Converting UK average to US GPA for math grad applications (85% average/95th percentile)

[jd12345]

Hi there,

I'm a UK student applying for maths PhDs in the US and some applications require me to convert my degree classification into GPA. I'm averaging around 85% (which puts me in the 95th percentile at my university, roughly). According to the 'official' Fulbright page here, the lowest 1st class honours (70% average) works out at 3.67GPA. Interpolating this linearly would put my 85% average at around 3.84GPA. However, I've seen elsewhere that being anywhere above 95th percentile would put me at a 4.00GPA, which I'm under the impression is much better than 3.84. I know there is no accurate conversion between the two systems, but does anyone else have more experience/knowledge in what that corresponds to? I'm at a highly ranked (just below Oxbridge) uni for maths if that makes any difference, ranking 12th out of roughly 240 students. 

 

Thanks!

[Tidus]

Had this issue myself. If you only have to do this for a couple of applications it might be worth contacting the departments to ask for clarification. Otherwise, like you said, there's no easy or official way to do the conversion, so my take on it is that there's not really any harm in airing on the more impressive side when you state your gpa so long as you're not completely misrepresenting it.