Amcas Gpa Scale?

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kittykat82

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Hi all,

I am new to the process of med school applications. I would like to know if the AMCAS calculates GPA on a certain scale. I ask because my college does not use minus (-) grades and I know a lot of schools do, will this bring my B+ =3.5 down to a 3.3? Thanks I would like to know.

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No worries. A B+ is still a 3.5.
 
i believe the AMCAS GPA for a B+ is a 3.3
 
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My school uses no "minus" grades. Each B+ I have is designated as the grade "AB" and has been assigned a 3.5.

Not sure about schools where there are minus grades.
 
Bizarre. My B+ grades are given a 3.3.
 
Originally posted by HollyJ
Bizarre. My B+ grades are given a 3.3.

I think it has to do with each schools grading system. I think that for schools with minus grades, an A- would be a 3.7, and a B+ would be a 3.3.
 
And thus, why AMCAS has its own standardized grading scale.

At most of the schools I've gone to (which had both plus and minus grades), an A- was a 3.5 and a B+ was a 3.3. But I have seen other places where a B+ was a 3.5.

I think for AMCAS, a B+ is a 3.3, but I'm not 100% certain.
 
A B+ is a 3.3 on AMCAS. I am absolutely sure about this. A- is 3.7. Otherwise it wouldn't be fair.
 
A+, A: 4.0

A-: 3.7

B+: 3.3

B: 3.0

and so on...
 
To the OP, your B+ should be a 3.5. To everyone else who didn't get it, the OP doesn't have A-, so their GPA is

A=4
B+=3.5
B=3
C+=2.5
....

My school does the same thing except BA instead of B+ and CB instead of C+....



It wish I had A-s a 3.7 would've be nice instead of a 3.5 in many cases.:)
 
At my school, and any school I have ever attended or heard of:

>90 = A = 4.0
>80 = B = 3.0
>70 = C = 2.0
<70 = fail

There are no + or - assigned to the grades.

Will the AMCAS change my grades around or will they leave them as they are. On my transcripts, the grades are only reported as a letter.
 
Originally posted by jarrod_dale
At my school, and any school I have ever attended or heard of:

>90 = A = 4.0
>80 = B = 3.0
>70 = C = 2.0
<70 = fail

There are no + or - assigned to the grades.

Will the AMCAS change my grades around or will they leave them as they are. On my transcripts, the grades are only reported as a letter.

this can be both good and bad....if you barely get As then you would getting the benefits of this system...however if you barely miss As then you suffer a big drop.

more harm than good? not sure...
 
The last statement on this thread intrigued me. Why does everyone have this idea that a 90 is an A, 80 is a B, etc. At my school, and most other schools I've heard of, letter grades are not assigned until the mean is taken into consideration. There are some classes I've been in that a 60 or 70 would get you an A, and another class where a 95 got me an A-. It all just depends on the curve and where the mean and standard deviations fall. Usually the mean is assigned a grade of B-.

I'd be interested to know how many schools use a straight 90/80/70 scale. I thought this was only done mostly in high school. I've also heard people refer to a "curve" being when a certain number of points are added to everyone's test due to a low mean...in that case it's not really a curve. Let me know what you all think...
 
does anyone have a definitive answer here?:confused:
 
Originally posted by kittykat82
Hi all,

I am new to the process of med school applications. I would like to know if the AMCAS calculates GPA on a certain scale. I ask because my college does not use minus (-) grades and I know a lot of schools do, will this bring my B+ =3.5 down to a 3.3? Thanks I would like to know.

According to the AMCAS site, yes, it will.
 
Yeah, I definitely believe AMCAS standardizes the grades, so even if a B+ is a 3.5 at your school, it is a 3.3 on AMCAS. That's why you hear so many people complain about how their AMCAS gpa is lower than the gpa they've obtained from their school. There are also some schools that set an A+ as a 4.3 (I think Columbia does this), but it's a 4.0 on AMCAS (not that this particular change in grading is THAT big a deal!).
 
Maybe we should just take a vote. :laugh:

Okay this had me a bit worried, so I recalculated my stuff. My school has NO MINUS GRADES, just as the OP. My school assigns + grades, but not - grades. As such, my B+ grades are designated AB by AMCAS, even though they are indeed B+ on my transcript. The AB was a 3.5 in my case, upon averaging it together.

If minus grades are included, then it's a different story, as made clear by the chart.
 
Hey All,

Thanks for the many replies, I was a little confused at first with all the different answers but I think it is agreed that the AMCAS goes by the grading system each individual college uses. Thanks again.
 
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