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San Diego State grades on a 4.0 scale with plus and minus: A is 4.0, A− 3.7, B+ 3.3 and so on down to D− 0.7 and F 0, and there is no A+. A WU (you stopped going without withdrawing) and an IC (an incomplete not finished within a year) count as an F. Retake a course you got a C− or lower in at SDSU, and for up to 16 units only the new grade counts in your GPA. SDSU cuts your GPA at two decimals and never rounds it up.
Applying to a Cal State campus as a freshman? The “a-g” GPA the CSU checks for admission is on the CSU GPA calculator.
SDSU’s points: A 4.00, A− 3.70, B+ 3.30, B 3.00 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
CourseGradeUnits
Include your earlier GPA
Quality points are the more exact input when the displayed GPA has already been rounded. Do not include these same units again in the course rows.
Raise my GPA: what would it take to reach a target?
These are future units 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 SDSU’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.
San Diego State’s rules checked in its 2026–2027 University Catalog. Sources are at the bottom of the page.
Grade points at San Diego State
San Diego State multiplies each course’s grade points by its units, adds them up and divides by the units that count. Enter your courses above with these points already set.
San Diego State University letter grades and grade points
What W, pass/fail, incomplete, retakes and transfer credit do at San Diego State
A course left out of the GPA adds no points and no units. In the calculator, choose its code or “Not counted”; a code that counts as zero lowers the GPA like a failing grade.
How San Diego State counts each code
Code
What it means
In the San Diego State GPA
A+
Not a grade at SDSU
SDSU doesn’t give an A+ (or an F+ or F−), so an A at 4.0 is the top grade. Plus and minus grades are your instructor’s choice, and not every instructor uses them. Rule
WU
Withdrawal Unauthorized: you were enrolled, didn’t withdraw, and didn’t complete enough of the course to be graded
Counts as an F (0) in your GPA. If you attended part of the course, were failing, and then stopped going without withdrawing, the catalog says you get an F instead of a WU. Stopping classes without filing the official withdrawal gets you failing grades in every course you no longer attend. Rule
IC
Incomplete Charged: an incomplete (I) not finished within one calendar year
Counts as an F (0) in your GPA. The IC is posted at the end of the one-year limit, whether or not you stay enrolled, and enrolling in the course again doesn’t remove the outstanding incomplete. If you took the course credit/no credit, an unfinished incomplete becomes an NC instead. Your academic standing is figured after year-old incompletes are counted as IC. Rule
I
Incomplete Authorized: part of the required work isn’t done for unforeseen but fully justified reasons, and you can still earn credit
Stays out of your GPA for one calendar year. Your instructor sets your deadline and must report a grade within one calendar year after the end of the incomplete term; otherwise it becomes an IC. The catalog’s grade-point chart lists I = 0, but its text and the Registrar say an I isn’t counted until the year runs out. An I still on your record at final degree evaluation cancels your graduation application. Rule
W
Withdrawal: you were allowed to withdraw after the census date
Doesn’t count in your GPA. A course you drop by the census date leaves no record; after it, you need verified serious and compelling reasons and your college dean’s approval, and the course shows a W. In the final 20% of instruction, withdrawal is only for cases such as an accident or serious illness. Undergraduates may withdraw from no more than 18 units a semester. You can ask for a retroactive withdrawal within two years after grades are posted, but not after your degree is awarded. A W doesn’t count as an attempt toward the repeat limits. Rule
CR or NC
Credit (C or better) or No Credit (C− or lower)
Neither counts in your GPA, so a CR won’t raise it or affect academic probation. No more than 15 credit/no credit units count toward your bachelor’s degree, though all units accepted in transfer at admission can be used. Upper-division courses taken credit/no credit can’t count for your major or minor unless the course listing marks them as graded that way, and no credit/no credit course can satisfy GE Area 1 (English Communication) or Area 2 (Mathematical Concepts and Quantitative Reasoning). You can change your grading basis through the schedule adjustment deadline. Some institutions, particularly for graduate admissions, count an NC as an F. Rule
AU
Audit: you attend the class without credit
No credit and not in your GPA. You need the instructor’s permission and a Change to Audit Grade form by the schedule adjustment deadline, you pay the same fees, and you’re expected to attend. Rule
RP or RD
Report in Progress (a course that runs past one term) or Report Delayed (your instructor hasn’t submitted the grade yet)
Neither counts in your GPA. RP work is to be finished within one year, except a graduate thesis or dissertation. An RD is replaced by your grade once it’s submitted. Rule
Repeated course
You took the same course again
You can repeat a course you got a C− or lower in (fewer than 2.0 grade points a unit) once for grade forgiveness. It’s applied automatically at the end of the term: only the latest grade counts in your GPA, even if it’s lower, though the original stays on your transcript. Grade forgiveness covers at most 16 units, inside a limit of 28 repeated units in all; past 16 you choose which courses get it. It works only for the same course (same number and title) repeated at SDSU; summer and Open University courses count. Repeat it for a letter grade: a CR can’t replace a letter grade, and a graded course repeated credit/no credit keeps the original grade in your GPA. The Registrar lets you register for a repeat only after a C− or lower; the catalog adds that if you repeat a course you passed with a C or better, only the original grade and units count. You can’t use forgiveness on a grade from a finding of academic dishonesty. The catalog says a course may be repeated only once at SDSU; the Registrar allows a third attempt after two grades of C− or lower only by an approved repeat petition. Any grade, an NC included, counts as an attempt; a W doesn’t. Rule
Transfer credit
Grades from another college
SDSU keeps two GPAs. Your SDSU GPA covers only courses taken at SDSU (including Global Campus special sessions and Open University after spring 1998); your cumulative GPA adds transferable courses from other colleges. Extension courses count only in the cumulative GPA. Both must stay at 2.0 or better for good standing, and both must meet the line for graduation honors. SDSU accepts baccalaureate-level coursework from institutionally accredited colleges. Up to 70 community college units count toward your degree, none of them upper division, and up to 24 units of extension and correspondence credit. At least 30 units, 24 of them upper division, must be earned at SDSU. Credit by examination tops out at 30 units, not counting AP and IB. Grade forgiveness applies only to a course repeated at SDSU. Rule
SDSU reports your GPA to the second decimal place and never rounds it up, and honors, the Dean’s List and distinction rest strictly on the GPA you earned. So the calculator cuts your GPA to two decimals too: a 3.499 shows as 3.49, not 3.50.
San Diego State GPA lines
These are San Diego State’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 San Diego State
GPA line
What it means
Also required
2.0 cumulative and 2.0 SDSU GPA
Good academic standing; below either one at the end of a semester, academic notice
Standing is figured each semester after approved course repeats and year-old incompletes are counted. Academic notice is lifted when both GPAs are back to 2.0. Full rule
Below 1.50 SDSU or cumulative (fewer than 30 units)
Academic disqualification (first-year)
Applies while you’re on academic notice; the policy is effective fall 2022. If you were admitted in good standing, you aren’t disqualified at the end of your first SDSU semester. Full rule
Below 1.70 SDSU or cumulative (30–59 units)
Academic disqualification (sophomore)
Applies while you’re on academic notice. Full rule
Below 1.85 SDSU or cumulative (60–89 units)
Academic disqualification (junior)
Applies while you’re on academic notice. Full rule
Below 1.95 SDSU or cumulative (90 or more units)
Academic disqualification (senior, and second bachelor’s students at any units)
Disqualified students can’t take regular, Open University or Global Campus special session courses for one year, and then must reapply and be admitted again. Full rule
2.0 in four GPAs
Minimum to graduate
Your SDSU GPA, cumulative GPA, major GPA and minor GPA, if you have a minor, must each be 2.0 or better. The major GPA counts every upper-division course attempted in your major department, plus upper-division courses your major requires from other departments. Full rule
3.50 term GPA
Dean’s List
Fall or spring, on at least 12 units of letter-graded courses, in good academic standing; taking courses credit/no credit that leaves you under 12 letter-graded units makes you ineligible. Grade points are computed six weeks after the semester ends. Full rule
3.50–3.64 / 3.65–3.79 / 3.80–4.00
Cum laude / magna cum laude / summa cum laude
Both your SDSU GPA (on at least 24 graded units at SDSU) and your cumulative GPA must reach the line, and your final semester counts. No rounding up. Second bachelor’s degree in nursing candidates aren’t eligible. Full rule
3.50 in the major
Distinction in the Major
On upper-division courses in the major, on your major department’s recommendation; departments may set a higher GPA or other criteria. Full rule
15 units at 3.0, 30 at 2.5 or 45 at 2.0, earned at SDSU after the work set aside
Academic renewal
SDSU may disregard up to two semesters of earlier undergraduate work when the 2.0 GPA is the only degree requirement left (or soon to be) and five years have passed. It isn’t meant to raise your GPA beyond what you need to graduate. 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
Grade forgiveness drops the old grade, and SDSU cuts rather than rounds. Say you earn a D in a 3-unit course and a B+ and an A− in two others: (1.0 × 3 + 3.3 × 3 + 3.7 × 3) ÷ 9 = 24 ÷ 9 = 2.666…, which SDSU reports as 2.66, not 2.67. You repeat the course at SDSU and earn a B. Only the B counts now, though the D stays on your transcript: (3.0 × 3 + 3.3 × 3 + 3.7 × 3) ÷ 9 = 30 ÷ 9 = 3.33, where counting both attempts would have given (3 + 9 + 9.9 + 11.1) ÷ 12 = 33 ÷ 12 = 2.75.
The calculator gives an estimate from the grades you enter. Your official GPA is the one on your San Diego State 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.
