About the International GPA Calculator

Dear International Admissions Colleagues,

I wanted to share something that has been close to my heart for quite some time now.

As the Director of International Admission, DSO, and ARO at a private liberal arts university, I've walked in your shoes. Each recruitment cycle, my small team and I process around 2,000 applications with limited resources and an ever-tightening budget. Those hours spent with constrained eyes, meticulously deciphering international transcripts and converting GPAs? I understand that challenge deeply.

While I'm not a coder myself, my experiences in this field helped me envision a tool that could make our lives easier. After immersing myself in UX design research, I was fortunate to connect with the wonderful folks at the Insight Digital Agency. They are professional, friendly, polite, efficient and highly customer experience focused (that doesn't mean they won't say no to your ridiculous or unrealistic requests). Their genuine curiosity about our work and commitment to solving real problems made this collaboration truly special.

And so, with a lot of heart and hard work, the International GPA Calculator was born.

I created this tool because I understand what our days look like. Many of us manage international admissions in small teams—sometimes as the only full-time staff member, supported by amazing but temporary student workers. We juggle complex global grading systems that require specialized knowledge, and maintaining consistency can feel impossible with changing personnel. This calculator aims to standardize our processes, serve as a training resource for new team members, and build institutional knowledge that stays even as people move on.

About those existing GPA conversion tools... we all know they come with eye-watering price tags. And despite the cost, they often lack features that would actually make our lives easier. That's why I made a promise that our core functionality would always be free. I believe that having the right tools shouldn't depend on the size of your department's budget.

The free version you see today is just the beginning. We're developing an affordable premium version with advanced features that I'm truly excited about. Your feedback will be invaluable in shaping what comes next.

This project came from a place of genuine care for our profession and community. It's built with an understanding of the unique challenges we face when reviewing international credentials and making admissions decisions.

I'd love for you to try the International GPA Calculator and let me know what you think. Your insights and experiences will help make this tool even better for all of us who work in this wonderful, complex world of international admissions.