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GPA CollegeCalculator

Quarter system GPA calculator

Calculate your GPA for a 10-week quarter, then convert the credits if you need to line them up against a semester transcript.

The default at most US colleges. A and A+ are both worth 4.0.

Quarter GPA

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Add a course and pick a grade to see your GPA.

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Quarter to semester credit converter

Useful when you transfer, apply to graduate school, or need to check how far through a degree you are on a different calendar.

What your quarter-system transcript shows.

Equals 8 semester credits.

What a semester-system school would record.

Equals 12 quarter credits.

How the quarter calendar works

Quarter-system schools divide the academic year into three terms of about ten weeks, usually fall, winter and spring, with an optional summer quarter. Semester schools use two terms of about fifteen weeks. The academic year contains a similar amount of instruction either way; it is chopped into different pieces.

Because a quarter course covers less calendar time, it carries fewer credits. A typical quarter course is worth 4 or 5 units where its semester equivalent would be 3. This is why quarter degrees require around 180 credits and semester degrees around 120, and it is the whole basis for the two-thirds conversion.

The pacing difference that actually matters

Ten weeks leaves very little slack. Midterms often land in week four, and a bad first fortnight is difficult to recover from before the term ends. The upside is that a difficult course is over sooner and you take a wider range of subjects across the year.

For GPA purposes the practical consequence is that each quarter is a smaller share of your record than a semester would be, so a single weak term does less damage to your cumulative average.

Combining a quarter transcript with a semester one

Convert the credits before you combine, never after. Add a 3.6 over 45 quarter credits to a 3.2 over 60 semester credits without converting and the quarter school gets more weight than it has earned. Convert 45 quarter credits to 30 semester credits first, then run both through the transfer GPA calculator.

Common questions

How do I convert quarter credits to semester credits?
Multiply quarter credits by two thirds. Twelve quarter credits equal eight semester credits. Going the other way, multiply semester credits by 1.5, so 8 semester credits equal 12 quarter credits. The ratio comes from quarters running about 10 weeks against a semester’s 15.
Does converting credits change my GPA?
No. GPA is a ratio of quality points to credits, and converting scales both sides by the same factor. A 3.5 on the quarter system is a 3.5 on the semester system. Only the credit totals change, which matters for degree requirements and for combining transcripts, not for the average itself.
How many quarter credits do I need to graduate?
Quarter-system schools typically require about 180 quarter credits for a bachelor’s degree, against roughly 120 semester credits elsewhere. Both represent the same amount of study, counted on different scales.
Is a quarter system harder than a semester system?
It is faster rather than harder. The same material is covered in about 10 weeks instead of 15, so midterms arrive early and there is less room to recover from a slow start. Students often take three courses per quarter instead of four or five per semester, and finish more courses across the year.
How do I combine a quarter GPA with a semester GPA?
Convert the quarter credits to semester credits first, then combine using the credit-weighted formula. The GPAs themselves need no adjustment, only the credit totals, otherwise the quarter school will be over-weighted in the combined average.

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