What’s a good GPA in high school? We’ll dive into how to answer that question, but a heads up that it’s a little bit like trying to answer, “what’s a good pizza?” or “what’s a good book?” While there are specific and necessary “ingredients” that make a pizza a pizza (cheese—this is non-negotiable, by the way), a book a book (words or pictures on a page—this one might actually be negotiable), or a GPA a GPA (grades), there is also a lot that is subjective about each of these.
What’s considered a good GPA in high school depends on many factors, and while it seems like a numerical average out of a 4- or 5-point scale has little room for interpretation, the truth is that a “good” GPA can mean a lot of different things depending on who you ask, which colleges you’re applying to, if you’re applying for scholarships, and what your major is.
We’re here to help you unpack all of this! We’ll give you information about what GPA stands for, explain what’s considered an average GPA, and offer some ideas about how to improve your high school GPA.
But before we do that, we want to remind you that while your grades in high school are an important part of your college application, they are still just a part of it. If your dream is to attend an Ivy League school, it’s true that a high GPA might carry more weight in your overall application, but just because schools like Harvard and Stanford are prestigious doesn’t actually mean these schools are the right fit for you.
Now, let’s explore all things GPA.
What is GPA?
Your high school GPA (grade point average) is the average of all your high school grades, usually on a 4- or 5-point scale (this depends on if your school calculates weighted or unweighted GPAs).
Let’s use a 4-point scale since this is the most common in high schools. You can earn up to 4 grade points for each class, and your high school GPA takes the average of all the grade points you’ve earned. So, let’s say in your first semester of 9th grade you took five classes and earned B’s across the board (good for you, by the way!). Your GPA would be 3.0 since each B earns you 3 grade points, which you would then divide by the number of classes you’ve taken (15 divided by 5 gives us 3). That’s it!
So, what’s the highest GPA you can earn in high school? If your school calculates unweighted GPAs, the highest you can earn is 4.0. If your school calculates weighted GPAs, the highest you can earn is 5.0. Both of these translate to A’s in every high school class you take.
What is a good GPA in high school?
There is a basic answer to this question and a slightly more complex answer to this question. The average high school GPA in the U.S. is around 3.0, and students with this B average get into awesome colleges and universities and are often eligible for scholarships (though a 3.5+ is safer for those)! That’s the basic answer. Is this considered a good high school GPA? Well, that’s where things get a little more complex. Here are some things to consider:
Rigor vs. an “empty” high GPA
So you think you’re going to be super strategic and register for high school classes that don’t necessarily challenge you but that you know you can earn A’s in. As a result, you’ll likely have a really high GPA. You’ve figured out the system, right?!
Well, unfortunately, no. It is the job of college admission officers to know the classes high schools offer, so they know if you’ve opted to take classes that aren’t that challenging and if other students, who might not have the highest GPA, have opted to take more academically-rigorous classes.
The key is finding the right balance. You should definitely take classes that you’ll do well in but also that will challenge you in good ways, and you should definitely not take all of the hardest classes possible just to bump up the rigor on your transcript if it means you will struggle and struggle just to stay afloat. Push yourself, but leave yourself time to develop as a person and as a student in other ways (like pursuing activities that align with and demonstrate your values).
How are your grades in courses related to your major?
You might be one those students who’s known since you were five that you wanted to be a doctor, so you are laser-focused on pre-med and BS/MD programs (don’t worry if you’re NOT one of these students … most of us aren’t). This means that your grades in your science classes will be an especially important part of your college application.
So, is a 3.6 GPA good? Is a 3.7 GPA good? They’re both good, and, it depends … if that 3.6 GPA shows that you earned high grades in English and Photography but didn’t do as well in your Science classes, and if you are that pre-med student, this high GPA might not be the thing that gets you into the pre-med program you have your eye on.
If you declare a major when applying to college, the people reading your application will almost certainly look at how you did in the classes related to your major.
What’s a good GPA for the Ivy League?
Currently, the average GPA of students admitted to Ivy League schools is 4.0 or higher. We almost hate to answer this since these highly-selective schools have very high (dare we say super-human) GPA expectations for students who apply, and we also think you should be wary of college rankings, but since these are also excellent schools, it’s good for you to know.
Does that mean if you don’t have at least a 4.0 you shouldn’t apply to Harvard or Brown or Columbia? It definitely does NOT mean that!
Colleges and universities (including Ivy League schools) are interested in more than just your grades. They want to know how you can contribute to their school community, what new perspective or life experiences you might bring, AND how academically-prepared you are for the rigors of their programs. That’s why it’s important for you to pay careful attention to all parts of your college applications (check this out for some help with your personal statement).
It will help for you to use the Common Data Set to learn how competitive the schools on your list are (for example, how many students they accept out of the total number of applicants) and to understand the average profile of admitted students (GPAs, extracurricular activities, volunteer work, high school coursework).
Many schools admit students based entirely on their statistics
While this is becoming less of a thing these days, and while we just told you that colleges and universities are interested in more than just your grades, there are a number of schools who admit students based solely on high school GPAs and standardized test scores.
This usually means there is a clearly-stated minimum GPA requirement and a range of test scores students must fall within to gain admission to these schools.
Now that we’ve given you all this information to digest, we also want to remind you that most colleges and universities accept high numbers of applicants. There are some highly-selective schools for which this is not the case, but most schools in the country admit over 50% of applicants.
Does this mean these schools aren’t as good? No, it absolutely doesn’t! Stanford and Princeton are excellent schools, for example, but depending on what your goals are for your college experience, so are UC schools and other public universities. Each school values something different in its students, which is great since that means there is a great fit out there for you.
So does GPA matter?
Yes, it does matter. If you coast through high school and don’t put the effort in to do as well as you can in your classes, and if that impacts your GPA, that could impact your college options as well.
Is your high school GPA all that matters? No, it is not. Notice that we said “as well as you can” in your classes. That doesn’t mean the expectation is for every student to get an A in every class. And it doesn’t mean that if something in your life has prevented you from earning the grades you want or are capable of that colleges won’t take that into consideration. They do!
Again, the key is to put the work in and to also use the parts of your application that don’t have to do with your GPA to fill admission officers in on how awesome you are.
Tips for raising your high school GPA
The things that will help raise your GPA are the same things that will help you be a successful student regardless of the numerical average you end up with. These tools and strategies below are just good habits and practices to have so you can learn how to manage your time, how to process and retain what you learn in class, and how to be an active participant in your own education.
Talk to your teachers
Does the very idea of talking to your teacher outside of class send your heart racing? We get it … this can be really intimidating. But trust us, teachers WANT to give you the extra help you need.
If you don’t understand the feedback you get on an essay or if a scientific formula makes no sense to you, it doesn’t do you any good to suffer in silence. You’ll never truly understand the material if you don’t ask for help, and oftentimes it is as simple as a teacher finding a different way to explain something that will make it click for you. But they won’t know you need this help if you don’t ask!
Develop solid study habits and organizational tools
Easier said than done, right?
If you’re trying to balance homework, after-school sports practices, part-time jobs, music lessons, and getting to sleep at a reasonable hour you need some good tools to help you manage all of this.
What works for one person might not work for another, but there are a few things that are probably helpful for everyone:
If you can, find a workspace that lets you concentrate (maybe this is a silent corner in your room or maybe it’s the noisy coffee shop down the street from your school)
Consider keeping a written calendar of what you have to do and when—it’s too easy to dismiss a reminder on your phone
Don’t try to do everything the night before it’s due. If you have 50 pages of reading for English, spread this out over a few days. If you have a long-term project in Math, give yourself some earlier deadlines so you can break the big thing up into smaller things
Learn about the resources available to you
Your school or library or community programs nearby might have a Writing Center, after-school tutoring, a Learning Resource Center, or someone whose whole job is to help students learn how to study (not everyone is magically born with this knowledge).
Take some time to find out what resources are available!
Ask your teachers (again, this means you have to talk to them). If you have a counselor, see what information they can give you. Look at your school’s or library’s website.
Using the help available to you will help you transition into college, it can help you gain some wisdom in high school that goes beyond the numbers on your transcript, and it can help you establish some habits that might help you keep your sanity as you navigate the pressures of being a high school student who’s applying to college. All of that, AND it can help you improve your GPA.
Special thanks to Jessica for writing this blog post
Jessica B. has a Ph.D in English from the University of Southern California and teaches English at a Los Angeles-area independent school, where she has also been English department chair and a class dean. Sandra Cisneros is her hero, and she loves books, her awesomely-sarcastic family, the beach, and more books. Oh, and her sweet pitbull/lab mix named Ruby.
Top values: Curiosity, equity, wonder
