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Average College GPA by Major
Page updated 4 October 2026 · Berkeley data 2025-26 · NCES national means 1999-2000, distribution 2009
No US agency publishes a current average GPA for every college major, so most of the tables you will find are one researcher's departmental grading figures from one small college, recycled. This page uses the real published data instead: UC Berkeley's own averages for its 86 majors in 2025-26, the last national per-field means NCES published, and the national GPA distribution by field.
The direct answer
Across the 86 undergraduate majors at UC Berkeley, the 2025-26 graduating class (11,399 students) averaged 3.51, with major averages running from 3.13 (Geology) to 3.80 (Slavic Lang & Lit). Nationally, the last national means NCES published, for the 1999-2000 bachelor's degree recipients, ran from 3.06 in the other technical and professional fields to 3.34 in mathematics, against 3.16 for all fields.
Sources: UC Berkeley Office of Planning and Analysis, Average GPA by Major (downloaded 28 September 2026) and NCES Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B:08/09), Table 2.3. How these were chosen: methodology.
Highest of the 27 largest
English
3.66
285 graduates, 2025-26
Whole graduating class
All 86 majors
3.51
11,399 graduates, 2025-26
Lowest of the 27 largest
Civil Engineering
3.31
113 graduates, 2025-26
Average cumulative GPA of UC Berkeley's 2025-26 bachelor's degree recipients, from the university's own published dashboard, downloaded 4 October 2026. One institution, stated as such: no US agency publishes a current national average by major, and the last one it did publish, for the 1999-2000 bachelor's degree recipients, is in the table further down.
Average GPA for 27 Fields of Study
The 27 largest majors by number of graduates, UC Berkeley 2025-26, sorted high to low. Standard deviation is included because it tells you how much spread sits behind each average.
| Major | Average GPA | Graduates |
|---|---|---|
| English | 3.66 | 285 |
| Business Administration | 3.62 | 340 |
| Conserv & Resource Stds | 3.62 | 117 |
| History | 3.62 | 125 |
| CDSS Computer Science | 3.61 | 816 |
| Political Science | 3.57 | 396 |
| Film | 3.55 | 173 |
| Molecular & Cell Biology | 3.54 | 680 |
| Molecular Environ Biology | 3.52 | 133 |
| Psychology | 3.52 | 410 |
| Economics | 3.51 | 825 |
| L&S Public Health | 3.50 | 214 |
| Electrical Eng & Comp Sci | 3.49 | 517 |
| Environ Econ & Policy | 3.49 | 127 |
| L&S Legal Studies | 3.49 | 239 |
| Media Studies | 3.49 | 321 |
| Sociology | 3.47 | 303 |
| Statistics | 3.47 | 165 |
| Applied Mathematics | 3.43 | 295 |
| Mathematics | 3.43 | 129 |
| Cognitive Science | 3.42 | 316 |
| Data Science | 3.42 | 941 |
| Political Economy | 3.40 | 208 |
| Physics | 3.38 | 168 |
| Mechanical Engineering | 3.35 | 243 |
| Integrative Biology | 3.34 | 249 |
| Civil Engineering | 3.31 | 113 |
Source: UC Berkeley Office of Planning and Analysis, Average GPA by Major (CSV), downloaded 4 October 2026. Figures are for bachelor's degree recipients, not enrolled students. Berkeley is a highly selective public university and its averages run above most institutions, so read the ordering rather than the absolute level.
Highest and Lowest GPA Majors
Across all 86 majors, including the small ones. Graduate counts are shown because several of these programmes graduate fewer than 20 students a year, and a single cohort moves the number.
10 Highest GPA Majors
- 1.Slavic Lang & Lit(8)3.80
- 2.French(24)3.78
- 3.Comparative Literature(46)3.76
- 4.Art(59)3.74
- 5.Music(63)3.72
- 6.Japanese Language(8)3.71
- 7.Rhetoric(52)3.71
- 8.Ecosystem Mgmt & Forestry(25)3.70
- 9.Ancient Grk & Roman Studies(16)3.68
- 10.Dance & Perf Studies(7)3.68
10 Lowest GPA Majors
- 1.Geology(6)3.13
- 2.Environmental Engineering Sci(16)3.20
- 3.American Studies(46)3.21
- 4.Engineering Physics(17)3.27
- 5.Interdisciplinary Studies(79)3.28
- 6.Astrophysics(77)3.29
- 7.Civil Engineering(113)3.31
- 8.African American Studies(16)3.34
- 9.Integrative Biology(249)3.34
- 10.Geophysics(6)3.35
Number in brackets is graduates in 2025-26. No major averaged below 3.1.
Is there a national average GPA by major?
Not a current one. The last national mean GPA by field that NCES published was for the 1999-2000 graduating cohort: 3.34 in mathematics, 3.22 in education, 3.11 in engineering, against 3.16 for all fields (NCES 2003-165, Table 5 (B&B:2000/01)). Nothing since then is a mean. What NCES publishes now is a distribution: in the Baccalaureate and Beyond study of 2007-08 bachelor's degree recipients (Table 2.3), 47.5% of education majors finished with a 3.50 or higher, against 35.5% of engineering and engineering technology majors and 36.4% of all recipients. For current per-major averages you have to use an individual university's published figures, which is what the main table on this page does.
Which majors have the highest average GPA?
At UC Berkeley, across all 86 majors in the 2025-26 graduating class, the highest averages were Slavic Lang & Lit (3.80, 8 graduates) and French (3.78, 24 graduates), both small programmes. Among the 27 largest programmes by headcount the top three were English (3.66), Business Administration (3.62) and Conserv & Resource Stds (3.62). Language, literature and arts programmes cluster highest in nearly every institution that publishes this data.
What are the lowest-GPA college majors?
At UC Berkeley in 2025-26 the lowest averages among all 86 majors were Geology (3.13), Environmental Engineering Sci (3.20) and American Studies (3.21). Several of those programmes graduate fewer than 20 students a year, so a single cohort moves the number. Note that no major at Berkeley averaged below 3.1, and the widely circulated claim that engineering majors average in the 2.8 to 2.9 range matches neither current institutional data nor the national means NCES published for the 1999-2000 graduating cohort, where engineering averaged 3.11.
Do STEM majors really have lower GPAs?
STEM coursework is graded lower, but STEM majors are not. In their first year, 2003-04 beginning bachelor's degree students earned 2.8 in STEM courses against 3.0 in non-STEM courses (NCES 2013-152, Table 8 (BPS:04/09 and PETS:09)), a gap of about 0.2 in first-year coursework. But at the level of the whole transcript, NCES found STEM majors slightly MORE likely than average to finish at 3.50 or higher: 37.7% against 36.4% of all 2007-08 bachelor's degree recipients. Grading harshness in individual courses does not translate into lower cumulative GPAs for the students who stay in the major.
Is engineering the lowest-GPA major?
No, and this is the most persistent error in the circulating figures. The last time NCES published national mean GPAs by field, engineering graduates averaged 3.11 cumulative, above business, the social sciences and the vocational and technical fields, and mathematics was the highest field of all at 3.34 (NCES 2003-165, Table 5 (B&B:2000/01), 1999-2000 bachelor's degree recipients). At UC Berkeley in 2025-26 the 13 majors with Engineering in the title averaged 3.43 across 1,266 graduates, and the largest of them, Electrical Eng & Comp Sci (3.49, 517 graduates), graded above Physics (3.38). Rojstaczer and Healy reached the same conclusion across their multi-institution database: "Contrary to conventional wisdom, engineering departments tend to grade significantly higher than science departments for the schools in our database."
The Last National Averages by Major the Government Published
NCES has published a national mean GPA by field exactly once in the modern era, for the 1999-2000 bachelor's degree recipients. It is old. It is also the only national per-major mean that exists, and it does not say what the circulating tables say it does.
| Undergraduate major | Cumulative GPA | GPA in the major |
|---|---|---|
| All fields | 3.16 | 3.34 |
| Mathematics | 3.34 | 3.34 |
| Physical sciences | 3.28 | 3.28 |
| Humanities | 3.24 | 3.45 |
| Health | 3.23 | 3.35 |
| Education | 3.22 | 3.48 |
| Life sciences | 3.20 | 3.27 |
| Computer/information science | 3.19 | 3.36 |
| Business/management | 3.11 | 3.29 |
| Engineering | 3.11 | 3.18 |
| Social/behavioral sciences | 3.11 | 3.33 |
| Vocational/technical | 3.11 | 3.32 |
| Other technical/professional | 3.06 | 3.31 |
Source: NCES 2003-165, A Descriptive Summary of 1999-2000 Bachelor's Degree Recipients 1 Year Later, Table 5, read from the published PDF on 4 October 2026. Survey: 2001 Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study. These are graduates, so the population excludes everyone who left before finishing, and the figures are a quarter of a century old. They are reproduced because they are the only national per-field means on the record.
What that table kills
The circulating table puts engineering at 2.90 and education at 3.36, and presents both as national averages. In the actual national data engineering graduates averaged 3.11 and education graduates 3.22: a gap of 0.11, not 0.46. The highest field was mathematics at 3.34, which the folk table places near the bottom. No field averaged below 3.06, and nothing in the national record has ever put a field average in the 2.8 to 2.9 range.
The National Picture
Since the 1999-2000 cohort NCES has published a distribution rather than a mean: the share of graduates in each GPA band, by field of study. In the published table "All STEM majors" is a parent row and the three italicised rows below it are nested inside it, not peers of it.
Share finishing at 3.50 or higher
- Education47.5%
- Health care fields41.4%
- Humanities41.1%
- All STEM majors37.7%
- All majors (table total)36.4%
- Business35.4%
- Social sciences32.9%
- Other applied30.9%
- General studies and other24.9%
Top-level fields only, so the shares do not double-count. All four GPA bands and the three STEM sub-fields are shown on a wider screen.
| Field of study | Less than 2.50 | 3.50 or higher |
|---|---|---|
| All majors (table total) | 6.7% | 36.4% |
| Education | 2.6% | 47.5% |
| Health care fields | 3.3% | 41.4% |
| Humanities | 5.4% | 41.1% |
| All STEM majors | 6.1% | 37.7% |
| Biological and physical sciences, maths, agriculture | 6.4% | 39.3% |
| Computer and information sciences ‡ | 4.5% | 38.0% |
| Engineering and engineering technology | 6.7% | 35.5% |
| Business | 6.6% | 35.4% |
| Social sciences | 9.7% | 32.9% |
| Other applied | 7.5% | 30.9% |
| General studies and other | 13.7% | 24.9% |
Source: NCES Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B:08/09), Table 2.3. Cohort: 2007-08 first-time bachelor's degree recipients, surveyed 2009. The two middle bands are hidden on narrow screens; rotate or widen to see all four. ‡ NCES flags this estimate for interpretation with caution. This is the most recent national per-major GPA data published.
The finding most summaries get backwards
STEM majors were more likely than the average graduate to finish at 3.50 or higher: 37.7% against 36.4% of all recipients. Social sciences, not engineering, had the largest share finishing below 2.50 (9.7% against 6.7% for engineering). The STEM grading penalty is real but it lives in individual courses, not in cumulative GPAs: in their first year, 2003-04 beginning bachelor's degree students earned 2.8 in STEM courses against 3.0 in non-STEM courses (NCES 2013-152, Table 8 (BPS:04/09 and PETS:09)). That is a gap of about 0.2, not the 0.5 the circulating tables imply.
Engineering Is Not at the Bottom
All 13 majors at UC Berkeley with Engineering, or the abbreviation Eng, in the degree title, 2025-26, low to high. That rule is mechanical, so you can check the list is complete against the CSV. Together they graduated 1,266 students and averaged 3.43.
| Engineering major | Average GPA | Graduates |
|---|---|---|
| Environmental Engineering Sci | 3.20 | 16 |
| Engineering Physics | 3.27 | 17 |
| Civil Engineering | 3.31 | 113 |
| Mechanical Engineering | 3.35 | 243 |
| Chemical Engineering | 3.37 | 89 |
| Energy Engineering | 3.37 | 11 |
| Materials Science & Eng | 3.37 | 24 |
| Nuclear Engineering | 3.45 | 30 |
| Industrial Eng & Ops Rsch | 3.46 | 57 |
| Aerospace Engineering | 3.48 | 33 |
| Bioengineering | 3.48 | 106 |
| Electrical Eng & Comp Sci | 3.49 | 517 |
| Eng Math & Statistics | 3.60 | 10 |
The range runs from 3.20 (Environmental Engineering Sci, 16 graduates) to 3.60 (Eng Math & Statistics, 10 graduates). The three largest programmes by headcount are Electrical Eng & Comp Sci (3.49, 517 graduates), Mechanical Engineering (3.35, 243 graduates) and Civil Engineering (3.31, 113 graduates), so the single biggest engineering cohort on campus graded above Physics (3.38). Rojstaczer and Healy found the same across a multi-institution database: "Contrary to conventional wisdom, engineering departments tend to grade significantly higher than science departments for the schools in our database" (Grading in American Colleges and Universities, Teachers College Record, 2010). The same paper puts the science-versus-humanities gap at roughly 0.4 grade points.
Ten Years of Movement
Enrolment-weighted mean GPA across all majors, UC Berkeley graduating classes. Any per-major table more than a few years old is describing a different distribution from today's.
Bars are measured from a baseline of 3.00 to a ceiling of 3.70. The whole ten-year move is 0.13 of a grade point, so read the printed figures rather than the bar heights.
The class mean moved from 3.38 in 2016-17 to 3.51 in 2025-26, peaking at 3.56 in 2022-23 during the pandemic grading years and easing since. Among majors that graduated at least 100 students in 2025-26, the largest move was L&S Legal Studies, from 3.17 to 3.49 (+0.32). Four sizeable programmes barely moved at all: Physics, Civil Engineering, Bioengineering, Statistics all finished within 0.01 of where they started.
Where the Circulating Table Comes From
Almost every "average GPA by major" table on the web traces to one study: Kevin Rask's analysis of roughly 5,000 graduates from the classes of 2001 to 2009 at a single northeastern liberal arts college, published as Attrition in STEM fields at a liberal arts college (Economics of Education Review, 2010) and popularised by a New York Times article in November 2011.
Three things about it are routinely lost. It measures the average grade a department awards in its courses, not the cumulative GPA of students majoring in that field. It describes one small college, not the United States. And that college has no engineering school, so every engineering figure in the circulating tables was added later by someone else, from no stated source.
The study is sound; the use made of it is not. Sixteen-year-old departmental grading averages from one institution cannot tell a student in 2026 what graduates of their major typically earn. That is why this page uses a named institution's current published figures and the national distribution instead, and labels each for exactly what it is.
How to Use This
Admissions committees and employers read GPA against the programme it came from, but they do it with the applicant's own transcript and school, not a national table. Practical implications:
- * Find your own institution's figures. A growing number of universities publish GPA by major precisely so students can give employers context. Berkeley says that is why its dashboard exists. Check your registrar or institutional research office before quoting a national number that does not exist.
- * Medical schools calculate a separate science GPA (BCPM), so the science-course grading gap is handled explicitly rather than by reputation. See med school GPA targets.
- * Law schools do not adjust for major at all: LSAC reports the cumulative GPA as earned. See law school GPA.
- * Do not assume a rigour discount. The national data does not support the belief that STEM majors graduate with lower GPAs, so an application that leans on it is arguing from a premise the reader may not share.