A 2.9 GPA is closest to a B, between a B- (2.7) and a B (3.0) on the commonest American plus/minus 4.0 scale; College Board's high-school chart, which records whole letters only, puts a B at 80 to 89%, and a 2.9 is above the 2.0 under which UMBC places a student on academic probation. That reading holds only on the scale it is calculated on: the same B+ is worth 3.3 at some institutions in this index, 3.33 at others, 3.3333 at one and 3.5 at one with no minus grades, so a 2.9 earned in one place is not the same work as a 2.9 earned in another.
2.9 grade point average: the grades that produce it
On a plus/minus 4.0 scale a 2.9 is roughly B- and B in roughly equal measure, leaning to B, weighted by credit hours rather than by course count. Oregon State states the arithmetic in the clearest published form on this shelf, printing its table as grade points per credit rather than as a bare lookup, which is why a three-credit course moves the average three times as far as a one-credit one. Nothing about that calculation is national: it is your institution's.
The same number on a different scale
South Carolina prints a scale with no minus grades, where a B+ is 3.5 rather than 3.3. Arizona State records an A+ at 4.33 while capping the cumulative average at 4.00. Memphis prints an A- at 3.84 where almost everyone else prints 3.67 or 3.7. A transcript producing 2.9 at one of those institutions would produce a different figure at the others on identical work, which is the single most useful thing to know before comparing your number with anyone else's.
What the number is made of
A cumulative average is a weighted mean of grade points, and the weight is credit hours. A three-credit course moves the average three times as far as a one-credit course, which is why the same letter in two different classes has two different effects. Institutions publish this as grade points per credit rather than as a lookup for exactly that reason.
Questions people ask about 2.9 GPA
Is a 2.9 GPA good?
It keeps a student in good standing and not much more: a 2.9 is above the 2.0 below which UMBC places a student on academic probation, and well under the 3.5 where UMBC's cum laude band begins. Against your own institution's rules, its registrar page is the only authority.
What is the 2.9 letter grade?
On a plus/minus 4.0 scale, roughly B- and B in roughly equal measure, leaning to B, so the nearest 2.9 letter grade is a B. On a scale without minus grades the mix is different, and on a scale recording an A+ above four it is different again.
Does a 2.9 mean the same everywhere?
No. A transcript line reading "GPA: 2.9" means only what that institution's scale says it means, and the scales differ. Two institutions in this index price a B+ 0.2 of a grade point apart, 3.3 at one and 3.5 at the other, which over a full transcript is worth more than the width of most honours bands.