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Notre Dame uses three-decimal grade points: an A is 4.000, A− 3.667, B+ 3.333, B 3.000, B− 2.667, C+ 2.333, C 2.000, C− 1.667, D 1.000 and F 0.000, and there’s no A+, D+ or D−. An F counts as zero, and so does an X, the grade your dean approves when your work is unfinished; an X that isn’t resolved within 30 days into the next semester becomes an F. Retake a course and both grades stay in your GPA: Notre Dame doesn’t replace the old grade.
Notre Dame’s points: A 4.000, A− 3.667, B+ 3.333, B 3.000 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 Notre Dame’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.
Notre Dame’s rules checked in its 2026–2027 Bulletin of Information and the Undergraduate Academic Code (July 1, 2026). Sources are at the bottom of the page.
Grade points at Notre Dame
Notre Dame 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.
University of Notre Dame letter grades and grade points
What W, pass/fail, incomplete, retakes and transfer credit do at Notre Dame
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 Notre Dame counts each code
Code
What it means
In the Notre Dame GPA
F
Failing
Counts 0.000 points, and its credit hours count in your GPA. A D is the lowest passing grade, so anything below it is calculated as 0.000. An F in a course you took pass/fail also counts in your GPA. An X, NR or F* that isn’t resolved in time turns into an F. You may repeat a course you failed, but the F stays in your GPA. Rule
X
Unfinished work, given with your dean’s approval in extenuating circumstances beyond your control
Carries 0.000 points in the Academic Code and on the Registrar’s grading scale, so it pulls your GPA down until it’s resolved. If it isn’t otherwise resolved within 30 days after the next semester begins, the Registrar converts it to an F. Rule
I
Incomplete, for graduate, graduate business and law students only
Undergraduates don’t get an I; unfinished undergraduate work gets an X. For graduate students, the I counts in the GPA like an F. Rule
W
Discontinued with permission
Doesn’t count in your GPA hours attempted or earned. You can change your schedule freely during the first six class days (fall 2026: through August 31); after that, dropping needs your dean’s approval until the last day for course discontinuance, Friday of the ninth week (fall 2026: October 30). A drop after that day is allowed only in exceptional circumstances, normally documented illness, and is recorded as a W. In shorter classes the deadline is 60% of the class meetings or an earlier date the department posts. The pages differ on when a W starts: the Academic Code and the Bulletin’s grading table give a W only after the discontinuance deadline, while the Registrar’s Grades page says a W is assigned for a drop after the drop/add deadline. Withdraw from the University before the discontinuance deadline and no courses or grades are listed; after it, you get a W in each class, and withdrawals in the last ten class days aren’t accepted except in exceptional circumstances. Rule
P
Pass, in a course you chose to take pass/fail
A through D become a P, which isn’t computed in your GPA; an F stays an F and counts. Under the Academic Code, from the summer after your sophomore year (once you have junior status) you may take one Standard Letter Grade course pass/fail each semester and summer session, four in total. Ask your dean during the first six class days (the first calendar week of a summer course). The course must be outside your majors, supplementary majors and minors, can’t satisfy Core, college or program requirements, and can’t be a study abroad course. The choice is irrevocable, and your instructor isn’t told. A pass/fail class isn’t counted in hours attempted, and it doesn’t count toward the 12 graded credits Dean’s List needs. The pages differ: the Registrar’s Grades page and the Bulletin’s grading table describe an older rule, one course per semester for juniors and seniors (the Registrar says an elective outside your major department and not required), with no four-course limit, and Mendoza’s Bulletin section allows only non-business electives. Rule
S or U
Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory, in zero-credit courses, research, seminars, workshops and similar courses
Neither counts in your GPA. They’re typically used in zero- or one-credit courses: an S means you met the course requirements and a U means you didn’t. Rule
NR
Not Reported: the instructor didn’t report final grades because of extenuating circumstances
Not included in your GPA. It’s normally used when an instructor doesn’t report grades for a whole class, and it reverts to an F if not resolved by the start of final week in your next semester. Rule
F*
Not Reported: no final grade was reported for you individually
The Registrar assigns it, for example when you didn’t drop a class or attended the wrong section. It reverts to an F if not changed within 30 days after your next semester begins. The pages differ on its points: the Registrar’s Grades page lists F* at 0.000 quality points, while the Bulletin’s grading table gives it a point value of N/A. Rule
Repeated course
You took the same course again
Unless the Registrar designates a course as repeatable, you may repeat it only after an F, or after a D if your dean, after consulting the instructor’s dean, decides a repeat is in your best academic interests. Both grades count in your GPA, and your transcript marks the course as repeated; only one instance counts toward your degree. You may repeat a D course only once, and only two such courses in your undergraduate career. Retaking it elsewhere doesn’t help your GPA: grades from other schools aren’t in your Notre Dame GPA, and transfer credit isn’t given for a course that duplicates your earlier coursework. Rule
Transfer credit
Grades from another college
Only Notre Dame grades count in your GPA, including University-sponsored study away and Saint Mary’s co-exchange courses, which post as Notre Dame credit; grades from other schools don’t count. Get your dean’s approval before enrolling elsewhere. A course transfers only with a C or better (a C− isn’t accepted), a standard letter grade (not pass-fail), and from an accredited school that counts it toward its own degrees. Some colleges are stricter: the College of Science grants transfer credit only for a B or above and doesn’t let science majors transfer science or math courses, and Mendoza allows at most two courses (eight credits) elsewhere each summer and no business courses. At least 50% of your degree credit hours (not less than 61) must be earned at Notre Dame, and you must be enrolled on the main campus in your graduation semester unless your dean waives it. Rule
Notre Dame GPA lines
These are Notre Dame’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 Notre Dame
GPA line
What it means
Also required
1.850 semester GPA (first semester)
Academic good standing for first-semester first-year students
Notre Dame judges good standing by your semester average, not your cumulative GPA, using semester final grades. Full rule
2.000 semester GPA
Academic good standing after your first semester
Checked each semester on that semester’s average. Full rule
Below the line the first time
Academic warning
Warning is part of good standing, so you keep all privileges. You should meet your advisor and make an academic recovery plan. Meet the line in your next fall or spring semester to come off warning. Full rule
Below the line again
Academic probation
If you don’t clear warning, or miss the line again after any earlier warning. You can’t travel to represent the University, and your dean may restrict your program, including study away. If your combined spring and Notre Dame Summer Session GPA meets the line, you start fall in good standing, but that spring still counts as a probation semester for dismissal. Full rule
Two semesters in a row, or three in all, on warning or probation; or below 1.000 in a semester
Academic dismissal
You may appeal in writing to your dean: by January 3 after fall grades, or by the tenth calendar day after spring grades post. A second dismissal is permanent. Finishing your graduation semester restores good standing for that semester. Full rule
2.000 cumulative
Minimum GPA to graduate
Only Notre Dame grades count. Financial aid also requires a 2.0 cumulative GPA and earning 67% of the hours you attempt. Full rule
3.834 to 3.945 term GPA (fall 2026, by college)
Dean’s List
You need 12 graded credit hours and a semester GPA at your college’s minimum, set each year at the top 30% of the previous year’s term GPAs. Fall 2026: Arts and Letters 3.923, Architecture 3.834, Business 3.867, Engineering 3.867, Keough School 3.938, Science 3.945. Pass/fail courses don’t count toward the 12. Full rule
Top 30% / top 15% / top 5% of your college
Cum laude / magna cum laude / summa cum laude
Percentages, not fixed GPAs. Each February the Registrar sets the cutoffs from January graduates’ final cumulative GPAs and May candidates’ GPAs after fall, and your final spring GPA must still meet them. Cutoffs are set at the third decimal and not rounded up: with a 3.591 cutoff, a 3.590 misses. January, May and August graduates of one calendar year share cutoffs. Transfer students follow the class they joined. Notre Dame doesn’t record class rank. Full rule
3.000 (B average)
Transfer admission
With limited exceptions, transfer applicants need at least a B average over one year (24 semester hours) of college coursework. Full rule
3.2 or 3.4 cumulative and recent-term
Overload permission in Engineering or Mendoza
Engineering normally needs 3.2 to go above 19 credit hours; Mendoza normally needs 3.4 to carry an overload. 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 Notre Dame a retake doesn’t replace the F. Say you earn an F, an A and a B+ in three 3-credit courses and get a W in a fourth: (0 × 3 + 4 × 3 + 3.333 × 3) ÷ 9 = 21.999 ÷ 9 ≈ 2.44, and the W doesn’t count. You repeat the failed course and earn a B. Both grades stay in your GPA: (0 × 3 + 4 × 3 + 3.333 × 3 + 3 × 3) ÷ 12 = 30.999 ÷ 12 ≈ 2.58. If the B had replaced the F, you’d have 30.999 ÷ 9 ≈ 3.44, but Notre Dame doesn’t do that.
The calculator gives an estimate from the grades you enter. Your official GPA is the one on your Notre Dame 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.
