Not mentioning my GPA - Can it harm?

[mr_anxious]

Hello,

 

I am an international candidate applying for engineering schools in the U.S. However, there is no clear way to convert my 10 point based GPA to a 4 point one. Is it wise to still attempt some conversion or leave it blank? My main worry of leaving it blank is that they won't have any way of judging my application. They might even ignore it to avoid trouble of having to convert it or go through my transcript in the 1st round when they have lot of other applications to review. 

 

Please help me. It will be even more great if someone can give first hand accounts of being considered and selected even though they left the GPA section blank.

 

Thanks!

[GeoDUDE!]

Ask the schools what to do. They know best. They would probably know how 'they' would convert it.

Edited September 6, 2014 by GeoDUDE!

[Catria]

Is it a school where you have the choice of indicating your own scale?

Edited September 6, 2014 by Catria

[mr_anxious]

GeoDUDE and Catria,

 

Most of the applications I have filled advice to convert to 4.0 or keep it blank if we do not know how to convert or if we have a grading scale different than 4.0. However, Berkeley's case was slightly weird: When I was filling the MS application, it gave the same advice as other schools - "convert to 4.0  or keep it blank if you don't know to convert or if you are international student." But, when I selected to apply to the MS/PhD program instead, the above information was gone from the 'GPA Info' page. It did not say anything about international students. Just said - "convert to 4.0  or keep it blank if you don't know to convert". And so, I am confused. 

[Lifesaver]

Contact the admissions office. They are the ones who will give you the best answer.

[TakeruK]

I applied to UC Berkeley and they told me to not include the 4.0 GPA if I was not on a 4.0 scale. This was the case for pretty much all US schools I applied to. For schools that did want my "GPA", they allowed me to give it on any scale I could provide. My undergrad GPA was on a 100 point scale and my MSc GPA was on a 4.3 scale.