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Rice uses plus and minus grades: an A is 4.00, an A− 3.67, a B+ 3.33, a B 3.00, and so on down to a D− at 0.67 and an F at 0. An A+ also counts 4.00 (it was 4.33 before fall 2018). An F counts as zero in your GPA, even in a Pass/Fail course, and an INC or OT you don’t resolve on time turns into a failing grade. Retaking a course replaces nothing at Rice: every letter-graded attempt stays in your GPA, and you earn the credit only once.
Rice’s points: A+ 4.00, A 4.00, A− 3.67, B+ 3.33 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 Rice’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.
Rice’s rules checked in its General Announcements 2026–2027. Sources are at the bottom of the page.
Grade points at Rice
Rice 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.
What W, pass/fail, incomplete, retakes and transfer credit do at Rice
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 Rice counts each code
Code
What it means
In the Rice GPA
F
Failing
Counts 0 points, and its hours count in your GPA even though you earn no credit. An F in a Pass/Fail course counts the same way. An INC or OT with no revised grade by its deadline turns into a failing grade automatically. Rule
P or F
Pass/Fail, an option you choose for an eligible course; your instructor still submits a letter grade
A P doesn’t count in your GPA, but an F does. You get a P for any instructor grade of D− or above. You can take only one course Pass/Fail a semester, no more than one per semester for each full year of residence, and no more than four courses or 14 semester hours in all. A Rice summer Pass/Fail course counts toward the four. Distribution (Groups I/II/III) and LPAP courses can be Pass/Fail; courses for your major, minor or certificate, FWIS courses and a repeatable course you already took Pass/Fail can’t. You designate the course in ESTHER by the posted deadline, usually the end of Week 10; for fall 2026 that’s October 30. You can convert a Pass/Fail course back to a graded one within the Academic Calendar’s deadlines. If a major, minor or certificate course ended up Pass/Fail, ask the Registrar in writing to replace the P with your letter grade. Otherwise the Registrar uncovers it in your final degree audit, and once uncovered, the P isn’t restored. Rule
S or U
Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory, in a course that doesn’t use letter grades
Neither counts in your GPA, and a U earns no credit. Rule
AUD or NC
Audit: AUD if you met the instructor’s audit requirements, NC (No Credit) if you didn’t
Neither counts in your GPA, and an audited course carries no credit hours. For fall 2026, October 9 was the last day to make a course you’re taking for credit an audit. Rule
INC
Incomplete: you couldn’t finish because of a verified illness or other circumstances beyond your control during the semester
Stays out of your GPA while it’s an INC. For a fall INC, you finish the work by the end of the first week of the spring semester; for a spring or summer INC, before fall starts; your instructor can set an earlier date. If no revised grade comes in by the deadline, the INC becomes a failing grade automatically, and the new grade can put you on probation or suspension. As a degree candidate, you can’t get an INC in your final semester. Rule
OT
Other: you missed the final exam after finishing all the other required work
Stays out of your GPA while it’s an OT. Your instructor must submit a revised grade by a set deadline; for a fall OT, that’s the end of the first week of spring. Otherwise it becomes a failing grade automatically, and the new grade can put you on probation or suspension. As a degree candidate, you can’t get an OT in your final semester. Rule
W
Withdrawal: a Late Drop with Approval from one course, or an Official Withdrawal from the University after the drop deadline
Doesn’t count in your GPA. You can drop a course through the seventh week of classes without penalty, and it won’t appear on your transcript; for fall 2026 the last day to drop a full-term course online was October 9. After week seven, a drop needs extenuating circumstances, approval from the Committee on Examinations and Standing and a $100 fee per course, and you get a W. In your first full-term semester at Rice, you can drop up to the last day of classes. If you withdraw from Rice after the drop deadline, you get a W in every course you’re enrolled in; withdraw by the deadline and those courses don’t appear on your transcript. If you withdraw in the last five weeks of classes, the committee looks at your grades up to that day when it rules on your readmission. Rule
NG
No Grade, applied administratively in rare situations
Doesn’t count in your GPA, and you get no credit for the course. It isn’t a penalty. Rule
SA
Study Away: the temporary grade for a Rice-sanctioned study abroad or approved inter-institutional course
Transfer Credit, from another school or from an eligible exam such as AP
Doesn’t count in your Rice GPA; the grade from the other school isn’t transferred in. Rule
Repeated course
You took the same course again
Retaking a course at Rice never replaces the earlier grade. Every attempt and its grade stay on your transcript, and every letter-graded attempt counts in both your term and overall GPA. If you passed the course before, you earn its credit only once, and the attempt with the highest grade carries the earned hours; an F counts in your GPAs even though it earns no credit. To repeat a non-repeatable course, you submit a Special Registration Form. In a course that is repeatable for credit, each grade counts. You can’t get transfer credit for a course you already passed at Rice (D− or better); if you failed or withdrew, a retake elsewhere may earn transfer credit, but its grade doesn’t enter your Rice GPA. Repeat a course you have AP or transfer credit for, and that credit is removed. Rule
Transfer credit
Grades from another college
The Grades page and the Registrar’s transfer FAQ say transfer grades don’t count in your Rice GPA: a TR is recorded instead. The Transfer Credit page says the same “generally” and names one exception: coursework at another school that the faculty approved as an explicitly specified part of a program’s curriculum goes on your transcript and counts in your Rice GPA, including grades below C−. A course needs at least a C− (or the equivalent) to transfer, and courses taken pass/fail elsewhere don’t transfer. After you enroll, you can transfer at most 15 semester hours of summer school credit. Grades from Rice’s own summer sessions count in your GPA. Quarter hours are multiplied by 2/3. You need at least 60 semester hours at Rice. To apply to Rice as a transfer student, you need at least a 3.2 GPA in your most recent college work. Rule
Rice GPA lines
These are Rice’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 Rice
GPA line
What it means
Also required
Below 1.67 term GPA
Academic probation
Checked at the end of any semester. Probation lasts to the end of your next enrolled semester. While on probation, you can’t run for or hold an elected or appointed office or take more than 17 semester hours. Full rule
Below 1.67 cumulative
Academic probation, unless your term GPA is 2.00 or higher
Rice summer grades count in your GPA, but the Registrar doesn’t normally put you on probation or suspension for a poor Rice summer. Full rule
Below 1.00 term GPA, or a third probation
Academic suspension
The 1.00 rule doesn’t apply to your first semester at Rice. A first suspension is normally one semester and a second at least two; there’s no readmission after a third. Full rule
1.67 term and cumulative, or 2.00 term
What you need every semester after returning from suspension
On all Rice coursework. You also need at least 60 semester hours at Rice and good academic and disciplinary standing. Full rule
2.00 in major, minor and certificate courses
Minimum GPA in your program’s courses
Those courses must carry the standard letter grade, not Pass/Fail. Full rule
About the top 30% term GPA (4.000 in fall 2025 and spring 2026)
President’s Honor Roll
The cutoff changes every semester (3.945 in fall 2024). You need grades in 12 or more semester hours with no F or U. The General Announcements leave Pass/Fail courses out of the 12; the Registrar’s page leaves out S/U courses too. With an INC or OT, you aren’t eligible until the grade is final. Full rule
Top 5% / next 10% / next 15% in your school
Summa cum laude / magna cum laude / cum laude
Percentages, not fixed GPAs: each academic school’s cutoffs are set each year on cumulative Rice GPAs, and only Rice grades count. For 2025–26, cum laude started at 3.8267 in Engineering, 3.9201 in Natural Sciences, 3.9401 in Humanities, 3.8964 in Social Sciences, 3.7160 in Music, 3.8670 in Architecture and 3.8227 in Rice Business; summa took 4.000 in Natural Sciences and Humanities and 3.9670 in Engineering. With majors in two schools under one degree, you get the higher honor. Full rule
3.964 (2024–2025)
Top 10 percent GPA of the graduating class
The Registrar publishes this figure for medical and law school applications. 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
Retakes don’t replace grades at Rice. Say you fail a 3-hour course (F), earn an A− in another 3-hour course and a B in a 4-hour course, and pass a 3-hour Pass/Fail course with a P: (0 × 3 + 3.67 × 3 + 3 × 4) ÷ 10 = 23.01 ÷ 10 ≈ 2.30, and the P doesn’t count. You retake the failed course and earn a B+. The F stays in your GPA next to the B+: (0 × 3 + 3.33 × 3 + 3.67 × 3 + 3 × 4) ÷ 13 = 33 ÷ 13 ≈ 2.54. If the B+ replaced the F, it would be 33 ÷ 10 = 3.30, but at Rice it doesn’t.
The calculator gives an estimate from the grades you enter. Your official GPA is the one on your Rice 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.
