UC GPA Calculator — How the University of California Counts Your GPA
UC builds your GPA from a specific set of college prep courses, not your whole transcript.
The University of California does not use the GPA printed on your high school transcript. It rebuilds the number from scratch using only approved college prep courses, known as the a-g course list.
That means a student can have a 3.8 on their school transcript and a different UC GPA. Electives, physical education, and any course not on the a-g list are left out of the UC calculation entirely.
The window UC looks at is also narrow. It counts courses taken in the summer after ninth grade through the summer after eleventh grade. Senior year grades are reported but are not part of the GPA UC uses to compare applicants.
What Counts
| Courses counted | Approved a-g college prep courses only |
| Grade levels counted | 10th and 11th grade, plus the summers around them |
| Honors bonus | One extra point for UC approved honors, AP, and IB courses |
| Honors point cap | Limited number of semesters, so extra AP courses stop adding points |
| Plus and minus grades | Not counted, so a B+ and a B are both 3.0 |
Requirements change from year to year. Confirm the current rules with University of California admissions before you rely on them.
How to Calculate It
- 1List every a-g course you took in tenth and eleventh grade, with a separate entry for each semester.
- 2Give each grade its base value: A is 4, B is 3, C is 2, D is 1, F is 0. Ignore plus and minus signs.
- 3Add one bonus point to each semester of a UC approved honors, AP, or IB course, up to the cap UC allows.
- 4Add the points together and divide by the number of semester grades. That is your UC weighted, capped GPA.