Grading Systems

[hustlebunny]

Hi all,

I would like to know what 65% is in GPA, if anyone knows or has a conversion chart please post the link. I don't know if this is affected by the institute.. but I attended a top 100 University (Times & QS rankings). So if anyone has an idea..I really don't wanna pay for converting my transcript...

[fuzzylogician]

I believe that in England it means you did quite well, whereas where I'm from it means you're close to failing. You need to find a conversion system that is sensitive to your university's grading system and we can't do that here with the information you've provided. If this is just for general reference, try googling and I'm sure you'll find unofficial advice about grade conversion in your country/university. Most universities will just want your original transcripts and they'll convert the grades themselves. There are also professional conversion services and some universities require you to use them, but they also tell you which ones you can use.

[hustlebunny]

Oh, okay thanks that makes sense

[waparys]

Hope this helps! http://www.fulbright.org.uk/pre-departure/academics/marks#conversion

A 65 is around a B+/A- so, on the 4.0 scale 3.3/3.7. Good luck!

[hustlebunny]

Thanks waparys

[hustlebunny]

bumped into this too http://www.graduates...2012 8:37:20 PM and http://www.isep.org/coordinators/Downloads/TranEval.pdf

Edited October 2, 2012 by hustlebunny

[phmhjh85]

bumped into this too http://www.graduates...2012 8:37:20 PM and http://www.isep.org/coordinators/Downloads/TranEval.pdf

I was also wondering the same think . I have an excellent grade in all subjects throughout med school , but % wise it is 92.1 so I was wondering if this translates to a 4.0 GPA or less

That link was very helpful and many thanks for sharing it , it says that means for my country A to A+ , so am still a bit confused about how this translates into GPA

- if it helps I think i am at about 96th percentile , 27th place in a class of 1250-

[SeriousSillyPutty]

I remember being baffled when I studied in Ireland that a 70% was an A, when at home it would be a C-. I would also say that it was about equally hard to get the letter grade in both places, but it was odd to think that I could be missing 30% of the material and still get an A... Of course there's a lot of curving at US schools too, so maybe it works out about the same? Or is the Irish/British strategy to set the bar way higher than they expect people to reach, so that the stellar few can stand out? Interesting to think about.

But to second others opinions, I would avoid mentioning percents to US crowed. On our scale most say roughly 90% and up is an A, 80%+ a B, and so on down, and you would hate to negatively misrepresent yourself just because someone isn't familiar with this difference.

(I remember when one of the Irish profs emailed a prof back home my grades and included the percent, and frantically emailing him to clarify that I wasn't a slacker!)

[runaway]

I think most professors in the US are aware of how UK grades work-- either they've spent time abroad, have sent advisees for study abroad and had to assist with transferring credits, etc, or know colleagues who have. I'm studying in a rather specific UK program, but I've been told that when I'm applying to schools back in the US I shouldn't worry about spending space in my SOP explaining how the grading works. It's a well enough respected program that anyone in my discipline will know.

Edited November 11, 2012 by runaway

[TakeruK]

I remember being baffled when I studied in Ireland that a 70% was an A, when at home it would be a C-. I would also say that it was about equally hard to get the letter grade in both places, but it was odd to think that I could be missing 30% of the material and still get an A...

Grades are a weird thing. Some places consider 100% to be "meets all expectations of the course" (i.e. got all of the questions right, etc.). This seems to be the way most North American schools (at all levels) treat grades. Others might consider 100% to be "student knows all there is to know about this subject (at the level of the course)". So since most courses do not expect students to actually retain 100% of the curriculum, an A grade could be as low as 70%. Looking back, I would say if I remembered ~2/3rds of the material in most of my courses, I would be pretty happy with it.

Other people grade on a relative basis instead of an absolute scale too. Someone told me that they basically treated the best student as "A" and then compared everyone to that standard (so it's still possible that everyone can get an A). Another did not use a linear grading scale -- if you did the minimum expectations then it was 80%, if you did a "great job" then it's 90% and after that, every further percentage point is much harder to earn than the last. This is an interesting way to grade since our system generally assigns "A+" to 90+ so going above and beyond the requirements does not boost your GPA.

I don't really know what grading scheme is the best, but I definitely think absolute scales are more fair than relative ones!

[kaykaykay]

I don't really know what grading scheme is the best, but I definitely think absolute scales are more fair than relative ones!

Me too . I am really confused about the US's curving mania. I actually have to explain some students that if they did badly they do not want me to curve the quiz results( and they have energy to argue about a point or so).

[Tolman's Rat]

Hello everyone,

I am applying to Psychology PhD programs at Berkeley, Stanford, and UCSD, as well as the CogSci PhD program at UCSD. I am currently studying at a Canadian university, Brock in St. Catharines, and would like to get an idea of where my average stands in terms of GPA. I have seen so many different ways of calculating GPA and can't seem to find one that would accurately convert my % to GPA. So I have an 84% average overall, 88% major average. I only have one B, everything else is an A or A+.

Any help would be appreciated. Obviously I am going through with the applications regardless, but perhaps a self-esteem boost will help me through the last stages of the application process

[TakeruK]

Hello everyone,

I am applying to Psychology PhD programs at Berkeley, Stanford, and UCSD, as well as the CogSci PhD program at UCSD. I am currently studying at a Canadian university, Brock in St. Catharines, and would like to get an idea of where my average stands in terms of GPA. I have seen so many different ways of calculating GPA and can't seem to find one that would accurately convert my % to GPA. So I have an 84% average overall, 88% major average. I only have one B, everything else is an A or A+.

Any help would be appreciated. Obviously I am going through with the applications regardless, but perhaps a self-esteem boost will help me through the last stages of the application process

Hi,

At a lot of schools (e.g. Berkeley) they did not even want me to try to convert my Canadian grades (in % like yours) into the American GPA system -- they would do it themselves to ensure accuracy. The main issue is that there are two main GPA scales, one out of 4.3 and one out of 4.0 (as well as a lot of other less common scales). I think the way Canadian grading works, the 4.3 scale fits better but depending on your distribution of grades, it might not matter. But if your grades are all very similar then the two scales shouldn't differ too much.

Here is a quick prescription to convert Canadian grades into American GPA. In the 4.3 system, an A+ is worth 4.3, A is worth 4.0, A- 3.7, B+ 3.3, B 3.0, B- 2.7, C+ 2.3, C 2.0, C- 1.7 (usually most Canadian grades cut off here...). In the 4.0 system, both A+ and A grades are worth 4.0.

1. For EACH course separately, convert your % mark into a letter grade, then into a Grade Point (0 to 4.3). Then multiply your Grade Point for that course by the number of Credits/Units that course is worth.

2. Add up all of the Grade Points from all the courses that you want to consider.

3. Divide by the TOTAL credit/units of all your courses that you are considering.

This number should be your GPA. It's basically a "weighted average" so that a 6 credit course is worth twice as much as a 3 credit course etc. In addition, it is NOT the same as taking the average in % first and then converting to a Grade Point -- however, with the grades you mention (i.e. closely clustered), it will probably turn out pretty close.

Hope that was helpful! If you did get all A's and A+'s (except for one), then your GPA should be pretty close to 4.0 on the 4.0 scale and between 4.0 and 4.3 on the 4.3 scale. That is, you have a really strong GPA, in my opinion.

[Tolman's Rat]

Thanks! It was very helpful, just the self-esteem boost I needed

I haven't actually been asked to convert my GPA, so this information is just for my own use. I wanted to be able to accurately compare my own average with average admitted GPA for the programs to which I am applying.

I should clarify, though, I only have one B in my major. This is what I meant to say above, but I obviously mistyped. Otherwise I have a few more, 4 or 5, so it is not as strong as you may have thought.

[porge1991]

The whole thing is quite a grey area in my opinion because there's also going to be such differences between schools. I didn't bother trying to convert my results into a GPA but part of me thinks I should have.

I study Biochemistry at Oxford University and got an average of 75%. Here that's considered really good but compared to the scores I know the US students get it's pretty poor. I'm just hoping the US professors are aware of this.

I'm also a bit worried about the class ranking mania. I came 15/100 in my year, which doesn't seem particularly amazing. The thing is though (without trying to sound too obnoxious) I came 15/100 at *Oxford* - where all the undergrads got straight As across the board at their secondary schools and where most people work exceptionally hard and are very intelligent. So whether someone who came top 5% in their year but went to a school with a lower standard across the board is "academically more successful" than me, I don't know. But like I said, it's all one big grey area so who knows.

[t1racyjacks]

US tends to have grade inflation, esp for the 'top' schools, so I would advise against conversion unless you absolutely have to. If the uni allows you to key in your grades without converting you should do so and let the ad coms decide for themselves what it means

[Tolman's Rat]

Hoping my Canadian grades are meaningful, even though my undergrad hasn't developed an outstanding reputation yet

I didn't convert for applications, just for my own knowledge.