How is GPA calculated at UVA?

<p>I'm just curious...how is GPA calculated at UVa?<br>
A+ = ?
A = ?
A- = ?
B+ = ?
etc.</p>

<p>[Academic</a> Regulations - University of Virginia - acalog ACMS?](<a href=“Academic Regulations - University of Virginia - Acalog ACMS™”>Academic Regulations - University of Virginia - Acalog ACMS™)</p>

<p>jc40 the GPA is now showing up on the unofficial transcript for my sons. As long as all the grades are posted. Go to Academic in SIS, click on it, go to unofficial transcript, put in to view report for advising and it should show up. Also, if the GPA is over 3.4 it is deans list, however this will not show up until mid-January or so. Hope this helps!</p>

<p>Thanks, Sabaray and Woosah! I was a bit confused because she told me her grades last night, and I replied, “That’s awesome! You got a __ !” She said grades weren’t calculated like at her hs (all As = 4.0 except APs = 4.5; all Bs = 3.0 and APs = 3.5, etc.). She wasn’t sure how much +s and -s were worth. I wish her hs did give different weights to +s and -s; it certainly is more fair. We used to think it wasn’t fair that a kid who received an 89.5 received the same GPA as one who got a 99.5 but yet the kid who got an 89.4 got a whole point less. UVa’s system would have had minimal effect on her hs GPA; however, it would on her class rank. College is a whole other ballgame, though. She now longs for her hs grading system where -s count the same! LOL! :D</p>

<p>It’s good to hear your daughter is doing well jc40. I guess she took the change to college very well.</p>

<p>Is there a reason why B+'s are weighted differently than B’s, and C+'s are weighted differently than C’s, yet A+'s and A’s are weighted the same? I’m just curious.</p>

<p>At some schools they’re worth 4.3, but not CLAS. I guess they don’t want a GPA > 4.0 ?</p>

<p>Thanks, Hazelorb. I see your point; however, I’m curious…is it likely that someone at UVA would be able to graduate with over a 4.0? D said she didn’t know anyone who had straight A+s. In fact, she said she didn’t know hardly anyone in her classes who had even gotten an A+. (In fairness, she is enrolled in honors/accelerated type science courses so perhaps other majors within CLAS have higher GPAs?) I don’t think the school is known for grade inflation, is it? If anything, I had always heard it leans slightly in the other direction (deflation).</p>

<p>Unfortunately, an A+ is not used to offset an A- or some other lower points. Suppose your transcript had all As except for one A+ and one A- in classes with the same number of hours. Your GPA would be < 4.0 because the A+ counted as a 4.0. </p>

<p>I know this is talking about the rarefied air of high grades, but it’s still an interesting concept to offer A+ grades that have no GPA value. They add to the transcript and obviously provide satisfaction to the student, one assumes.</p>

<p>fiftyplus…I did discover that med schools dissect all applicants’ GPAs and use the same value as UVa (A+=4.0; A=4.0 – AMCAS). So at least for med school, those from UVa are not disadvantaged by the grading system. I can’t speak to other graduate programs, but UVA graduates get into some amazing programs, so it probably isn’t a hindrance that many have lower GPAs than their competition from other schools that utilize a different scale. You’re right, though, about the inability to graduate with a 4.0. I’d be curious to know if any kids accomplish this feat (no A-s, just As and A+s). If so, I’d imagine they are few and far between, especially for some majors.</p>

<p>I knew a girl with a 3.97. I do not know anyone with a 4.0. You would probably need to look at people who graduate with highest distinction in their thesis/honors option.</p>

<p>jc40, some faculty members give A+s but many, if not most, don’t consider it an option–for them, A is their highest grade. Even people who do give A+s tend to think of it as a kind of honorary distinction and hand it out rarely to kids at the tail end of the top of the curve. Some professors will give kids with 99/100 average an A+ but it’s only possible to achieve this average in a class where all the assignments are quantitatively evaluated, with a number rather than a letter grade.</p>

<p>On the other hand, there’s a clearly understood difference between a B+ and a B, or a C+ and a C, and of course these are much more common grades.</p>

<p>Another difference from high school: some courses are worth more credit hours than others. A five-credit course impacts the GPA more heavily than a two-credit class.</p>

<p>Very interesting, Jingle and Hazelorb. Do either of you know if UVa publishes a median or mean GPA for specific majors?</p>

<p>I don’t know how accurate it would be without more descriptive statistics. Most majors have cut offs of 2.0, such as the math major which has a requirement of C (2.0) in 7 classes and C- (1.7?) in the other 2 classes needed for the major; thus those people (read: lazy) would be skewing the overall averages (read: people who try hard and either get a few okay grades or always do well, aka the statistics you actually care about). On the other hand, there are certain majors you are required to keep a 3.4 in such as Human Biology.</p>

<p>I’ve earned 4 A+'s while here, along with at least 2 other classes I had 100+ average in that the professors did not give me an A+ for (strangely, both language classes, different professors). At least one of those classes was a letter grade vs quantitative grading class. So I’m not sure about your argument, jc.</p>