Calculating grade percentage (not GPA)

[RachaelMC]

So, one of my applications requires that you write your grades in as a percentage. (So, instead of _.__ GPA, you get ___% instead.) I've tried several different methods of calculating this percentage (taking into account the weight of all my courses) from all my grades, and wind up with the same number every time: 79.5%. Since there's no decimal on the site, I guess that makes 80. The trouble is, 80 at my undergrad is 3.7, and my GPA is definitely not that! 

 

I did have an unfortunate tendency to get grades one point below the cutoff for the next level, so that might account for the higher percentage vs the lower GPA. What do you guys think? Did I screw up royally? Should I be trying to convert the percentage directly from the GPA itself, or was my "adding up classes" method better?

 

 

They'll be getting my transcript too, of course, so I'm worried I'll look like a liar if anyone thinks it's out of order. Not submitted yet, but could be right away if not for this problem. 

[Maxtini]

How did you know 80 is 3.7? Are there any official conversion scale from your university?

 

As far as I know, 80 is not 3.7 but around 3.3 for CGPA calculation. But that depends on your school conversion policy.

 

My percentage is around 78.35 and after calculation using official conversion scale from my university, I get around 3.21 GPA. Is your GPA around 3.3?

My university conversion scale: A = 4.0 = 80~100; B = 3.0 = 70~79; C = 2.0 = 60~69; D = 1.0 = 50~59

I know some universities convert A = 4.0 = 90~100; B = 3.0 = 80-90; C = 2.0 = 70~79; D = 1.0 = 60~69

Edited December 13, 2014 by Maxtini

[TakeruK]

Maxtini, the percentage to GPA conversion depends a lot on the country you are in! In Canada (RachaelMC's listed country), most schools use this system:

 

90% to 100%: A+ = 4.3

85% to 89%: A = 4.0

80% to 84%: A- = 3.7

76% to 79%: B+ = 3.3

72% to 75%: B = 3.0

68% to 71%: B- = 2.7

64% to 67%: C+ = 2.3

60% to 63%: C = 2.0

55% to 59%: C- = 1.7

50% to 54%: D = 1.0 (or 1.3)

0% to 49%: F = 0.0 (Fail)

 

Therefore, RachaelMC is right that 80% is about a 3.7 in the Canadian GPA system. Most Canadians schools don't really use GPA but actually issue grades as percentages instead. My undergrad school's official grades are %, the letter grade is just a reference and they don't even have a GPA system. My MSc school just recently switched from % to GPA system; however the % are still used to compute the student's final grade, then the above lookup table is used to convert all grades and report a GPA.

 

 

For RachaelMC: Don't worry about small differences in your reported GPA because as you said, your transcript will clear everything up. I had a ton of trouble converting my % grade to GPA for American schools and when I contacted them, they said it doesn't really matter what I self-report, they will confirm it with the transcript anyways. You can contact your schools if you want to be sure too.

 

But, I would recommend that you compute your grades by taking your number out of 4.3 and converting it to the middle of the range of the table above (look up specific table for the school) and weighting your courses like you said you did. If you end up with 79.5, you can report it as 79 or 80 and it won't make a difference since it's just one percentage point. It doesn't matter that 80% and 79% are 3.7 and 3.3 at your undergrad school, respectively, because if the school is asking for % score, they won't care about the GPA system.

[MathCat]

I was in a similar pickle for one of my applications. My grades are all letter grades instead of percentages. All I could think of was to convert my cGPA to a percentage - which gave a number I'm sure was not accurate. But, when I e-mailed the grad admissions office they told me it didn't actually matter what I put there, since they would recompute it themselves. I would suggest contacting the school/department to save yourself the stress.