How grading works at Vanderbilt (College of Arts and Science, Blair, Peabody undergraduate)
For the College of Arts and Science, the Blair School of Music, and Peabody College undergraduate students, Vanderbilt's scale runs from A (4.0) down to F (0.0), with A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D+, D, D- in between. There is no A+ for these schools.
Vanderbilt actually maintains several separately governed grading systems — the School of Engineering (along with the College of Connected Computing and Division of Unclassified Studies) does award A+ at 4.0, and the Law School, Graduate School, School of Nursing, and other professional/graduate programs each use their own tables.
Source: Transcript Key, Current Grading Systems table and per-school footnotes — verified Aug 2026
Frequently asked questions
What grading scheme does Vanderbilt University use?
Where does this Vanderbilt University grade scale come from?
Does Vanderbilt award an A+?
Not for College of Arts and Science, Blair School of Music, or Peabody College (undergraduate) students. Vanderbilt's own Transcript Key explicitly excludes these schools from the A+ row ("Not in A&S, DIV (or BLR, PC as of Fall 2012)"). The School of Engineering, by contrast, does award A+ at 4.0 — and the Law School awards its own A+ at 4.3.
Source: Transcript Key, A+ row footnote — verified Aug 2026
Does Vanderbilt award D-?
Yes, for College of Arts and Science, Blair, and Peabody undergraduate students. The D-range exclusion on Vanderbilt's Transcript Key applies only to Peabody College professional programs, the School of Nursing, and (as of Fall 2011) the Graduate School and School of Medicine — not to A&S, Blair, or Peabody undergraduate.
Source: Transcript Key, D-range row footnotes — verified Aug 2026
Does Vanderbilt's School of Engineering use the same grading scale?
Not quite. Engineering (along with the College of Connected Computing and the Division of Unclassified Studies) shares the same base table but does award an A+ at 4.0, unlike the College of Arts and Science, Blair, and Peabody undergraduate.
Source: Transcript Key, A+ row footnote — verified Aug 2026
Do Vanderbilt's Law School, business, or medical programs use this grading scale?
No. The Law School awards its own A+ at 4.3. The Owen Graduate School of Management uses two separate scales (one for the Master of Accountancy, another for its other management programs). The School of Medicine's MD program uses an Honors/High Pass/Pass/Fail system with no quality points at all. None of these are covered by this calculator.
Source: Transcript Key, Current Grading Systems (school-specific tables) — verified Aug 2026
