GPA Calculator for the University of California
Rules for calculating GPA
The University of California has a specific way of determining high school GPA for admissions on a scale from 0 to 4, where an A receives 4 points. The GPA is calculated as the average of all grades received.
- Only academic (a.k.a. "A-G") courses count toward your GPA. This includes things like history and theater, but not things like gym. If you're a California student, you can look up the list of A-G courses for your school using hs-articulation.ucop.edu/agcourselist.
- Pluses and minuses do not matter. An grade of A+ or A- also counts as an A.
- Only count courses taken after the 9th grade. If you took a summer class before 10th grade, you should count that.
- When deciding between semesters, quarters, and trimesters, do NOT include summer school as a term. For example, a trimester system should consist of a Fall trimester, Winter trimester, and Spring trimester. A quarter system should consist of 2 Fall quarters and 2 Spring quarters. A semester system should consist of 1 Fall semester and 1 Spring semester.
- Honors courses for California students: Get a list of UC honors courses for your high school by going to hs-articulation.ucop.edu/agcourselist and searching for your high school’s name.
- Honors courses for out of state students: AP courses and IB Higher Level courses are counted as UC honors courses. See more detailed rules on this page.
- The weighted GPA includes 1 extra point for each grade received in a UC approved honors course.
- The weighted and capped GPA also includes 1 extra point for each honors grade. However, only up to 8 semesters of honors courses will be awarded honors points. If you have more than 8 semesters of honors grades, then the excess grades will be treated as regular courses. The 8-semester cap is equivalent to 16 quarters or 12 trimesters. Additionally, no more than 4 semesters worth of honors points can be from courses taken in the 10th grade.
- Do not count honors points for failing grades (D or F).
- A maximum of 4 honors points can be counted for courses taken in the 10th grade.
- If you took a-g courses at a community college, include them in your GPA. You should also count community college courses as honors courses if they are eligble for transfer credit. Use this site to look up transfer elibility for California community colleges.
Is there a disadvantage to taking more courses?
Based on the formula for the weighted and capped GPA, you may have noticed that you can achieve a higher GPA by taking fewer total courses. Conversely, taking more courses appears to lower your GPA. This phenomenon is caused by the limit of 8 semesters worth of honors courses. In reality, admissions are based on your entire transcript and not just your GPA. The purpose of the 8 semester cap is to reduce statistical variance in the GPA, not to punish applicants for taking more courses.
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These comments were written by anonymous visitors. Roger’s comments are colored blue.
Gosh dang thanks my top g
Hello - I took an Art course at community college in one summer. It is 3 credit (in semester system) and I made an A. Do I count this as one semester grade or two? I took this art class for UC a-g requirement and if I would take an art class in my high school, I needed to take it in both fall and spring semester. So, I am a little confused how I need to calculate the community college art class for gpa. Thanks
UC classes are way hard. Go to community college first to get better grades and then transfer. ha
if my school uses a semester system and I earn an A during the fall semester and earn an A during the spring semester do I count it as 1 or 2 As. Also do I count my senior grades?
One thing missing here is - "what is an A?" or a B or a C or a D. The problem for many is the inconsistencies with how school districts translate a number like a 93 to a grade letter. In Austin, it's a 3.3, not a 4.0.It's still an A, however. But some districts have an A as 93 to 100, B as 87 to 92, etc.
Please clarify, and consider revising the blog post, to say "ignore the grade letter assigned by your school if you have the numerical average. 90-100 is A, 80-89 is B, 70-79 is C, 65-69 is D, 64 and below is F" or something similar. Thank you from Texas!
when calculating uc gpa, do we include summer classes taken after 11th grade?
Hello Roger, does UC consider NC(No Credit) as Fail while calculating UC GPA? I failed 1st semester of my accelerated math class and received NC in 10th grade. I took a non-accelerated math class during summer school to get my math credits and attained A grade. I am not sure how UC will consider my NC while calculating my GPA.
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thank you so much for this roger i dont know what id do without u
thanks i use ur calculators a lot like when i have finals and they're always helpful :)
I have a pioneer research program in Grade 11 summer , accredited by oberlin college , it is 2 college credit , i get A, is it counted as 1 semester or 2 semester ? As it is college level , so I will get the bonus point accordingly , correct ... say if 1 semester , I get 1 extra honor point ; if it is 2 semester , i get 2 extra honor point... is my understanding correct?
Hi Roger! Thanks for the calculator, it's really informative! I had a question - I'm an international student doing the IBDP, so we have predicted grades in our senior year. I've heard on other forums online that UCs only consider 10th and 11th grade in your UCGPA--is this true? And if I'm using your calculator, would I input just 10th and 11th grade or would I also add my predicted grades? Hope this makes sense!
Does UCLA use cal grant GPA or do they recalculate?
do uc's look more at weighted gpa or the weighted and capped gpa? i have 4.6 weighted but 4.09 capped, plz help thanks
for the amount of honors level classes, do i count for each semester or each year
Does the technically non AP portion of certain AP courses count as an honors grade? For example when taking Calc AB some portions of the course are called Honors Pre-calculus instead of AP Calculus AB and are technically not AP.
ayo
If I am applying from an international school that only assigns numbers, what is the cutoff from A to B? Is 90-100 considered an A?
Roger: I’m not sure, sorry.
So max (capped) anyone can get is 4.33 correct? How does someone get above that?
Hi! I was using this calculator to determine what GPA my son will have after completing an AP course over the Summer. It prompted me to notice that taking extra courses actually negatively impacts the weighted GPA. I noticed that if my student does not count two of his classes that he did not need to take to take, his GPA increases by 0.1 because without the extra class, his weighted courses carry a heavier weight. Does the actual UC application address this in any way?
Roger: I added some explanation to the calculator above. Please take a look.
Hello Rogers,
I had taken chem Honors in 10th grade. I got D in chem Honors in 2nd semester. Since my school was not offering Chem Honors over summer, I had to take regular Chem, to make-up for credit, in which I got A. So while calculating my UC GPA, do I consider D + A both or just A? How do we replace Summer credit recovery courses in GPA.
Roger: I can’t find any specific guidance about this, sorry.
Hi! I go to high school abroad, and I have no AP/IB courses whatsoever. Will UC still look at my weighted GPA in comparison to intl. students with those courses (and subsequent higher GPA)?
Roger: I don’t know, sorry.
Roger, I am trying to understand relation between number of AP courses required in Quarter vs Semester high school for calculating 8 semester capped GPA. If my son takes 2 AP courses in 10th grade at a high school with Quarter system vs same 2 AP courses at a high school with Semester system. In quarter system he can finish AP1 in first 2 quarters and take AP2 in remaining 2 quarters.
How many semester will that be when calculating capped GPA ?
If the answer is 2 AP in quarter system is equivalent to 1 AP in semester system then
Is there any advantage of quarter system over the other?
I am trying to evaluate 2 high schools one with Quarter and other with Semester.
Roger: For this calculator, the only distinction between quarters and semesters is how many honors points can be counted: either 8 semesters or 16 quarters. I don’t think there’s some way to game the GPA calculation by choosing quarters instead of semesters. However, I’d be interested in knowing more about schools that teach AP courses in half of their typical time.
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Roger,
Your calculator is the only UC calculator I have seen that allows you to indicate quarter vs semester system. My daughter's high school is on the quarter system. Can you explain how that impacts the calculator? Does a quarter system allow for more input (more than 8) as to AP classes? When I use your calculator and indicate quarter system I get a very different GPA number than other (Semester based calculators) but I don't know what is causing the difference.
Roger: See my answer to “Confused Parent” above.
Hello all,
Replying to the top 2 comments. So the capped GPA refers to the UC cap with 8 weighted courses being counted towards the Weighted GPA. (example a student who has 10 ap courses through 10-11 grad (including summer) they will only weight 8 semesters total.
as for your Child who is a rising senior yes, Community college courses are a great way to gain AP/weighted credit and they will be counted towards his UC GPA as long as the courses are not fall courses. Just be sure to check that the courses are UC transferable to be counted(usually delineated on the course listing)
What does capped GPA mean? How does it differ from the weighted GPA? Thanks!
My son is a rising senior in a NY private school that offers very few APs - would taking 1 or 2 community college courses in the summer before senior year be counted in the UC GPA calculator? And any suggestions on what are the common courses students use ?
Hi,
If a student graduates high school in 3 years (a year early), do the freshman grades get included into the GPA calculations? Otherwise they would only have one year to off on?
Also, do the community college courses taken while in middle school and freshman year get included in the GPA calculations?
Thank you!
.
Does dual enrollment community college classes taken in 10th grade count towards admissions gpa? Or is it only DE classes taken 11th and 12th? Thanks for all the very useful info!!
Hello Roger, do Courses taken during the summer after junior year count towards the UCGPA or are they considered part of the senior year curriculum? What if that summer course also spans into part of the fall term of senior year?
Thank you for your insight.
bruh every semester my weighted goes up but uw goes down. 3.6 looks pretty bad but i guess 4.6 is fine?
Would my overall GPA be higher if I still had the same grades, but I took 3 advanced classes?
Hi Roger,
Thanks for this, king! I'll tell you if I get in anywhere. I had a 3.8/4.35/4.20, but I'm shooting for UCB or UCLA. Not sure how realistic that is but oh well.
Valorant rank tho?
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HAHHAA WHAT IS YOUR LEAGUE RANK THO?
What if repeated 10th grade for some reason other than academic?
Do I need to include all the courses I've taken over 10th,10th,11th grade and divide the point?
This is SO helpful. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Roger,
My kid took a semester of public speaking in high school. How ever took music, drama in 8th grade. did do you think my kid will qualify A-G criteria?
Roger, I took 4 AP classes and my school does semester system so does that mean I have 8 honors grades?
Roger: I suppose so? I’m not sure.
Thanks Roger for putting this calculator, makes our life very easy. Now for the college courses, my daughter took 1 course from a local community college (transferrable) and 1 from Cal in her 11th grade summer both with good grades. Does that count towards UC honors?
Roger: Yes, I think so.
Hey Roger,
I took a Music Business class at a community college during my 2nd semester of junior year. I received an A but I'm unclear on what the number of credits would be, if it counts as a semester, and if it adds an honors course point.
Thanks!
Roger: I vaguely remember that each letter grade you receive counts as a single semester, and all transferrable community college courses count for honors points. Hope this helps.
Roger. We really appreciate this calculator. Thank you. ;)
Roger: Glad to help!
I got a B+ in my summer Stanford Computer Science course, which I took to challenge myself. This grade lowers both my weighted and unweighted GPA, so should I report it on UC application or skip it since I’m not required to report extra curricular courses.
Roger: I think admissions are generally based on your entire transcript, not just your GPA. Taking an extra summer course seems like it could only be a good thing.
Hi Roger:
I am senior at high school. I want to become TA for Chemistry honors and switch my 5th period class to do so. How would being a TA affect my GPA and school ranking compared to taking one A-G regular class? Can I take one A-G class at community college to keep my GPA and school ranking intact? I am thinking language class but open to ideas. I plan to apply for CS Engineering in college. What are my other options?
Roger: Being a TA sounds like a great opportunity, and if I were you, I would try it regardless of considerations for my GPA. You don’t get a grade for being a TA, do you?
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Hi Roger, do you know if AP seminar count for grades for honors courses? Thanks
Roger: I don’t know what that is, sorry.
Each semester of my high school AP class is listed at 5 credits. I have an honors class from outside school that's listed as 10 credits. So, should I add 2 honor points for this class even though there is only a single grade on the transcript?
Roger: I’m not sure how credits factor into this? The guidance I’ve heard is that one letter grade translates to one entry in the GPA.
What happens with courses that were graded P/F during COVID?
Roger: I don’t know, sorry.
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Roger: Of course.
If the extra honor course points are capped, does it make sense to take fewer a-g courses during sophomore and junior years to boost the GPA? The extreme example is that one gets all As, given that you can only add 8 extra points, the more courses you take, the lower average GPA you get.
Roger: Yep, that’s an unfortunate property of the weighted and capped GPA.
Hello Roger,
Thank you so much for this calculator! I am a rising senior and I was hoping to squish in a few more courses during the summer of 2021 before I have to apply in the fall. I was wondering if UCs counted classes that were started during the summer but ended in the fall (before applications were due) for GPA calculation? Or does the class have to be COMPLETED by the end of summer?
Thank you so much :))
Roger: I think you’re free to add all the courses you’ve completed so far to the UC application, so you could definitely add summer courses.
Roger,
Thank you for the previous answer. I have one more question. My honors points are from colleges, and I have 24 total semester grades from my school. I have 9 college courses. Do I need to add these 9 grades also to the total grades in other words, in order to calculate my weighted GPA do I need to tak
Roger: Yes, I think you need to count all of your honors courses as grades as well.
Hello Roger,
I took one summer class that gave one letter grade in the summer after my 9th grade from a college that is on the quarter system. Two summer classes after my 10th grade from colleges that are on a semester system and received one letter grade. Then 2 fall (started in September)quarter college classes, 2 winter quarter college calsses ( that started in Jan ended in March), and 2 spring quarter college calsses (started in April will end in June). How many honors points do I receive, and do their GPA be added to my overall GPA from the high school classes?
Roger: I’d guess it’s one point per course?
hi
Can you direct me to a calculator to figure out if I'm in the top 9%?
Roger: Are you talking about “Eligibility in the Local Context (ELC)”? You’ll probably have to ask your school counselor.
Hey Roger,
If I took a summer session course (Physics 8A, I think it was) during the summer after my 10th grade year at UC Berkeley, would that also count as an Honors point? If so, would it be worth 1 semester? The course was 4 units long, I think.
Thanks!
Roger: Yes, I think it’d count for an honors point and be worth just one semester, since you received only a single letter grade for it.
Why is my capped GPA stopping at 4.3 on this calculator, even though I have 17 semesters of Honors/AP and all my grades were As? It seems like it should be 4.4?
I am confused on how to calculate the uc capped weighted gpa. I have 2 ap classes in sophmore and 4 ap classes in junior. I have 5 A's and 2 B's in the first semester of sophomore and 6 A's and 1 B in second semester. I have 3 A's and 3 B's in first semester of junior and 4 A's and 2 B's in second semester of junior. How do I calculate the uc capped weighted gpa
Thank you for the calculator! Side note: I was looking at this site and realized that there is more than just this UC calculator. A lot of interesting things! I see why it's called RogerHub, nice work :)
Roger: Glad to help!
I'm an international student. How does UC convert our high school GPA?(Do they use our school own conversion scale?)
So, does UCLA decide look at the capped gpa to determine admissions? (barring other factors)
Does the UC calculation take into account units. Just wondering because when we do the standard GPA calculation it's much lower (grades x credits) / credits= gpa vs. number of courses and honors.
4.24 with credits 4.38 on the UC calculator
hi roger, thank you for this! :) during my ninth grade summer, i got a B in one of the terms for geometry, do i count that as a B? thanks i’m advance!
Roger: If you’re talking about the summer after your 9th grade, then yes.
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Roger: Haha
Roger, How about A-Level courses? Will it count for honors extra point as well?
Roger: I don’t know, sorry.
Does community classes count against the 8 honors cap points? My son already maxed with 4 total year long AP/Honors class at his regular school. He also is took and will take a few community college offered classes. Do those get honors point at all? Or just 4 points for an A?
Roger: Yes, I think community college courses count toward the cap, and they count as honors courses.
For in-state applicants, The weighted GPA includes 1 extra point for each grade received in a UC approved honors course (Honors/AP/IB/Dual-enrollment courses) but for out of state applicants the weighted GPA includes 1 extra point for each grade only for AP/IB/Dual-enrollment courses (not for Honors designated courses by HS). For Fall 2019 the UCLAs 75th Percentile Fully Weighted GPA for out-of-state students is 4.86 and in-state is 4.63. This would imply that out-of-state students are taking 6 AP/IB/DE courses during each semester in Grade-10 and 11 (that extrapolates to 18 AP/IB/DE during Grades 10, 11 and 12 which is extremely rare). Does the UCLAs 75th Percentile Fully Weighted GPA for out-of-state students at 4.86 factor Honors weightage for Honors designated courses by HS ?
Roger: 4.86 seems absurdly high, but your interpretation makes sense to me. I don’t know the answer to your question.
Hi Roger, you should make the honors classes field cap at 8 as to not confuse anyone.
Roger: The calculator also calculates the unweighted GPA, so a limit on the input field would prevent that from working.
Hi Roger, been looking at this for ages and never understood capped and uncapped til son is waiting fir admission decision. If he took 7 APs and 2 Honors classes between 10-11th, do I put in 9x2 semesters, so 18 if he’s on a semester basis? The calculator only takes into account 8 for the capped GPA calculation. Does the weighted uncapped GPA take into account the 18 semesters of honors? Thanks!
Roger: Yep, I think you’re using it correctly. As you say, the capped GPA only counts 8 semesters, while the uncapped counts all 18.
Rogerhub is the only hub I use :)
I understand that community college grade will be counted as an honor course for UC GPA. How about four year college course grade? I took one hard stem summer course at UC. With the grade, my UC GPA drops... do you know if the grade will be counted in my UC GPA?
Roger: I’m guessing that any transferrable college course would count as an honors course.
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hmmm is a 4.58 good enough for ucla
Roger, thank you! You're the best :)
Do you think a 4.52 UC GPA is competitive for all campuses?
Hi Roger, thanks for the calculator.
how's your social life during the pandemic? Hanging in there OK?
Roger: There’s a pandemic going on? Nobody told me.
Hi roger u know any classes(for community college igetc uc and csu) that satisfies both area 1C and area 4?
Roger: I don’t know what those are, sorry.
I believe they don't add freshman year is because the transition from middle school to high school is stressful so they overlook freshman year.
Hello Roger,
During the summer before my junior year, I took 2 community college courses (A-G requirement from CA) and 1 honors course (2 grades for 2 semesters) from another UC approved institution. Will this be included as part of my gpa calculation for admissions?
Thank you so much :))
Roger: Yes, I think so.
Hey. Do you know why they don't count freshman grades? I wish they did.
Roger: I have no idea.
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thank u roger