GradeDuck isn’t affiliated with, or endorsed by, the University of California. Every rule on this page links to the UC page it comes from, and UC computes your official UC GPA itself once you submit the application. Use this to check your own math before you get there.
The UC GPA rules, one at a time
- Which grades count. Letter grades in a-g courses completed from the summer after 9th grade through the summer after 11th grade (UC GPA requirement). A-g courses are the college-prep classes on your school’s list in the UC a-g course list. Grades from 9th and 12th grade stay out.
- Summers. UC puts the summer after 9th grade and the summer after 10th grade in 10th grade, and the summer after 11th grade in 11th (same page). That matters only for the 10th-grade honors limit.
- Points. A = 4, B = 3, C = 2, D = 1, F = 0. Pluses and minuses don’t count, so an A- is a 4 and a B+ is a 3.
- Honors points. One extra point for each semester of a UC honors-level course: AP, IB Higher Level, designated IB Standard Level, UC-transferable college courses, and UC-certified honors courses on your school’s list. The maximum is 8 points across 10th and 11th grade, and no more than 4 can come from 10th grade. A D or F earns no extra point. One college course counts as one grade and one honors point (UC GPA requirement).
- Out-of-state students. For nonresidents, UC gives honors weight only to AP and IB courses, and only for grades of A, B or C. School-designated honors classes get no extra point, though campuses may still notice them in review (same page).
- The division. Total points ÷ the number of letter grades, not credits. Each semester grade is one grade. Don’t round up or down. The calculator reads that as cutting the number off after two decimals.
The minimum is a 3.0 for California residents and a 3.4 for nonresidents. The calculator checks it against the capped GPA, the figure built with these exact steps.
Three UC GPAs: capped, fully weighted, unweighted
- Weighted capped. Honors points with the 8-point and 4-from-10th-grade limits. It’s the GPA UC’s own instructions produce, and it’s the high school GPA UC reports systemwide, which its admissions summary describes as “weighted, capped.”
- Fully weighted. Every honors point from 10th and 11th grade with a C or better, no cap. UCLA defines it on its first-year profile, where the maximum is 5.00. Its Fall 2025 profile lists a median weighted GPA of 4.61 for admitted first-years.
- Unweighted. No extra points at all, so 4.00 is the ceiling.
Two students with the same capped GPA can be far apart on the fully weighted one. The capped number stops rewarding honors classes after 8 semesters; the fully weighted number doesn’t.
Worked example: 24 semester grades
Here are twelve yearlong a-g courses, six in 10th grade and six in 11th. It’s the schedule the calculator opens with. If a semester grade isn’t final yet, the semester grade calculator estimates it from your quarter grades and the exam.
| Course | Year | Type | Sem 1 | Sem 2 | UC points | Honors earned |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Honors English 10 | 10th | UC honors | A- | A | 8 | 2 |
| AP World History | 10th | AP | B+ | A- | 7 | 2 |
| Honors Chemistry | 10th | UC honors | B | B- | 6 | 2 |
| Geometry | 10th | Regular | A | A | 8 | 0 |
| Spanish II | 10th | Regular | B+ | B | 6 | 0 |
| Art | 10th | Regular | A | A- | 8 | 0 |
| AP English Language | 11th | AP | A- | A | 8 | 2 |
| AP U.S. History | 11th | AP | B | B+ | 6 | 2 |
| Honors Precalculus | 11th | UC honors | B+ | A- | 7 | 2 |
| AP Biology | 11th | AP | C+ | D+ | 3 | 1 |
| Spanish III | 11th | Regular | A | A | 8 | 0 |
| Physics | 11th | Regular | C+ | B- | 5 | 0 |
| Total | 80 | 13 |
- Unweighted: 80 ÷ 24 = 3.333…, so 3.33.
- Fully weighted: (80 + 13) ÷ 24 = 3.875, so 3.87. Rounding would say 3.88; UC says not to.
- Capped: 10th grade earned 6 honors points but only 4 can count. Add 11th grade’s 7 and you have 11, which the 8-point cap cuts to 8. (80 + 8) ÷ 24 = 3.666…, so 3.66.
Look at AP Biology. The C+ earns its honors point, the D+ doesn’t, and both lose their plus. Notice the minus grades, too: this student has seven of them, and on UC’s scale every one is worth as much as a straight letter.
Switch the calculator to Out of state and the same transcript drops to 3.62. Only the four AP courses earn points now, 2 from 10th grade and 5 from 11th (again, no point for the D+). Seven points sit under the cap, and 87 ÷ 24 = 3.625. That still clears the 3.4 minimum.
What the calculator can’t check
- Whether a course is a-g or UC honors. Only your school’s entry in the a-g course list says so. A class called “Honors” on your transcript isn’t a UC honors course unless it’s certified there.
- Repeated courses. According to UC’s UC–CSU comparison chart, a repeated course counts once, using the first grade of C or better, and UC doesn’t average the attempts. Enter only the grade that counts. You still report every attempt on the application.
- D grades and the subject requirement. A D counts in the GPA, but a-g courses need a C or better to meet the subject requirement of 15 yearlong courses.
- Pass/no pass. UC divides by letter grades, so a class without one adds nothing here.
What about CSU?
The California State University uses the same window and also ignores plus and minus. The joint UC–CSU comparison chart lists real differences, though: CSU lets only 2 honors semesters from 10th grade count (UC allows 4), and it uses the highest grade on a repeated course instead of the first C or better. This page doesn’t compute a CSU GPA. Use CSU’s own GPA calculator for that number.
For your high school’s own cumulative GPA across all four years, use the high school GPA calculator. To see how weighting works outside UC’s rules, read weighted vs. unweighted GPA, and for how the plus/minus scale compares with UC’s, see the GPA scale.