Convert Dutch Grades to US GPA
1 to 10, 1.00 to 10.00, with 6 bands and a pass mark of 5.50.
A Dutch grade
Ruim voldoende (more than satisfactory)
on the Dutch scale — this is what the transcript says
- US GPA (approx.)
- 3.7
- US letter
- A-
- Locally
- Passing
- Band
- 7.00–7.99
The conventional mapping used by US admissions offices. It is not an official conversion — no such thing exists — and the receiving institution's own table is the one that counts.
The full Dutch scale
| Grade | Local classification | US | GPA |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9.00–10.00 | Uitmuntend (outstanding) | A | 4.0 |
| 8.00–8.99 | Zeer goed (very good) | A | 4.0 |
| 7.00–7.99 | Ruim voldoende (more than satisfactory) | A- | 3.7 |
| 6.50–6.99 | Voldoende (satisfactory, upper) | B | 3.0 |
| 5.50–6.49 | Voldoende (satisfactory / pass) | C+ | 2.3 |
| 1.00–5.49 | Onvoldoende (fail) | F | 0.0 |
How the Dutch scale works
The top of the Dutch scale is effectively unused: a 9 is rare and a 10 almost unheard of, so the practical range runs 6 to 8. Treating an 8/10 as 80% and therefore a B badly understates it — an 8 is an excellent Dutch grade.
In practice the scale runs from 1.00 to 10.00 with 6 named bands. The best is Uitmuntend (outstanding) (9.00 to 10.00), and the lowest passing grade is Voldoende (satisfactory / pass) at 5.50. Anything past that is a fail, whatever the number looks like to a US reader.
The reason a single conversion number does not exist is that the two systems measure different things. A US GPA is an average of course grades on a scale where the top is routinely awarded. Most national scales reserve their top band for a small fraction of students, so mapping the numbers proportionally compresses a whole cohort into the bottom half of the 4.0 range. Band mapping — what this page does — avoids that, but every evaluator draws the bands slightly differently.
Frequently asked questions
What is a Dutch 7.75 in US GPA?
Is there an official Dutch to US GPA conversion?
How does the Dutch grading scale work?
Should I convert my grades myself before applying?
Local classifications follow each country's national qualifications framework or ministry of education grading regulations; the US letter column follows the convention common to US credential evaluation.
There is no official conversion from a national grade to a US 4.0 GPA. Credential evaluators and individual universities publish tables that disagree, most of all near the top of each scale. Treat the figure here as the common convention and the local classification as the fact; the receiving institution's own table is the one that decides.