What Was Jeffrey Dahmer's GPA?

Serial killers are sometimes portrayed or viewed as cunning, highly intelligent, and meticulous people. But the truth about the average IQs of serial killers is this: We don't really know, and what we do know varies widely. Virginia's Radford University's Serial Killer Information Center estimated that from a sample of 271, the average IQ was 94.5, the median 86, the lower 54 and the highest 186. For reference, Verywell Mind said the average IQ is 100, and most people score between 85 and 115. Below 70 is considered very low, while above 130 very high.

Dahmer is believed to at least be smart. Some sources claim his IQ as 145, which Verywell Mind says is "highly gifted" But "The Quest for the Nazi Personality" put it at 121, or "above average or bright." And regardless of his actual IQ — which some argue is too complex to be pinned to a single number — Dahmer did not do well in school. In fact, his GPA from his one semester at Ohio State University (OSU) was reportedly 0.45, or 11.25%.

In "A Father's Story," Jeffrey Dahmer's father, Lionel, claimed that his son failed most of his classes in OSU — and revealed his GPA. "Jeff's grades came in the mail at the end of the first quarter," he wrote. "They arrived only a few days before Jeff did, and they were a disaster. With a cumulative grade point of only .45, he had earned two hours of college credit after a full quarter in Columbus."

Lionel said Dahmer just had just one outright failed grade — for Introduction to Anthropology — which is actually better than the multiple courses he either didn't complete or dropped after just a few weeks. His best mark was a B in Riflery, and after that a "mediocre" grade in Administrative Science. "He had distinguished himself in nothing," Lionel wrote. Dahmer allegedly seemed "embarrassed and ashamed" and said he found it hard to attend his morning classes, though he didn't provide any explanation for his poor performance in others. In hindsight, his failure was not surprising, as he didn't do well in high school either.

Jeffrey Dahmer attended Revere High School in Bath Township, Ohio. According to The New York Times, his grades ranged from As to Ds. He was known for his substance abuse issues, sometimes even drinking in class, and for pulling pranks on classmates. One infamous photo from his senior year shows him with the National Honor Society. But this isn't indicative of any sort of excellent academic performance — he wasn't part of the group. He'd snuck into the photo as one of his many practical jokes.

His father noticed a shift in these years as well. "In photographs taken near the end of his high school years, his eyes appear more narrow, his gaze more distant, his smile entirely false," Lionel wrote in "A Father's Story." "During that time, his level of effort sank to the minimum, and at home, he became more withdrawn. His social life, which should have been expanding, narrowed to a circle that was no larger than his mind, an imagined world in which his friends were phantoms, his lovers mere lumps of unmoving flesh." Still, a middling high school performance didn't stop him from getting into OSU.

[Featured image by SilentMatt Psychedelic via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | CC BY-SA 4.0]

Jeffrey Dahmer's parents enrolled him in Ohio State University for Fall Quarter 1978. In 2016, Capstone Wealth Partners noted that OSU was much less selective with grades until recent years — in 1995, incoming freshman classes had an average American College Testing (ACT) score of 22.8. At the time Dahmer entered, the school had open admissions, meaning it wouldn't have been difficult for him to get in even without impressive high school grades.

Dahmer lived in the 23-story Morrill Tower residence. In the graphic novel "My Friend Dahmer," John "Derf" Backderf, Dahmer's high school friend, described the future serial killer's life on campus — and it doesn't seem far off from his time at Revere. "He slept until afternoon, ate a solitary lunch at the dorm cafeteria, walked to High Street bars or carry-outs in the late afternoon, got s***faced, and staggered back to his dorm in the wee hours of the morning, collapsed in bed, and slept until the next afternoon when he rose to do it all over again," Backderf wrote. Dahmer's dorm also included pictures of his dog, snakeskin and empty bottles of alcohol, which Backderf claimed didn't sit well with his roommates.

Dahmer didn't enroll in winter classes for the 1979 term. According to The Lantern, the school's independent student newspaper, the Office of the University Registrar claims his academic stint ended on December 8, 1978. As his father claimed he failed Introduction to Anthropology, some have speculated he was in Paul Sciulli's class, but the professor emeritus told The Lantern he couldn't verify this, and the killer's exact schedule is not known. As of 2005, his transcript was "on hold," and it appears to still be unavailable.