How grading works at Duke
Duke's Office of the University Registrar publishes grade point equivalents separately for each school. Undergraduates in Trinity College of Arts & Sciences and the Pratt School of Engineering share one scale with the Divinity School — see the Grade Scale Reference above for the exact value attached to each grade.
A Duke GPA runs from 0.0 to 4.0. An A and an A+ are both worth the maximum, 4.0 — Duke does not award extra credit above 4.0 for a plus on the top grade, unlike some universities. Grades step down from there in increments of roughly 0.3 per plus or minus, with one exception: D and D- are both worth 1.0, rather than D- being a further step down.
Duke's Graduate School, Engineering Management, the Nicholas School of the Environment, the Sanford School of Public Policy, the School of Nursing, the Fuqua School of Business, and the School of Law each use their own separate grading scales, distinct from the undergraduate table above.
Source: Grade Point Average (GPA) — "Grade Point Equivalents by School" section — verified Aug 2026
How Duke calculates your GPA
To calculate a GPA, multiply the number of course credits (or semester hours) for each course by the grade point value of the grade you received, add those totals together, and divide the sum by the total number of course credits or semester hours attempted.
Duke calculates two GPAs:
- Your semester GPA uses only the courses taken in that semester.
- Your cumulative GPA summarizes every Duke course taken over your career.
The cumulative GPA is not an average of your semester GPAs — it is calculated directly from every graded course you have taken. Duke does not calculate a separate GPA within any major, minor, or certificate.
Pass/fail-style grading is excluded. When a course is taken on the Credit/No Credit, Pass/Fail, or Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory grading basis, no grade from that course — including a failing result — is used in the GPA calculation.
All Duke GPAs are truncated to three decimal points (not rounded).
Source: Grade Point Average (GPA) — "Calculating GPA" section — verified Aug 2026
How transfer and interinstitutional credit affects your Duke GPA
Grades from transfer courses are not included in any Duke GPA calculation.
Interinstitutional courses are treated differently and are included in your Duke GPA — this covers courses taken through arrangements such as the Robertson Scholars program.
Source: Grade Point Average (GPA) — opening paragraph — verified Aug 2026
Frequently asked questions
What grading scheme does Duke University use?
Where does this Duke University grade scale come from?
Is Duke's GPA scale 4.0 or higher?
4.0. Duke's undergraduate grade point average runs from 0.0 to 4.0, and an A+ is capped at the same 4.0 value as a plain A — it does not push your GPA above 4.0 the way an uncapped A+ scale does at some other universities.
Source: Grade Point Average (GPA) — "Grade Point Equivalents by School" section — verified Aug 2026
Are D and D- worth the same GPA points at Duke?
Yes. Duke's grade point table lists both D and D- at 1.0 grade points. Every other step down the scale (A- to F) is spaced about 0.3 apart, but D- does not drop further below D — both are the same value.
Source: Grade Point Average (GPA) — "Grade Point Equivalents by School" section — verified Aug 2026
Do Pass/Fail or Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory grades count toward your Duke GPA?
No. When you take a course on the Credit/No Credit, Pass/Fail, or Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory grading basis, that course's grade is left out of your GPA calculation entirely — even if the result would have been a failing grade.
Source: Grade Point Average (GPA) — "Calculating GPA" section — verified Aug 2026
Does Duke round or truncate your GPA?
Duke truncates your GPA to three decimal points rather than rounding it. A GPA that would round up to the next thousandth is still cut off at three digits.
Source: Grade Point Average (GPA) — "Calculating GPA" section — verified Aug 2026
Does your semester GPA average into your cumulative GPA at Duke?
No. Your cumulative GPA is calculated directly from every graded course in your Duke career, not by averaging your individual semester GPAs together.
Source: Grade Point Average (GPA) — "Calculating GPA" section — verified Aug 2026
Do transfer credits count toward your Duke GPA?
No, transfer course grades are not included in any Duke GPA calculation. The one exception is interinstitutional coursework, such as courses taken through the Robertson Scholars program, which is included.
Source: Grade Point Average (GPA) — opening paragraph — verified Aug 2026
Do Duke's graduate and professional schools use the same GPA scale as undergraduates?
No. The Trinity & Pratt undergraduate scale above also covers the Divinity School, but Duke's Graduate School, Engineering Management, the Nicholas School of the Environment, the Sanford School of Public Policy, the School of Nursing, and the Fuqua School of Business each publish their own separate grade point scales, and the School of Law assigns numerical grades directly rather than converting from letters. This calculator uses the undergraduate (Trinity & Pratt) scale.
Source: Grade Point Average (GPA) — "Grade Point Equivalents by School" section — verified Aug 2026
