How do universities view second-class honors degrees from the UK?

Hey guys, I'm an international student from the UK planning to apply to colleges in the US, and I'm a bit worried about how my academic qualifications will be translated. I have a second-class honors degree (both upper and lower division), and I'm really curious—do US universities understand the distinction between the different classes of honors degrees? Do they consider them equivalent to the US GPA system, and if they do, what would my degree be equivalent to in terms of GPA?

Hello! It's great that you're looking into how your academic qualifications will be interpreted by US universities. Yes, admissions officers in the US are familiar with the UK's system of classifying degrees and generally understand the distinctions between different classes of honors degrees. They often have resources or conversion systems to help evaluate international degrees in the context of their own grading systems. While there isn't a direct one-to-one conversion between UK honors classes and US GPA, a second-class honors degree, either upper (2:1) or lower (2:2), is typically considered to recognize a strong level of achievement. An upper second-class honors (2:1) is commonly seen as comparable to a US GPA of around 3.3 to 3.7. However, different institutions might have various ways of interpreting and valuing your degree, so I would recommend reaching out directly to the admissions offices of the colleges you're interested in for the most accurate information. Best of luck with your applications!