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Vanderbilt’s GPA is your grade points divided by your semester hours: A 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, D− 0.7 and F 0.0. Engineering and the College of Connected Computing also give an A+, worth the same 4.0 as an A. An F counts as zero, even one earned in a course you took Pass/Fail. W, P, the temporary grades I and M, zero-credit courses, study abroad courses and transfer credit stay out of your GPA. Retake a course and only the latest grade counts, though every grade stays on your transcript.
Vanderbilt’s points: A+ 4.00, A 4.00, A− 3.70, B+ 3.30 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 Vanderbilt’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.
Vanderbilt’s rules checked in its 2026–2027 Undergraduate Catalog. Sources are at the bottom of the page.
Grade points at Vanderbilt
Vanderbilt 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.
Vanderbilt University letter grades and grade points
What W, pass/fail, incomplete, retakes and transfer credit do at Vanderbilt
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 Vanderbilt counts each code
Code
What it means
In the Vanderbilt GPA
F
Failure
Counts 0 in your GPA, and you also get one if you stop attending without dropping or withdrawing. To earn credit you must retake it as a regular graded course, not by independent study, credit by exam or Pass/Fail; once you pass the retake the F leaves your GPA, and if you fail a course more than once only one F counts. Rule
W
Withdrawn
Recorded when you withdraw after add/drop, and not used in your GPA. For financial aid progress, W hours still count as attempted hours. Rule
P / F
Pass/Fail option
Open once you’ve finished two semesters at Vanderbilt and reached sophomore standing. Any grade of D− or above becomes a P, which counts neither in your GPA nor toward honors; a failing grade is recorded as F and counts. A&S allows one P/F course a term and 18 P hours toward the degree, none while on probation, and turns a P back into its letter grade (counted in your GPA) if the course later counts toward your major or minor. Engineering accepts at most 9 Pass hours and Peabody three P/F courses in all. Rule
I
Incomplete (temporary grade)
Only if you’ve completed at least 60% of the semester’s work. It stays out of your GPA but keeps you off the Dean’s List. Finish by the instructor’s deadline (no later than the end of the following semester), or the default grade is recorded, with zero points for missing work. The financial aid office counts an I as zero grade points for aid progress. Rule
M
Missed final exam or final evaluation (temporary grade)
For missing only the final, with prompt notice to the instructor; if you couldn’t pass even with the final, you get an F instead. Like an I it stays out of your GPA until replaced, but you can’t graduate with it on your record, and aid progress counts it as zero grade points. Rule
T
Transfer credit
Courses taken elsewhere for credit carry a T and no grade point average, so they never move your Vanderbilt GPA. Rule
0 hours
Zero-credit course
Listed on your record with its grade but left out of your GPA. A course that simply doesn’t count toward your degree is different: it does count in your GPA. Rule
Audit
Audited course
No permanent record is kept and no grade or credit is awarded, so it can’t touch your GPA. Rule
Repeated course
You took the same course again
A retake replaces the grade: any time you repeat a course, only the latest grade counts in your GPA and you earn no extra hours, but every grade stays on your transcript. Failed courses may be repeated until passed, passed courses only once, and always for a letter grade, even if the first try was Pass/Fail. You can’t repeat a course you passed with a P. Engineering students may repeat only courses graded C+ or below, and A&S students can’t repeat Core 1010 and Core 1020. Rule
Transfer credit
Grades from another college
Transfer credit comes in as a T, carries no grade point average and never affects your Vanderbilt GPA. A course with a grade below C− isn’t credited; the Grading and Credits page also rules out courses taken Pass/Fail, while the Transfer Credit page names only the C− floor. After you enroll, A&S lets you take at most two courses elsewhere in summers and winters, and Peabody 12 credit hours. Rule
Vanderbilt GPA lines
These are Vanderbilt’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 Vanderbilt
GPA line
What it means
Also required
2.000 overall and 2.000 in each major
Graduation minimum
Engineering also requires 2.000 in courses in Engineering, computer science and data science; Blair and Peabody teacher education majors need 2.750 overall. Full rule
3.500 semester GPA, 12 graded hours
Dean’s List
No temporary or missing grades in any course and no F that semester. A&S, Engineering, Peabody and Blair all use this rule. Full rule
Top 5% / next 8% / next 12%
Summa / magna / cum laude
No fixed GPA is printed: you need a GPA at or above that of the top 5%, next 8% or next 12% of the previous three years’ graduating seniors (in A&S and Engineering, of that school’s seniors). Peabody and Blair use the same percentages. Full rule
Below 1.500 semester GPA
A&S probation
Passing fewer than 12 hours does it too. Below 1.000, or fewer than 6 hours, means a required probationary leave. Seniors below 2.000 cumulative are also placed on probation, and missing the standards after two probations can lead to dismissal. Full rule
1.800 / 1.900 / 2.000 cumulative
A&S sophomore / junior / senior standing
At 24, 54 and 84 credit hours. Engineering uses the same GPAs at 24, 54 and 86 hours. Full rule
1.800 semester GPA (first year), 2.000 after
Engineering good standing
With at least 12 hours each semester. A semester GPA of 1.400 or less can bring a required leave, and staying in the school means keeping 2.000 in all courses, in the school and in your major. Full rule
1.8 semester GPA (first year), 2.0 after
Peabody good standing
With at least 12 hours each semester. A semester GPA of 1.4 or less can bring a required leave. Full rule
Below 1.8 overall or 2.0 in music
Blair probation
The catalog states this line once for your GPA and once for your semester GPAs. Students placed on probation more than twice are dismissed. Full rule
Satisfactory academic progress for need-based and federal aid
For this check an I or M counts as zero grade points and W hours count as attempted. 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
Vanderbilt replaces a retaken grade, whichever way it goes. Say you have three 3-hour courses: an A, a B and a C−. Your GPA is (4.0 × 3 + 3.0 × 3 + 1.7 × 3) ÷ 9 = 26.1 ÷ 9 = 2.90. You retake the C− course for a letter grade and earn a B+. You get no extra hours and only the latest grade counts, so (4.0 × 3 + 3.0 × 3 + 3.3 × 3) ÷ 9 = 30.9 ÷ 9 = 3.43, though the C− stays on your transcript. The latest grade is used any time you repeat, so a D on the retake would have counted instead: 24.0 ÷ 9 ≈ 2.67. In Engineering you could retake this course because a C− is C+ or below; anywhere, a passed course can be repeated only once.
The calculator gives an estimate from the grades you enter. Your official GPA is the one on your Vanderbilt 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.
