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The College at UChicago grades on a one-decimal scale: an A is 4.0, A− 3.7, B+ 3.3, B 3.0, B− 2.7, C+ 2.3, C 2.0, C− 1.7, D+ 1.3, D 1.0 and F 0.0, with no A+ or D− (an A+ earned in a Chicago Booth course counts 4.0). Only an F counts as zero, including an F in a course you took pass/fail; a P, W, I or NGR stays out of your GPA. Each grade is weighted by the course’s units, and most courses are 100 units. Repeat a course and both grades are averaged into your GPA; only one registration counts toward the 4,200 units you need to graduate.
UChicago’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 UChicago’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.
UChicago’s rules checked in its The College Catalog 2026–2027. Sources are at the bottom of the page.
Grade points at UChicago
UChicago 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.
The University of Chicago letter grades and grade points
What W, pass/fail, incomplete, retakes and transfer credit do at UChicago
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 UChicago counts each code
Code
What it means
In the UChicago GPA
F
Fail: unsatisfactory work
Counts 0.0 points, and the course’s units count in your GPA; you get no credit. If you don’t pass a course you took pass/fail, you get an F, and it counts as zero too. An F can’t be changed later unless the instructor or the Registrar entered it in error. A D (1.0) is passing, but some programs require a higher grade for courses in the major or minor. If you repeat a failed course, the F stays in your GPA and the two grades are averaged. Rule
A+
A+ in a Chicago Booth course (the College scale has no A+)
Counts 4.0, the same as an A, so enter it as an A in the calculator. Grades you earn in graduate-level courses also count in your undergraduate GPA. Rule
P
Pass, under Pass/Fail (P/F), the College’s only alternative to a quality grade
Gives course credit but isn’t calculated in your GPA; if you don’t pass, you get an F that counts as zero. Your adviser takes no action: you and your instructor reach an informal agreement, at the instructor’s discretion and under department policy, before the grade is submitted, and the instructor submits either a P or an F. All general education (Core) courses and most major requirements must be taken for quality grades, though some majors allow a limited number of P marks. Some departments count only a C− or higher as passing, so agree with your instructor on what passing means. A P can’t later become a letter grade, or the reverse. If you’re graduating and a required course in your final quarter has no grade, the Registrar may record an administrative P. For financial aid, a pass/fail course counts in your completion rate but not your GPA. Rule
W
Withdrawn: you chose not to finish the course after the add/drop period
Gives no credit and isn’t factored into your term or cumulative GPA. You can add online until 5:00 p.m. Friday of week 1, and add with instructor consent or drop online until 5:00 p.m. Friday of week 3, but you can’t drop below 300 units. After that, ask your Academic Adviser for a W in writing by 5:00 p.m. Monday of the ninth week, or the day before your final project or exam is due if that’s earlier; a request made in time can be denied only for academic dishonesty. A W can’t later be changed to another mark. It doesn’t count toward the 300 units you need each quarter for good standing, and it counts against your financial aid completion rate. The Registrar may also enter a W when your Dean of Students approves a drop after week 3. A leave of absence requested by the end of add/drop removes the quarter’s courses from your transcript; one requested by the W deadline gives W’s. The 2026–2027 calendar gives quarter dates, not the W date: Autumn 2026 begins Monday, September 28. Rule
I
Incomplete: you haven’t finished the course by the end of the quarter but took part actively, did most of the work at a passing level and arranged with your instructor to finish
Carries no grade points and stays out of your GPA until a grade replaces it. Ask your instructor in writing by UChicago email and talk to your Academic Adviser before the quarter ends. The Incomplete Form, signed by your instructor and adviser, is due to the Registrar by Friday of the first week of the next quarter; without it the Registrar enters an NGR, and after that you need a General Petition to the Dean of Students. You must finish within the time you agree, at most one year and not past graduation; the form names a default grade entered if you do no more work. An I doesn’t count as completing the course, so it can leave you short of the 300 units good standing needs; if the final grades later bring that quarter to 300 units and a 2.0, you may ask the Office of College Community Standards to change the decision. For financial aid, incomplete coursework is included in the 2.0 GPA check. The pages differ on the transcript: the catalog says the I no longer appears once the final grade is available, while the Registrar’s Grading page says the I stays as a qualifier beside the grade (IA or IB+), and its College policy says an I not finished in time stays permanently unless the instructor named a grade on the form. Rule
NGR
No Grade: your instructor didn’t submit a final grade by the grading deadline
Carries no grade points and stays out of your GPA, but like an I it doesn’t count as completing the course for standing. The Registrar also enters an NGR when an I comes in without an Incomplete Form. It’s resolved by a final grade or a formal Incomplete Form; if neither arrives by Friday of the first week of the next quarter, you may petition the Dean of Students to complete the course. Rule
R
Registered or audit, used in some graduate and professional courses
Not available to College students. The College has no official audit status: you may sit in on a course with the instructor’s permission, but it won’t appear on your transcript. Rule
Repeated course
You took the same course again
When you repeat a course, both registrations appear on your transcript and both grades are averaged into your GPA: the new grade doesn’t replace the old one. Only one registration counts toward the 4,200 units you need to graduate. If you’re on financial aid, you must register for 300 units besides the repeated course that quarter, with limited exceptions; repeated courses also count in the aid completion rate. Retaking the course elsewhere doesn’t help your GPA: transfer grades don’t count, and transfer credit can’t duplicate credit you earned at UChicago. Rule
Transfer credit
Grades from another college
Only UChicago course grades count in your GPA. Approved transfer credit appears on your transcript only as units; its grades aren’t shown and don’t count. Study-away grades count only when the courses carry UChicago course numbers. As a current student, petition for approval at least a month before the course starts. A course must come from an accredited school that grants bachelor’s degrees, carry at least 3 semester or 4 quarter hours, earn a C or better (not a C− or a P), and not duplicate credit you have from UChicago, exams or other transfers. Since Autumn 2020, courses at US schools that resemble UChicago courses are ordinarily ineligible, and courses taken while suspended aren’t eligible. For incoming transfer students, two semester courses usually equal three quarter courses, with at most 1,200 units per year and 400 per term elsewhere. Either way you need six quarters in residence (summers excluded), 1,800 units by UChicago enrollment, and half of each major and minor in residence; transfer credit counts toward the 3,800 units you must earn by enrollment, while exam credit beyond 400 units doesn’t count toward the 4,200. Rule
UChicago GPA lines
These are UChicago’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 UChicago
GPA line
What it means
Also required
2.0 quarter GPA and 300 units passed
Good academic standing
Checked each Autumn, Winter and Spring Quarter on that quarter alone: you must finish 300 units with passing grades on time (by the end of the quarter) with a quarter GPA of at least 2.0. An I or NGR doesn’t count as finished, and a W adds no units. Summer and quarters away don’t affect standing. Full rule
One of the two missed
Academic probation
If you were in good standing and miss only one criterion (for example a 2.0 on just 200 units, or 300 units with a 1.9), you’re ordinarily on probation the next quarter. Probation isn’t good standing; it’s in your record but not permanently noted on your transcript. Meet both criteria the next quarter and you return to good standing. You also start on probation the quarter you come back from a suspension. Full rule
Both missed in one quarter, or any missed while on probation
Eligible for academic suspension
Suspension ordinarily lasts at least two quarters, is permanently noted on your transcript, and courses you take elsewhere during it can’t transfer back. You return on probation. Full rule
1.75 cumulative, 2.0 in each major and minor
Minimum GPA to graduate
Along with 4,200 units and the residency rules. Only UChicago grades count. Full rule
2.0 GPA and 70% of units completed
Financial aid satisfactory academic progress
You also need a 2.0 at the end of your first and second years. Incompletes count in the aid GPA, while W and pass/fail courses don’t; W, I, repeated and pass/fail units all count in the 70%. The College’s review page adds that not completing nine courses in an academic year costs aid eligibility. The pages differ on the time limit: the aid page says 143% of the program length or 6,300 units, while the catalog’s Academic Standards page says 150 percent of the program time frame. Full rule
About the top 20% for the academic year
Dean’s List
Not a fixed GPA: about 20% of degree-seeking students with the highest GPAs for the year make it, if they completed at least nine courses with at least seven quality grades at UChicago, so P grades don’t help you reach seven. It’s decided on grades in after the July 1 grading deadline. Full rule
Top 10% of your class after two years
Robert Maynard Hutchins Scholars
Based on your cumulative GPA for your first and second years at UChicago. Full rule
Top 5% in your third and fourth years
Divisional Named Honors
By cumulative GPA against a 5-year major cohort average. Full rule
Top 25% / top 15% / top 8%
Cum laude / magna cum laude / summa cum laude
Percentages, not fixed GPAs: your cumulative GPA is compared with a 5-year average for your major’s cohort. Your last quarter of grades is left out. Above cum laude the College also weighs the breadth and depth of your coursework. Full rule
Set by your department
Departmental major honors
Usually a minimum major GPA and cumulative GPA plus a thesis or research project; see your program’s catalog page. 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 UChicago a retake doesn’t replace the F, and a P stays out. Say that in one quarter you fail a course, earn an A− and a B+, and pass a fourth course you took pass/fail, all 100-unit courses, so each counts 1: (0 × 1 + 3.7 × 1 + 3.3 × 1) ÷ 3 = 7.0 ÷ 3 ≈ 2.33. You repeat the failed course and earn a B. Both grades are averaged in: (0 × 1 + 3.7 × 1 + 3.3 × 1 + 3.0 × 1) ÷ 4 = 10.0 ÷ 4 = 2.50. If the B had replaced the F, you’d have 10.0 ÷ 3 ≈ 3.33, but UChicago doesn’t do that.
The calculator gives an estimate from the grades you enter. Your official GPA is the one on your UChicago 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.
