Gpa to percentage: the institutions that publish the mapping, and why the rest cannot

What institutions print for this family

How to convert honestly

1. Check whether your institution publishes a percentage band at all. Most American registrars publish a letter and a grade point and nothing else, because the percentage is set by the instructor course by course. If yours does not, no general table can supply one for you honestly.
2. Use the syllabus for a single course. Where you need the percentage behind one grade, the course syllabus states the mapping the instructor applied. That is a real source with a date on it, unlike a conversion table on a study site.
3. Do not convert a cumulative average back into a percentage. The average is built from letters, and each letter covered a band. Turning the average back into one percentage asserts precision that was destroyed when the letter was awarded, and no registrar stands behind the result.
4. For an application abroad, use the receiving institution's conversion. Universities and credential evaluators publish their own conversions and they do not agree with each other. The one that counts for an application is the one the receiving institution uses, and it will tell you which.
5. For a formal equivalency, use a recognised evaluator or the national agency. A statement of comparability from a recognised credential evaluator or a national agency is a document an institution will accept. A conversion done at home is not, however carefully it was done.

A grade point average is built from letters, and a letter covers a band of percentages. Converting the average back into a single percentage invents precision that was destroyed when the letter was awarded. Any table that maps 3.5 to a specific percentage is asserting something no registrar published, which is why this index carries only mappings an institution prints itself.

The University of Toronto's undergraduate grade scale prints all three columns together: A+ at 90 to 100 per cent and 4.0, A at 85 to 89 and 4.0, A- at 80 to 84 and 3.7, B+ at 77 to 79 and 3.3. That is a real conversion because the institution states it. It applies to Toronto transcripts and not to anyone else's.

Receiving institutions and credential evaluators publish their own conversions and they do not all agree. The honest answer to what a grade is worth in another system is the range the published authorities give and the name of each authority, not a single number. Ask the institution you are applying to which conversion it uses before doing the arithmetic yourself.

Common questions

How do I convert my GPA to a percentage?

Only using a mapping your own institution publishes. A general table converting a grade point average into a percentage asserts precision that the letter grade removed, and no registrar stands behind it.

Which institutions publish a percentage mapping?

A minority. In this index the University of Toronto prints letter, percentage band and grade point in one table; most American registrars publish letters and grade points only.

What percentage is a 3.5 GPA?

There is no correct answer without an institution's own mapping. The grade point average is an average of letters, and each letter covered a band of percentages that differed by course.

Who decides the conversion for an application abroad?

The receiving institution or a recognised credential evaluator. They publish their own conversions, they do not always agree, and their answer is the one that counts for that application.

Other scale families

• Plus/minus 4.0 scale: what the registrars print
• Scales that record an A+: what the registrars print
• Percentage-mapped scale: what the registrars print