GPA Help Guide

Per Graduate School Policy 3.1 in order to be offered admission, a student must have at least a 3.0 grade-point-average on a 4 point scale. (Please reference the policy for exact language and details.)

In order to complete the Admit form in the Assign Decision bin, programmatic staff are required to enter the gpa (and identify the credential) that the applicant is being admitted on.

Note: only one of the gpa calculation options needs to result in a 3.0 (or higher) gpa.

Any of the options can be used, but we recommend checking in the order that they are listed on this page. Note: instructions for transcripts with non-alphanumeric grades are available here.

Click the checkbox for instructions and examples for each gpa option.

US Transcripts

The options and examples given in this section will address the majority of standard transcripts and grading systems used in the United States.

Option 1: Use the bachelor's degree gpa

See Option 1 Details

From the reader dashboard, click “Transcripts” on the left-hand side bar
Review the transcripts and confirm the cumulative/institution gpa printed on the transcript
- Examples:

Double check that the name of the school and the name of the applicant match the information in the application.
If the gpa is ≥ 3.00, enter it into the “Admit gpa” field on the form and select the radio button for “Bachelor’s degree” for the credential being used.
Note:
- In order to use this option, the degree can be in progress (as long as the expected degree date is prior to the quarter of enrollment).
- If the Academic History information indicates that the degree was already earned, the degree statement must appear on the unofficial transcript.

If this option is not available or does not meet the minimum requirement (3.00 on a 4.00 scale), continue to the next option.

Option 2: Use the graduate or professional degree gpa (if available)

See Option 2 Details

Same exact steps as Option 1, only with a graduate or professional degree
Enter the gpa and select “Graduate or professional degree” for the credential being used.
Note:
- In order to use this option, the degree can be in progress (as long as the expected degree date is prior to the quarter of enrollment).
- If the Academic History information indicates that the degree was already earned, the degree statement must appear on the unofficial transcript.

If this option is not available or does not meet the minimum requirement (3.00 on a 4.00 scale), continue to the next option.

Option 3: Use the cumulative gpa (all transcripts)

See Option 3 Details

Review the Academic History and confirm that you have an unofficial transcript for each institution where the applicant earned academic credit.
Use the gpa calculator to enter the hours and the points on each transcript to get a single overall cumulative gpa.
Important:
- Typically, you would use “Attempted Hours” for the Hours field. However, some institutions have a value of GPA hours or GPA units that should be used.
- Points can be called Grade Points, Points, or QPoints. Other terms for this value may also be used.
- When in doubt, you can do the gpa calculation to determine which numbers to use. The formula is points / by hours = gpa.
If the gpa is ≥ 3.00, enter it into the “Admit gpa” field on the form and select the radio button for “All transcripts” for the credential being used.

If this option is not available or does not meet the minimum requirement (3.00 on a 4.00 scale), continue to the next option.

Option 4: Use the gpa of the last 60 semester or 90 quarter credits

See Option 4 Details

Considering graded credits from all institutions, starting with the most recent term and working backwards (regardless of whether a degree was earned), use the gpa calculator (or this calculator) to enter term gpas until you get 60 semester or 90 quarter credits.
- If you are combining credits from semester and quarter schools (or another type of credit structure), you will need to convert all credits to the same units (see example).
- If your calculation does not end at exactly 60 or 90 (which is common), add individual classes, in the order that they are listed in the transcript, to the total until you reach just over 60 or 90 (see example).

If none of the gpa options meet the 3.00 minimum requirement, select the option that produces the highest gpa and use the “Waive Minimum Admissions Requirements for Low GPA or No Degree” petition on the Application Dashboard for that applicant. GEMS will review the request and approve or deny the petition.

Note: you should not move forward with an offer of admission until the petition has been reviewed and approved by GEMS. You will be notified via email when the petition has been processed.

International Transcripts

In this section, neither Option 5 nor Option 6 is preferred over the other. One option may work better than the other for certain transcripts or applicants. It may also be up to personal choice which option programmatic staff decide to use.

Option 5: Use the bachelor’s degree gpa (minimum requirement)

See Option 5 Details

Scan the transcript for any failed courses, if there are none, proceed. If there are, see Important note below.
Use the Scholaro GPA Calculator to enter the cumulative credits as a single grade to get the converted gpa.
- For example: While reviewing an applicant’s transcript from Germany you see 1,6 as the cumulative gpa.

You use the Scholaro GPA Calculator and select Germany as the country (checking that the grading scale [generally] matches what is on the transcript) and enter the gpa as the “Grade.” (Note: it doesn’t matter what you enter for “Course,” and you can enter any number for “Credits or hours.”)

In this case, enter 4.0 for the “Admit gpa” field on the form and select “Bachelor’s degree” for the credential being used.

Important: Some international institutions do not include failed classes in the cumulative gpa calculation. If you see failed classes, you should do a course-by-course gpa calculation (see example).

Notes:

This option can help verify that applicant has met the minimum gpa requirement, but will not provide an exact calculation. If you need an exact calculation, use one of the course-by-course or term calculation methods.
Not all grading scales are available to use in the calculator in the free version of Scholaro.
Because you get a limited number of gpa calculations through this site, you may want to only use it in borderline situation, especially if you have a lot of calculations to do.

If this does not meet the minimum requirement (3.00 on a 4.00 scale) or the transcript you have does not work with this option, consider Option 6.

Option 6: Use the bachelor’s degree gpa (estimate/self-reported gpa)

See Option 6 Details

Start with the self-reported gpa affiliated with the bachelor’s degree
Locate the gpa scale/key on the transcript.
- If the transcript does not include a scale/key, please contact the applicant and ask that they provide it.
If all the grades are a B (3.0) or higher, and the self-reported gpa seems reasonable (yes, this is a judgment call – use your best judgement!), you can just use that number.
- Example: the grading scale for Beijing Foreign Studies University (below) indicates that all grades 78 or higher are a B. Scanning the 70-80 individual classes (for the entire undergraduate record – not shown), there is one class at a 75 and two at 79. All other grades are scored in the 80’s and 90’s. The student indicated a self-reported gpa of 3.81, which is reasonable. Even if that isn’t exactly correct, the student definitely has over a 3.0.
- Enter 3.81 in the space for "Admit gpa" and select the radio button for "Bachelor's degree" for the credential being used.

Important: If there are multiple grades below 3.0 and/or the students estimate is below ~3.3, it is best just to do a course-by-course calculation (see example).

If this does not meet the minimum requirement (3.00 on a 4.00 scale) or the transcript you have does not work with this option, consider Option 5.

Option 7: Other options for international transcripts

See Option 7 Details

If neither Option 5 nor Option 6 meets the minimum requirement (3.0 on a 4.0 scale) or does not align with the transcripts you have, you can check to see if any of the other options (grad/professional degree, cumulative gpa (all transcripts), or last 60 semester/90 quarter credits) will meet the requirement.

All of those options will be variations of other resources, already provided.

Examples, FAQs/Notes, and Resources - In Development

Examples

Course-by-course gpa calculation - US transcript
Course-by-course gpa calculation - Intl transcript (Philippines)
Cumulative gpa assessment (Scholaro) - Intl transcript (China)

Notes

If you are doing a 60/90 calculation, international institutions may not have the same credit structure, so trying to add to 60 (or 90) credits may not make sense. In this case, you can just use the last 2 years of full-time study for the undergraduate degree for the gpa calculation.

Some international institutions do not provide term gpas or even a cumulative gpa. In this case, you will need to do a course-by-course gpa calculation

When doing a gpa calculation with a grades from an international institution, exact conversions are not always possible, nor are they expected. We get it - just do your best!

Resources

Course-by-course (or by term) calculation: use this calculator, download this spreadsheet, or this gpa form.
International transcript calculation/conversion: Scholaro GPA Calculator
- By selecting the country, then the "All" radio button, you can get the gpa scale for an individual institution that can be used in a course-by-course calculation. Example:

If you have a gpa calculation example that is not addressed here, please contact gemshelp@uw.edu with the details and we will document how the Admit gpa field should be filled out.