Eengineering/science might use different criteria to calculate GPA than those being used by Liberal Arts. For a liberal arts degree, usually an average of 82-88 yield a GPA of 3.2-3.7. I have 83.2 as average and my college convert it to 3.32. A 88 will put your close to 3.7, or at least 3.6, which is a very powerful GPA to start with.
If you have a particular year of poor performance, some schools will not take this into account. It largely depends on the school.