GPA Conversion

Applying to College
1

Hello everyone

I’m not sure if this is the correct spot to post this so my apologies if it isn’t. I was wondering if there’s any way to accurately convert your gpa from one scale to another. I see that most colleges use a 5.0 scale when they show their undergraduate class profile however my school uses a 4.33 scale. For example, if I got a 3.9 gpa on a 4.33 scale, what would that be converted to on a 5.0 scale?

2

No, most do not.

You don’t convert; you use the scale that your HS uses.

3

Some use 5.0 to deal with weighting, but different weighting strategies make these numbers nearly meaningless. (AP is usually 1.0, but the others vary. Is Honors worth .33, .5, 1.0? What about dual enrollment?).

I’m guessing your 4.33 means you have + and -, worth .33 each, for unweighted grades. This is typically an unweighted grade. There are two ways to translate this to ‘typical’ 4.0 scales.

  • change any A+ grades to a 4.0 and re-calculate. My D’s college does this. All + and - are .33 except an A+
  • drop all + and - and recalculate. An A- is an A, a B+ is a B, etc. Then A=4, B=3, etc.

This would give a reasonably comparable UW grade. Weighted grades without data on the methodology is essentially meaningless. For example - my D’s maximum weighted score after Junior year will be 5.08, and after Senior year a 5.56. She’s not magically “better” than all students on a 5.0 scale.

When colleges want to look at weighted grades, they often re-calculate every transcript with a standard methodology, sometimes not including all classes (an A in gym doesn’t carry a lot of weight with colleges…).

4

You would not convert GPA. If you want to know your GPA on some other method, you look at the grades on your record and derive the GPA based on that method from the actual grades.

When posting here, it is best to use an unweighted GPA on the typical 4-point scale (A=4, B=3, C=2, D=1, F=0) rather than use a scale specific to your high school that no one else understands (the only exception is if you are applying to a college with a well documented GPA calculation method (e.g. CA and SC publics) and specify your GPA that way for that college).

5

Most schools I’ve seen have used a 5.0 scale. I wasn’t speaking on behalf of all schools.

6

Thanks for the help. 4.33 is the weighted scale my school uses and if weights all advanced classes equally (AP, honors, etc)