Translating Unorthodox Grading Systems

[IvanBezdomnii]

Hey all,

 

I'm currently a MA student at UNC Chapel Hill. I will be applying for a PhD during the next cycle.

Oddly, all graduate programs at UNC use an unorthodox grading system. We use the grades H (High Pass), P (Pass), L (Low Pass), and F (obviously Fail) without + and - modifiers. Also, there is no GPA. I think many schools use a similar system for concentrations in chemistry, physics, and other hard sciences. However, in the humanities, where I fall, this seems to be highly unusual. Another complicating factor is that the professors themselves seem to have no idea what they mean. To some professors HPL simply equals ABC, and others only give Hs.

 

Has anyone experienced a similar situation? Does anyone have any knowledge about how this system might be interpreted by other schools? Or if I should include an explanation somewhere on my application?

 

Another personal frustration with these grades is that on a traditional A-F scale I would have earned all As/A+s and consequently I have been lumped under the same grade with people who would've earned low A-s on that scale. Oh well, this weirdness aside UNC is honestly a great school and my comments shouldn't discourage anyone from applying or enrolling.

[TakeMyCoffeeBlack]

"The graduate grading scale in use at UNC-Chapel Hill is unique in that it cannot be converted to the more traditional ABC grading scale. Graduate students do not carry a numerical GPA."

 

Well, that's not helpful. I think you're best bet is to have an LOR explain the grading system as best as possible (highlighting your Hs).

[klondike]

Ask your registrar, if they send out a description of your school's grading system along with your transcripts (some places do, not many, but would make sense since this is quite irregular). If not, if nothing else they should have some official statement describing their system. Ask the registrar to give you one and sign it, then ask the unis you're applying to if you may send it. Mention your concerns with your registrar/department - my guess is they have had to deal with this before.

 

I'm facing a similar problem (apologies for hijacking this). At my school there are no + or - either, and none of the coursework is included in the grade, only the exam grade. I'm sending unofficial transcripts first (both schools advise this, in Europe and this semester's grades will not be ready in time for them to be delivered by deadline). I'm wondering, if it would be appropriate to also send print-outs of the class average charts for my most recent semester courses, to give some context for my grades in a non-North American system. This is all publicly available information. But I don't want to bog down the adcomm with paper also. (Thanks for any ideas and sorry again for jumping in with my own problem!)

[IvanBezdomnii]

Hey dwn53, no worries. I would specifically ask the schools you are applying too how they want you to handle this. Your letters of recommendation should also address how you handled your course work, in all likelihood. I guess the one positive for me is that all the schools i'm applying to should have experience with graduate applicants from UNC (it's not a small place) and therefore some precedent has likely been established. But I guess I will cross that bridge when I get to it. I'm just trying to neutralize any potential problems ahead of time instead of dealing with them at the last minute, as I am prone to do.

[queenleblanc]

Hey, IvanBezdomnii,

 

I got my BM and MAT at UNC.  I am now in a MS -SLP program elsewhere.  I got mostly H and some P grades during my MAT program.  Yes it is unorthodox, and YES I got questions about my grades from one of the schools where I applied and at that point had only submitted "unofficial" transcript data.  Univ. of South Carolina had never seen an application from a previous grad from UNC (oddly enough).  She had just received the official transcript and emailed me.

 

Basically, I would suggest the following after my experience with this school that was tops of my list:

1) Have at least one of your LOR writers be someone from that program who can qualitatively discuss your work as a graduate student.  

2) Have at least someone who gives ABC grades (say, some close prof from undergrad) give you a LOR that shows that your high work ethic was the factor behind your receiving an A or high honors, etc.

3) Be prepared to field questions from admissions secretaries who are trying to get the info all together for the adcomms.

 

 I sent mine a picture of the box on the back of the transcript as well as a link to the specific section in the graduate school handbook where this is discussed.  I had some profs in the UNC School of Education who did not give out any H's except one.  I also had some profs who gave out H's to all who went at least one step beyond the minimum on all assignments (which was pretty much everybody in my cohort that year).  I have grad professors in my current program that are telling me that "Grades don't matter in graduate school.  B's get degrees."  In all seriousness, you do have to work your butt off to even get a B.  I'm actually VERY supportive of the H - P - L system that UNC uses after the fact.  It makes total sense because I am in a grad program that grades A-B-C now, and the grades are not informative in the least.  There are people who could cram for the tests, get their desired A, but not carry the information forward into other classes, at least theoretically.  The more traditional system of grading doesn't really do anything for the graduate level.  Either you know your stuff, or you don't.  You get kicked out if you don't, which is typically represented by a C.  

 

I will say this... my undergrad GPA wasn't as high as some because my degree was 7 (almost 8) years ago.  A 3.26 in a music performance degree is actually pretty great.  The music performance professors don't give A's, and the more educational / music history / music theory professors very rarely give A's.  If the GPA from undergrad had been higher, my grades from my MAT program perhaps wouldn't have been relevant, but I needed that to beef up my application with the adcomms, so I was prepared to put that experience in the best light possible.  I should have gotten one of my profs to write one of my LOR's from that program but I only needed 3 letters, and 2 had to be from my speech-path pre-requisite courses.  Plus, it had been 7 years since I finished the MAT program, and each year it is less and less likely they could write a LOR that would be as convincing as I would want.  So... I was in a unique situation.  You may be able to benefit from my experience since your degrees are likely closer together than 7 years apart like mine.  

 

 

I hope my experience in this issue helps!  Best of luck to you. 

[IvanBezdomnii]

^Thanks very helpful! Very surprising that South Carolina of all places never had an application from a UNC grad student before! I will def bring it up to my LOR writers. I hadn't thought of using someone from UG before, but I will now consider it. Thanks again for a very thorough answer.