A.B.), 36 (B.S.E.)
Graduation
A.B. Classes of 2026 and 2027 need 33, 2028 and later 34. Failed courses don’t count, any Incomplete blocks the degree, and a department may set a minimum departmental grade point average. Full rule
C average in departmentals
Required by many departments
A D in a departmental course may lead to failure in the major. Full rule
Honors, high honors, highest honors
Departmental honors at graduation
Your major department awards them from grades in departmental studies and chooses its own weights. Full rule
Highest-ranking tenth
Phi Beta Kappa
Election is based on scholastic standing and open to A.B. and B.S.E. seniors. Full rule
Satisfactory grades in half your courses
Federal aid Satisfactory Academic Progress
Aid treats this as a C average; anything below a C is unsatisfactory. In P/D/F courses, D and F count but P doesn’t. 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
Princeton weights grades by semester hours, and P/D/F hides only a pass. Say your senior spring has your senior thesis (8 semester hours) graded A, plus three regular courses (4 each): an A−, a B+, and one you took P/D/F. If the hidden grade was C− or better, you get a P and it stays out: (4.0 × 8 + 3.7 × 4 + 3.3 × 4) ÷ (8 + 4 + 4) = (32 + 14.8 + 13.2) ÷ 16 = 60 ÷ 16 = 3.75. If you earned a D, the D is recorded and counts at 1.0: (60 + 4) ÷ 20 = 3.20. An F would give 60 ÷ 20 = 3.00 and no course credit.
The calculator gives an estimate from the grades you enter. Princeton doesn’t officially compute or certify a GPA; when an application asks for one, the registrar’s method above works it out from the grades on your transcript.
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.
