A Grade Point Average (GPA) is an average of all the grade points you have earned over the course of your degree program. Doctoral students at Walden are required to have at least a 3.0 GPA. If your GPA drops below the minimum, you would be considered out of compliance with university requirements and placed on Academic Warning for Low GPA. 

Students can calculate their Grade Point Average (GPA) if they know the following information:

• Credits attempted - These are the total number of credits for the courses you’ve taken at Walden.
• Final grades earned - Using your unofficial transcript, you can see the grades you earned in all your classes in your program.
• Point values for those grades - Each grade is assigned a point value. Use the chart below to determine the point values for your grades.

Please note: If you have taken an S/U course, or received a W grade, the credits for these courses should not be included in your overall total grade points.

The basic formula for calculating GPA is to divide the total points earned in a program by the total number of credits attempted. The resulting figure is the GPA for that program.

Here's an example student's transcript with credit hours, grade earned, and grade points:

In this example, our student has attempted 16 credits in total and earned 33 total grade points.

Referring back to the basic formula above, use the student’s total grade points earned (33) divided by the 16 credits attempted means the student has a GPA of 2.06.

If a student fails a class, there are no grade points earned for that course. However, the credits attempted from that course are still included in the total credits attempted for the program. This is why GPA can fall when a student fails a class.

If a student fails a class required of his or her program, he or she will need to retake the class and pass it to progress in his or her program. If he or she passes the class on the retake, the original grade will remain listed on his or her transcript, but will not be included in the calculation of the GPA. Instead, only the grade (and credits attempted) associated with the successful retake of the class will be used in the calculation of the GPA.

If you have any questions about how to calculate your own GPA, please contact a Student Success Advisor for assistance. Monitoring your own GPA is a good habit to adopt as it will help you understand your program requirements and how to ensure that you remain in compliance with the GPA requirements here at Walden.