1.7 GPA is equivalent to 70-72% or C- letter grade. (2024)

You took a look at your grades and your GPA is 1.7. What do you do with that information? What does a GPA of 1.7 actually mean? Let’s take a look.

A1.7 GPA is equivalent to 70-72% or C- letter grade.
The national average GPA is 3.0 which means a 1.7 GPA is definitely below average and will not look good on a report card.

Although this guide focuses on a 1.7 GPA, it is still useful for close GPAs, like 1.72 and 1.68 GPAs. You can use this guide for all GPAs between 1.65 and 1.74.

Is a 1.7 GPA good?

High School Students:

The answer is No. The national average for a GPA is around 3.0 and a 1.7 GPA puts you below that average. A 1.7 GPA means that you’ve gotten only C-s and D+s in your high school classes so far. Since this GPA is significantly below a 2.0, it will make things very difficult for you in the college application process. Remember that the 3.0 national average represents all students, not just students applying to college, so the average GPA for students applying to colleges is naturally higher than the national average.

Freshman:

For a freshman, a 1.7 GPA spells trouble, and you might be discouraged about your chances of getting into college. All hope is not lost though because as a freshman, you’re still early in your high school career. You still have a lot of classes and grades ahead of you, this means that you can raise your GPA quite easily. However, you have to put a lot more effort to increase your GPA.

You may be a bit confused about how you can make this work. Well rather than struggle without making significant headway, you would need to figure out exactly where the problem lies. That is, you have to find out where you’re falling short, which subjects or courses you are finding difficult and figure out ways to get better grades in them.

Continuing with a 1.7 GPA is not a good option because it will hinder you from getting into any standard school. This is why you need to make tremendous progress in raising your GPA by doing so, you will be proving to colleges that you have a great potential to do well.

We have various means and tools below that will assist you in knowing your chances into any good school with a 1.7 GPA. And also help you figure out just how you can increase your GPA from now on.

Sophom*ore:

Now you are in your second year of high school which means you’re halfway to college applications. With a 1.7 GPA, things are getting risky but you still have a chance to raise your GPA. Having a 1.7 GPA means you’re still below average and this can greatly hinder your application into college. All is not lost though, you just have to work extra hard for the rest of this year and next year to increase your GPA to at least a 2.0 and above. This GPA range might put you on the radar of any small group of schools, making them consider your application easily than a 1.7 GPA applicant.

You need to thoroughly understand and address your problems in class, and yes, you still have a chance of fixing them. If you’re currently interested in any standard school, you can use our search tool in the next section to look them up. The tool in the next section can help you calculate how much credit you need to have before your senior year.

Junior:

At this point it will be tough for you to change your GPA. Since you are in your junior year, increasing your GPA before you apply for college is going to be an uphill task. A 1.7 GPA at this point means there’s going to be trouble next fall, it means no school will be willing to take an applicant with such low grades. With this grade, there aren’t any colleges that you can use as safety schools, so you would be taking a huge risk no matter where you apply.

However, if you desire still in your first semester of your junior year, you might still be able to work harder at increasing your GPA a bit before the end of the year to give yourself a slightly better chance. You can use our search tool in the next section to check out schools that interest you and find out what your chances are in being accepted there.

How can I raise my 1.7 GPA?

Now that you know where you stand it’s a good idea to think about ways to raise your GPA.

Study Smart: If you find you’re already spending a lot of time studying you may want to take a study skills course or meet with a teacher or school counselor to find out how to study smarter. There are many tips and tricks to using your time wisely and once you learn to study smart your grades will show the difference.
Tackle Your Lowest Grades: Even one low grade can wreck havoc on a decent GPA so find your lowest grades and make it your goal to bring them up. If you’re really stumped on how to do so, set an appointment with the teacher of each class. Teachers love to help students raise their grades.
Complete Every Assignment On Time: The easiest way to lose points is to turn in assignments late or not at all. Turning things in on time guarantees you get credit for your hard work. Make a schedule of assignments and make sure you never miss a deadline.

Your Admission Chances with a 1.7 GPA

No doubt, knowing your eligibility into any school of your choice is a huge question that plagues every student seeking admission. Which college will offer you admission despite your 1.7 GPA? Do you have any chance securing admission at any school of your choice with your GPA?

Sadly, a 1.5GPA entails that there are no colleges that you can use as safety schools, so you will be taking a risk no matter where you apply. The only way to increase your chances is by raising your GPA. Go through the next section and search any school of your preference to see what your odds of acceptance are.

We have created a custom admissions calculator for that’s been designed to calculate your chances of admission into the college of your choice based on three crucial factors:

The acceptance rate of the school.
Your GPA.
Your ACT/SAT score.

List of Colleges with average GPA of 1.6 or less

Search Filters

School	State	SAT 25	SAT 75	ACT 25	ACT 75	Avg GPA	Accept %
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