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[deleted687538]

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[ZedsDed]

I'm confused with gpa. Do colleges have their own gpa scales? I've looked on the college board website and it says low nineties to one hundred is a 4.0. I have a ~ 98 average, that's still a 4.0, right? Is there a universal gpa scale that colleges use? What about people who have gpas over 4.0?

The ridiculous 5.0 system is unique to high schools. College uses a 4.0 system.

 

[SpeedySavior]

I'm confused with gpa. Do colleges have their own gpa scales? I've looked on the college board website and it says low nineties to one hundred is a 4.0. I have a ~ 98 average, that's still a 4.0, right? Is there a universal gpa scale that colleges use? What about people who have gpas over 4.0?

Most colleges seem to be the same.
95-100 = 4.0, 94 = 3.9, 93 = 3.8, etc. I haven't seen a college with a different scale, yet. If you make a 98 in all of your classes, you'll have a 4.0, or should.

A GPA over 4.0 is probably only going to be seen in high school.

 

[SpeedySavior]

The ridiculous 5.0 system is unique to high schools.

I really don't even see the point in the 5.0 scale. Is it for some kind of grade inflation?

 

[Gingerbread_Man]

Ok this varies a bit depending on the college but in general it works like this:


You have credits, grades and honor points. The amount of credits you get per class can vary depending on the amount of time the class takes per week (that’s why it’s sometimes called credit-hours). Grades are done using the ABCDF scale and when given as a percentage they are usually translated to the ABCDF scale. A’s are worth 4 points, B’s = 3, C’s = 2, D’s = 1 and F’s = 0. Honor points come from the multiplication of credits and grades.


Example: You take 3 classes, English (3 credits), Calc I (3 credits), Bio I (4 credits). The biology class is worth more credits because it has an associated lab. Let’s say your grades at the end of the semester are B, B, A respectively. You might think your GPA is (3+3+4)/3 = 3.33 but it’s actually higher because that A in Bio I is worth more. So it’s calculated as ((3*3)+(3*3)+(4*4)/40)*4 and ends up as a 3.4 GPA.


That last equation might be confusing so I’ll break it down:

3 credits multiplied by 3 (because you got a B) = 9 honor points

Ditto = 9 honor points

4 credits multiplied by 4 (because you got an A) = 16 honor points

Divided by 40 because that is the maximum you could have gotten if you had all A’s

Multiplied by 4 because it translates the decimal back into the 4 point scale.


The max you can have is a 4.0 BUT that’s if you get A’s in EVERY class. A 98 average doesn’t really translate because if you’ve ever gotten less than an A as a final grade in college you can’t have a 4.0. On the flip side you don’t need to have 100% in everything just make straight 90’s and you’ll be a 4.0 student.

 

[ndafife]

Most colleges seem to be the same.
95-100 = 4.0, 94 = 3.9, 93 = 3.8, etc. I haven't seen a college with a different scale, yet. If you make a 98 in all of your classes, you'll have a 4.0, or should.

A GPA over 4.0 is probably only going to be seen in high school.

Yeah... definitely not the case. There is just as much diversity in college grading than anywhere else, even before you start factoring curves.

And the one you are citing is pretty obscure

 

[efle]

I really don't even see the point in the 5.0 scale. Is it for some kind of grade inflation?

It's to encourage people to take AP and honors classes, which get a 5.0 for an A while the regular level get 4.0. This way, students are not punished for challenging themselves with the tougher class and getting an AP B instead of a regular A, and those who can land straight A's in mostly AP classes can distinguish themselves with GPAs of like 4.4

Most colleges seem to be the same.
95-100 = 4.0, 94 = 3.9, 93 = 3.8, etc. I haven't seen a college with a different scale, yet. If you make a 98 in all of your classes, you'll have a 4.0, or should.

A GPA over 4.0 is probably only going to be seen in high school.

What a bizarre system. The most common (I'd say nearly universal) system and the one used by AMCAS to calculate your GPA for med schools is:

A+ 4.0
A 4.0
A- 3.7
B+ 3.3
B 3.0
B- 2.7
C+ 2.3
C 2.0
C- 1.7
Failing grades

As f0r converting percent scores to letters...totally varies by class. For one class it may be 92.5+ = A, for another 94.0+ = A, and for yet another it may be set up on a curve so that Top X% = A. This is made clear during "syllabus / shopping week", the first week of each semester, where people are finding out how the classes they're in will be run and switching in and out of classes on waitlists etc

 

[SpeedySavior]

Yeah... definitely not the case. There is just as much diversity in college grading than anywhere else, even before you start factoring curves.

And the one you are citing is pretty obscure

College grading seems pretty straightforward thus far. It could differ between schools.

Most public universities in my area usually grade with the same scale. Once again, differs slightly between colleges.

Edit: let me specify, that when I listed the GPA=percent in my first post, I wasn't saying that was a scale that was used. I was using that as an example, not a scale.

 

[SpeedySavior]

What a bizarre system. The most common (I'd say nearly universal) system and the one used by AMCAS to calculate your GPA for med schools is:

My mistake, I wasn't saying that was the system used, I was just using it as an example..

 

[goldy490]

The overall point is that almost every (respectable) college will grade on a 4.0 scale. There will be some variation in what amount of points are awarded to what grades (for example, my school says an A is 4.0, B is 3.0, C is 2.0 and so on), but the overall scheme is pretty consistent.

 

[efle]

The overall point is that almost every (respectable) college will grade on a 4.0 scale. There will be some variation in what amount of points are awarded to what grades (for example, my school says an A is 4.0, B is 3.0, C is 2.0 and so on), but the overall scheme is pretty consistent.

It also doesn't matter what your college does, it matters what the AMCAS app does.