Is a 3.7 GPA Good?
A 3.7 GPA on the unweighted 4.0 scale is roughly an A- average — about 92% — and it puts you in the top tier — competitive for the most selective graduate programs, scholarships and honors lists.
- Letter averageA-
- Percent equivalent≈92%
- US college average≈3.1
Context that matters more than the number
GPA is read alongside course rigor and trajectory. A 3.7 earned in a demanding major with an upward trend reads better than the same number from an easy schedule that's sliding. Mathematically, raising a 3.7 takes time: one straight-A semester of 15 credits moves a 60-credit GPA by only 0.06 points — which is why starting the climb early beats a senior-year sprint.
Raise it — calculate your exact GPA
Unweighted 4.0 scale (A+ = 4.0, steps of 0.3). Your registrar's number is official.
Common questions
Do professors round up borderline grades?
Entirely at their discretion, and policies vary wildly: some round anything above .5, some round at .45, some never round, and some round only for students who attended office hours or showed improvement. If you're within half a point of a boundary, it is always worth a polite question — before finals week, not after grades post.
What's the difference between weighted and unweighted averages?
An unweighted average treats every score equally: add them up, divide by the count. A weighted average multiplies each category by its share of the grade first — homework 20%, midterms 40%, final 40% — which is how most courses actually work. If your syllabus lists category percentages, you need the weighted version.