Hi guys, I did a little bit of research and it seems like many American schools grade differently than us (ie. some grade 90+ as A while others grade 80+ as A, and some give 4.3 for A+, etc).

However it seems like generally a more "normal" grading scheme would be 4.0 for A (and same for A+). Is this true? For the Ontario conversion chart, an A would be awarded a 3.9 instead of 4. Anybody know which one is the standard American GPA conversion system?

Thanks in advance!

Nope.. in the US, there is no such thiing as an A+, therefore their A, which is usually 94-100, would be similar to Ontario's A+

You have to use the system your schools uses, thus, the GPA they'd take would be the conversion based on the mac system: Ergo: A = 3.9, A+ = 4.

http://careers.mcmaster.ca/students/...nversion-chart

Originally Posted by Fish

http://careers.mcmaster.ca/students/...nversion-chart

Thanks, but I've seen that one a million times. That's the Canadian GPA system, it may not be completely the same as the US standard GPA system (differences on what #s are being awarded to each grade).

I've done some research on google, and for standard converstion (not just for specific schools such as Columbia which uses B for 80+ or something) it seems like 4.0 is being awarded to A whereas the Ontario one you would get a 3.9.

Now my question is that after you receive your transcript (assume other than converted letter grades you also receive the calculated number grades out of 4 based on the Ontario standard) and you mail it to the American institution you want to apply, would they re-convert them into the standard American GPA?



I guess I should probably book an appointment with an academic counselor at Mac to talk about it after the exams.

Ok, here's the conversion from AMCAS for American med school application:
http://www.aamc.org/students/amcas/2...ionguide.p df

For them 4.0 is awarded to A (and nothing higher, but still better than the Ontario one since 3.9 is being used), and you can do the conversion by yourself by converting your transcript grade (I assume the letter grade?).

I'm not looking to apply to an US med program though (healthcare, but not med), anybody know whether this is the standard system for ALL American conversions(unless specified by the university) or whether that's just being used for med?

They won't convert it.. they'll use the canadian standard.

I'm from the US, you should hope they don't convert it to the American insitution...it would drastically go down. The grading system in canada is a joke compared to American schools.

Yup, one of my profs used to teach at Penn State, and she said having anything below a 60% was an F there...so she was giving out 60's here and not realizing those students were passing, haha

For med, for sure its 4.0 if you get a A (11) at mac. AMCAS converts the grades differently for every different canadian university. For example, for western 80+ is considered a 4.0 on the AMCAS scale.

^
Wait, getting an 11 is considered a 4.0 for Medical Schools in the US?

Another question, when calculating the weights of GPA, I've seen people using the number of credits (ie. a semester of course at Mac=3 credits), and some using the number of hours (I assume the total hrs of lectures+labs+tutoria ls in a week?). Which one is the standard?

Originally Posted by Alchemist11

^
Wait, getting an 11 is considered a 4.0 for Medical Schools in the US?

According to my research, yes the standard (or most common) in the US is 4.0 for 11/A. Here in Canada you only get a 3.9. Some US universities also offer 4.33 for A+, and some only give A+ for 95%+.

ive never heard the 4.33 thing but it might be true. As for the credit hours, from what ive heard, if you apply to med schools in the states from mac, all your courses are counted equally and are weighted exactly the same way. Where as at other places like uoft, lab courses count for a little higher than courses that only have lectures.

for anyone whose confused abt this whole GPA conversion thing for mac to american med, i suggest you visit the premed101 forum (just google it) and look under applying to american schools. Its a really good place to get this kinda info

Thanks for the responses!

Anyway I found out that many US school require you to send your transcript to an independent evaluation service called WES or world education services. From the sample it provided, it seems like they also use 4.0 for A (I could be wrong though because the sample was not 100% clear).

Originally Posted by sycoman

For med, for sure its 4.0 if you get a A (11) at mac. AMCAS converts the grades differently for every different canadian university. For example, for western 80+ is considered a 4.0 on the AMCAS scale.

So... an 11 is a 4.0? is that a 4.0 on a 4.0 scale or a 4.3 scale?