KU GPA Calculator

At the University of Kansas, your official GPA is the one in Enroll & Pay, and it is built only from KU courses graded A through F. This KU GPA calculator follows the same rules. It uses the registrar's plus and minus scale (A- 3.7, B+ 3.3 and so on, with no A+), leaves out credit/no credit, withdrawal and incomplete grades, and gives you both a semester GPA and an updated cumulative GPA.

KU's repeat rule is unusually student friendly. Since fall 2021, grade replacement applies automatically to eligible undergraduate retakes, and it keeps whichever grade is higher, the original or the repeat. Further down you will find the full grade table, the formula with two KU examples, the policies that change your GPA (grade replacement, credit/no credit, withdrawal periods and academic forgiveness), the honor roll and graduation with distinction rules, and answers to the questions Jayhawks ask most.

How to Use This KU GPA Calculator

• List each KU course for the semester with its credit hours. Many lab sciences and math courses carry more than 3 hours, so copy the hours from Enroll & Pay rather than guessing.
• Choose the grade. A through F count; CR, NC, S, U, W and I are shown as not counted.
• For a course you retook under grade replacement, enter one row with the higher of the two grades. KU leaves the other attempt out of the GPA.
• To see a cumulative GPA, enter your KU GPA and graded hours from before this semester. Do not add transfer hours: the official KU GPA covers only course work taken in residence.
• Look at the honor roll badge, which checks this semester's GPA against 3.5. You also need at least 12 letter-graded hours, which the tool shows under credits in GPA.
• Use the planner to find the average you need over your remaining hours to reach a goal, such as 3.0 for a scholarship renewal or 2.0 for good standing.

KU Grade Scale and Grade Points

The KU registrar publishes this scale for every school except Medicine, which uses its own system. Plus and minus grades sit three tenths of a point from the base letter.

The registrar's scale also lists M (Mastered) at 4.0 and NM (Not Mastered) at 0.0 for competency-based courses. If those appear on your record, they behave like an A and an F in the arithmetic, so you can enter them that way.

The KU GPA Formula

The registrar defines the GPA as a quotient: grade points earned divided by credit hours attempted and graded A, B, C, D and F, as set out in the University Senate Rules and Regulations. In plain terms:

Example 1: Just Missing the Honor Roll

A sophomore in the College takes biology (4 hours, B+), calculus (4 hours, A-), a 3-hour composition course (A), a 3-hour history course (C+) and a 3-hour elective under credit/no credit that ends in CR.

The student has 14 letter-graded hours, enough for honor roll, but the GPA is 3.35 against a 3.5 requirement. Reaching 3.5 takes 49.0 grade points over the same 14 hours, so 2.1 more points. If the history grade had been a B+ instead of a C+, that alone adds 3.0 points and lifts the semester to 49.9 / 14 = 3.56. The CR elective could not have helped either way, because credit/no credit courses never enter the GPA.

Example 2: A Retake That Goes Worse

A junior has a 3.10 KU GPA over 60 graded hours, including a B- in a 3-hour economics course. Hoping for an A, they retake economics and earn a C+. They also take two 3-hour courses with B+ grades and two with A- grades.

Compare that with the rules at other schools. Where the newest grade replaces the old one, as at Pitt and Northeastern, the C+ would push out the B- and the result would be 226.8 / 72 = 3.15. Where both attempts count, as at Virginia Tech, it would be 234.9 / 75 = 3.13. KU's higher-grade rule means a retake can only help or leave you where you were. In the tool, enter 3.10 and 60 as prior data and the four new courses, with no row for the retake.

KU Policies That Change Your GPA

Grade Replacement for Repeated Courses

Grade replacement is set out in University Senate Rules and Regulations (USRR) 2.3.10. The key points:

• It applies only to undergraduate students, and since fall 2021 it applies automatically to classes that meet the policy's criteria.
• It covers a KU course in which you received a letter grade from A through F.
• The recalculation uses the higher of the original and the repeated grade by default. The other grade stays on the transcript but is not included in the GPA.
• You can use grade replacement for a maximum of five repeats.
• Your College or school may apply the replaced grade in other calculations too. The College, for example, says the replacing grade automatically applies toward the departmental honors GPA.

Not every retake qualifies, and the full criteria are in USRR 2.3.10 and on your school's advising pages. If a retake does not meet them, both grades count, and you should enter both as rows. When in doubt, ask your advisor before you enroll.

Credit/No Credit

Under USRR 2.3.9, you may use the credit/no credit option for at most one course per semester. You choose it during a window late in the term's first month (the 21st through 30th instructional days for semester-long courses). A final grade of C- or better becomes CR, and D+ or below becomes NC. CR hours count toward graduation, but neither CR nor NC counts in the GPA, and a CR or NC course cannot satisfy undergraduate major requirements. In the College, the course also cannot be in your major or minor.

Because NC covers D+ and below, credit/no credit fully protects your GPA from a failing grade in that course. The cost is that a strong grade earns no grade points either, and the course does not count toward honor roll's 12 letter-graded hours.

Withdrawal Periods

Incompletes

An I marks work that can be finished without re-enrolling. The deadline to complete it may not exceed one calendar year from the original grade due date. An I that is not removed on time automatically becomes an F or a U, and an F then counts in your GPA at 0.0.

Academic Forgiveness

Students who return after time away can ask to have up to four academic terms discounted under USRR 2.9. Among the conditions are a break of at least two years from KU, a cumulative KU GPA under 2.5 before the break, and at least 12 hours earned since returning. This is a request you make, not an automatic recalculation, and you should read the full policy and talk to your school before applying.

Honor Roll and Graduation With Distinction

KU's semester recognition and its graduation honors work in very different ways. The honor roll uses a fixed GPA. Graduation with distinction is a ranking.

Distinction is based on the GPA from KU residence hours, unless your overall GPA including transfer hours is lower, in which case the lower figure is used. Because it is a percentile, there is no single GPA that guarantees distinction; the cutoff depends on your graduating class. That is why the calculator shows an honor roll badge but no distinction badge. Other KU schools set their own honor roll rules, and some use percentages or rising GPA minimums by class year, so check your school's page if you are not in the College.

Ways to Lift a KU GPA

• Use grade replacement on your lowest grades in heavy courses. Turning a 4-hour D into a B adds 8 grade points, and because the higher grade counts, the attempt carries little GPA risk.
• Mind the five-replacement limit. Save replacements for the courses that move your GPA most.
• Spend your one credit/no credit course per semester on an elective outside your major and minor where the grade is uncertain.
• Decide on withdrawal before the 60th instructional day. After that, the grade you earn is the grade that counts.
• Keep 12 letter-graded hours if you want honor roll. A CR course or a mid-semester W can drop you under the minimum.
• Not every syllabus uses plus and minus grades, so read each course's grading section and enter the exact letter that appears in Enroll & Pay.

Which KU GPA Counts?

The registrar keeps one official KU GPA per student career (undergraduate, graduate, medical, law), both by term and cumulatively. It covers only course work in residence, so transfer work and credit by examination are left out. The College and other schools may calculate their own GPAs for internal decisions such as admission to a major or departmental honors, so a program GPA can differ from the transcript number. When results here and Enroll & Pay disagree, Enroll & Pay wins; most gaps come from a retake entered twice, transfer hours added to the prior total, or a prior GPA copied with too few decimals.

More GPA Calculators

For a school-neutral or weighted high school GPA, use the general GPA calculator. Pre-law students should know that the LSAC GPA calculator counts both attempts of a retake even when KU drops one. Friends at other schools can use the Virginia Tech, Pitt and Northeastern GPA calculators, and the full set lives under GPA calculators.