GPA scale reporting: the plus/minus 4.0 scale, institution by institution

What institutions print for this family

How to read your own scale

1. Read your own registrar's table, not a study site's. Every general GPA table on the internet is a folk table with no source and no date, and they disagree with each other. Your institution's registrar publishes the only figures that govern your transcript, and this index links straight to the page it read for each institution so you can check at source.
2. Check whether the scale has minus grades. A scale without minus grades steps in halves and pays a plus grade more: the University of South Carolina prints B+ at 3.5 where a plus/minus institution prints 3.3. A run of plus grades is worth measurably more on that scale, and a run of minus grades has nowhere to fall to.
3. Check what an A+ is worth, if there is one. Some institutions record an A+ and pay it exactly what an A pays; at least one records it above four while capping the cumulative average at 4.00. Reading only the grade table gives the wrong answer about your ceiling, so read the cap alongside it.
4. Check how many decimal places the official calculation carries. The University of Cincinnati publishes quality points as 3.3333 rather than 3.33. Over a full degree the difference accumulates, and at the boundary of a fixed honours band it decides which line appears on the diploma. Ask the registrar what the official calculation carries.
5. Check how repeated courses are treated. Whether a repeat replaces the original grade or is averaged with it changes a cumulative average more than any single grade on the transcript. It is a policy on the registrar's page rather than a property of the scale, and it is the first thing to read after the table itself.

Across the institutions read for this index the printed B+ runs from 3.3 to 3.5, with a median of 3.33. That range looks trivial and is not: applied across a full transcript it moves a cumulative GPA by more than a tenth of a point, which is the width of most honours bands. A student comparing their number with a friend at another university is comparing two different measurements.

The University of Cincinnati publishes its quality points to four decimal places, 4.0000 for an A and 3.3333 for a B+, rather than the rounded 3.33 most institutions print. Over a full degree that difference accumulates, and at the boundary of a fixed honours band it is the difference between two lines on a diploma. Ask your registrar how many places the official calculation carries.

The University of South Carolina prints a scale with no minus grades at all: A is 4.0, B+ is 3.5, B is 3.0, C+ is 2.5. A student who earns a run of plus grades is materially better off on that scale than on a plus/minus one, and a student who earns a run of minus grades has nowhere to fall to. It is the clearest single illustration that the scale, not just the work, decides the number.

Common questions

Is a B+ always 3.3?

No. Across the institutions in this index the printed B+ ranges from 3.3 to 3.5, and several publish 3.33 or 3.3333. The only authority for your own number is your own registrar's published table.

Do all universities use plus and minus grades?

No. Some print a scale that steps in halves with no minus grades, which pays a plus grade more and removes the minus penalty entirely.

Does an A- lower my GPA?

On a plus/minus scale, yes, because an A- is worth less than four grade points. How much less differs: most institutions print 3.67 or 3.7, and at least one in this index prints 3.84.

Which scale does my institution use?

Its registrar publishes it. This index links straight to each registrar page it read, so you can check the figure at source rather than take ours.

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