May we count your visit with Google Analytics? It uses cookies and sends visit data to Google. You can change this any time under Cookie choices. Privacy
SMU uses plus and minus grades: A is 4.000, A− 3.700, B+ 3.300 and so on down to D− at 0.700 and F at 0.000, with no A+. Under the pass/fail option a D+ or lower becomes an F, and that F counts in your GPA. A retake replaces the old grade only for up to six courses you made a D+ or lower in; any other retake counts both grades.
SMU’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
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 SMU’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.
SMU’s rules checked in its Academic Catalog 2026–2027. Sources are at the bottom of the page.
Grade points at SMU
SMU 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.
Southern Methodist University letter grades and grade points
What W, pass/fail, incomplete, retakes and transfer credit do at SMU
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 SMU counts each code
Code
What it means
In the SMU GPA
P or F (pass/fail)
Pass or Fail in a course you chose to take pass/fail: P is any A, B or C (C− included); F is a D+, D, D− or F
P stays out of your GPA, though its hours count toward the hours you’ve earned. F counts in your GPA at 0.000, so a D that would have counted 1.000 and earned credit becomes a zero. You can take one course a term pass/fail, and at most 12 hours of P count toward your degree. Common Curriculum, major and minor courses can’t be taken pass/fail, except courses offered only that way. Declare it on the Undergraduate Pass/Fail Option Declaration Form by the term’s drop/withdrawal deadline. You can’t switch back to a letter grade, and you aren’t entitled to know your letter grade. A failed course can’t be retaken pass/fail unless it’s offered only pass/fail. Rule
CR or S
Credit or Satisfactory: CR for the Z course you are registered in during an SMU Abroad fall or spring program, once your abroad transcript shows the hours; S in a zero-credit course graded Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory
Left out of your GPA. Courses on SMU Abroad fall and spring programs can’t be taken pass/fail or no-credit, unless they’re offered only that way. Rule
NC or U
No Credit Received or Unsatisfactory: NC when you enroll in a course for no credit; U in a zero-credit course graded Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory
Left out of your GPA, and you earn no credit. To take a course for no credit, you need the instructor’s or department’s permission and must say so in writing by the 12th day of classes (the fourth day in summer sessions, the second in intersessions). You still pay regular tuition. Rule
W
Withdrew: you dropped the course by the drop deadline, about midterm, or withdrew from all your classes after the 10th class day of a fall or spring term
Left out of your GPA. A W can’t be revoked or changed to another grade. A drop before the add/drop deadline leaves no grade record, and withdrawing from the term by the 10th class day cancels your enrollment with no courses or grades recorded. After the drop deadline you can’t drop a class, and just stopping going to class isn’t a withdrawal. A retake you drop with a W doesn’t use up one of your six Grade Replacement repeats. Rule
I
Incomplete: you passed at least half the course requirements but, for a reason your instructor accepts, couldn’t finish
Left out of your GPA while it stands. You have 45 days after the term ends by default; then the I becomes the grade your instructor set when giving it, or an F if none was set, and that grade counts. Your instructor can extend the date up to 180 days. If you’re graduating, you must clear it by the deadline on the Official University Calendar. An I isn’t given instead of an F or a W. Rule
X
No Grade Received in Registrar’s Office: your instructor hasn’t turned in a grade yet
Left out of your GPA while it stands. Every course must end with a final grade, though: a missing or blank grade becomes an F, which counts as 0.000. Rule
Audit
Course visitor: you sit in on a class with an Audit Permit
No grade and no credit are recorded, so nothing reaches your GPA. The Audit Permit must reach the University Registrar’s Office by the last day to enroll for the term. To get credit later, you must enroll in the course and take it again as a regular course. Rule
Repeated course
You took the same course again
Grade Replacement Repeat: if you made a D+ or lower in an SMU course taken Fall 2017 or later, you can retake the exact same course at SMU, and the new grade replaces the old one in your SMU GPA, even if it’s lower. This works for up to six courses, once per course, and your first six repeats are coded this way. A retake you drop with a W doesn’t count toward the six; repeats under the old First-Year Repeat policy do. Both grades stay on your record, any probation, suspension or dismissal the first grade caused still stands, and some programs may look at both grades or only the first. The retake must be for a letter grade: a pass/fail F can be replaced, but a P can’t be, and a P can’t replace anything. Every other retake is a Grade Average Repeat: both grades count in your GPA and for probation, suspension, dismissal, honors and graduation, and only the retake’s hours count toward graduation. Your school decides what else you may retake: in Dedman and Cox, courses with a D+ or below; in Lyle and Meadows, a C− or below, once. You can’t retake a prerequisite for a course you’ve already passed. Academic Forgiveness is separate: when you’re admitted or readmitted, you can have every course from 7 or more years earlier left out of your GPA, but current students can’t ask for it. Rule
Transfer credit
Grades from another college
Your SMU GPA counts only courses attempted at SMU, so transfer grades never enter it or your academic standing. SMU also keeps an all-college GPA of every college grade you’ve earned, SMU’s included, and it matters: Latin honors use the lower of the two, Dedman and Lyle require a 2.000 on all your college work to graduate, and some schools and majors use it for admission. Only grades of C− or better transfer for credit, but D and F grades in transferable courses still count in your transfer GPA; a W doesn’t, an Incomplete or missing grade counts as an F, and for a course you repeated elsewhere only the latest attempt counts. Transfer grades don’t count in your major or minor GPA. Once you’ve enrolled at SMU, you can transfer at most 30 hours, from four-year schools only, and credit earned while you’re suspended doesn’t count. Courses through the SMU Abroad Office count as SMU work. AP credit (a 4 or 5 on most exams) comes as hours and SMU courses credited, with no grade listed, and AP, IB and CLEP credit isn’t SMU resident credit. Rule
SMU truncates your GPA at three decimal places instead of rounding it: a 3.8559 is a 3.855, which misses Dedman College’s 3.856 cum laude line. The calculator never rounds up either: it cuts the GPA to two decimals, so 3.499 shows as 3.49.
SMU GPA lines
These are SMU’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 SMU
GPA line
What it means
Also required
Below 2.000 cumulative SMU GPA, or under 12 SMU hours, after your first term
Academic Alert
It applies after your first fall or spring term at SMU, lasts one long term and isn’t noted on your permanent record. You must complete UNIV 1210 or UNIV 1211 by the end of the next long term; with that and a 2.000 cumulative SMU GPA, you’re back in good standing. Full rule
Below 2.000 cumulative SMU GPA at the end of a fall or spring term
Academic Probation, from your second term on
Standing is set only at the end of fall and spring; a summer or intersession term can’t put you on probation if you started it in good standing. Probation lasts at least one long term and isn’t noted on your permanent record, and you can’t declare a major while on it. A 2.000 cumulative SMU GPA ends it. If you don’t reach that, you stay on probation only if you completed at least 9 hours with a 2.000 term GPA. Transfer grades don’t count toward this GPA, and your school, department or program may set a higher minimum to stay in the program. Full rule
Still below 2.000 cumulative after probation, with a term GPA below 2.000
Academic Suspension, then dismissal
The term GPA is based on at least 9 earned hours. Suspension lasts at least one long term and is recorded on your permanent record. Credits you earn elsewhere while suspended don’t count toward an SMU degree, and you must make up a grade point deficiency at SMU. After one suspension you may apply for reinstatement, which isn’t guaranteed, and you return on probation. A second suspension means dismissal, with no readmission. Full rule
2.000 cumulative SMU GPA to graduate
Minimum to graduate
Dedman, Cox, Lyle and Meadows each require at least a 2.000 on all your SMU work and a 2.000 in your major (in Cox, in your major’s business courses and in all your SMU business courses). Dedman and Lyle also require a 2.000 on all your college work, transfer included. Full rule
Top 15% of your school by cumulative SMU GPA, each fall and spring
Honor Roll: top 15% Honor Roll, top 10% with Distinction, top 5% with High Distinction
It’s a percentile rank within your school of record, not a fixed GPA. You need at least 12 hours graded A through D− that term, no incomplete grades in any coursework when the list is run, and degree-seeking status. With majors in separate schools, your highest rank counts. Full rule
3.731 to 3.977, by school, on the lower of your SMU and all-college GPAs (2026–2027)
Graduation honors for 2026–2027, cum laude / magna cum laude / summa cum laude: Dedman College 3.856 / 3.916 / 3.966; Cox 3.915 / 3.949 / 3.977; Lyle 3.895 / 3.933 / 3.970; Meadows 3.882 / 3.931 / 3.967; Simmons 3.731 / 3.821 / 3.897
The cutoffs are announced at the start of each academic year and generally mark the top 15%, 10% and 5% of your school’s graduates over the previous three years. Your honors GPA is the lower of your SMU cumulative GPA and your all-college GPA, which includes transfer work; only undergraduate work counts. With majors in two or more schools, you get the highest honors you qualify for. A Grade Average Repeat counts both grades here too. 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
Under the pass/fail option, a D becomes an F that counts. Say you earn an A in a 4-hour course, a B+ and a B in 3-hour courses, and a D in a 3-hour elective you took pass/fail. The D is recorded as an F, so: (4.000 × 4 + 3.300 × 3 + 3.000 × 3 + 0.000 × 3) ÷ 13 = 2.684, shown here as 2.68. Taken for a letter grade, the D would have counted 1.000 and earned the 3 hours: (4.000 × 4 + 3.300 × 3 + 3.000 × 3 + 1.000 × 3) ÷ 13 = 2.915, or 2.91.
The calculator gives an estimate from the grades you enter. Your official GPA is the one on your SMU 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.
