Arbitrary Grade Cut Offs: Your Opinion

[Minnerbelle]

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Are high school grades in the US on similar scales? Mine were always 86+ A, 73+ B, and the 4 universities I've been to were similar. But I guess if US schools are all like that, you're all being compared to each other anyway so who cares.

It totally depended on the class, but I had a bunch of classes where it was:

80-100 = A
60-80 = B
40-60 = C
20-40 = D
0 - 20 = F

that, and an A on an AP or honors course = 5.0... so I graduated with a gpa of 4.3! and my class rank was 14 because I had 1 B+ in french, and there were 13 valedictorians who had all A's (most of them begged teachers to change their grade to keep their valedictorian status at one point or another, which I refused to do).

ooooooh california, how i don't miss thee.

 

[nyanko]

My high school was of the 93-100 = A, 84-92 = B, etc...type

 

[cowgirla]

My high school was 100-90, 90-80, etc scale.

However, honors courses were weighted 1.5, and AP courses were weighted 2 but basically you could wind up with an average of 105-110ish if you took lots of high level classes. My high school GPA was a 107, and I was 19th in my class! Lot of people with 110s. It was precalc that really killed me 🙂

 

[twelvetigers]

GPAs weren't weighted at my HS so all the 4.0 kids were valedictorians. There were six. For a graduating class of 142. Crap! I had a 3.8 ish, AND I took honors classes. Eh well.

 

[luplodw]

Geeeez! In my high school you had to have a 95 to get an A! 94 was a B (don't know the rest because I only got A's in high school)

 

[chyactnate]

Never taken a class with a limit on numbers of As and Bs, and it most certainly is not fair to have such a limit.

Totally Agree!!!!

 

[laurafinn]

That [Canadian] scale makes me incredibly jealous! I could have been a 4.0 student 🙁

You have to bear in mind that the type of testing and strictness of grading is likely different. For instance, the grades at my school tend to cluster at 65-80%. This is not because everyone's a slacker, it's just that it is really rather extraordinary to get > 8.5/10 on any one essay question -- and the tests are pretty much all essay questions. I'm not sure why this is or how to explain it more specifically, but grading here is substantially different than the grading system in my first college (in America).

 

[Coquette22]

Seriously, though, how the heck does that work then? Are your tests/assignments just insanely difficult? It's hard to understand how the average can be a B- when that's only two-thirds of the points offered...

It's possible they're quite hard. Like I said, I don't have an American school barometer to judge against. I do know that I work my butt off to pull A's though, and A+ is a major rarity.

 

[parietal]

It totally depended on the class, but I had a bunch of classes where it was:

80-100 = A
60-80 = B
40-60 = C
20-40 = D
0 - 20 = F

😱

 

[Minnerbelle]

😱

Sad thing is, plenty of people still flunk out...

 

[VeganSoprano]

I have to say I don't get the point of a class where a 60 is a B. To me, if you are missing 40 percent of the material on the exam the how much have you really learned? It seems like either the teacher is teaching poorly, the students are learning poorly, or the tests are too hard, or all of the above. I wish all classes were structured so that an A is 90+ and a bright student who does the required work has a reasonable possibility of getting that grade.

 

[rhinocerotidae]

At my University, every class is on the bell curve - no matter what the size of the class. I've been in classes of 20 to 400 and they've all been curved 🙁. Not only are we on the curve but each class has to have a certain number of A, B, C etc. It really sucks! I hate the bell curve, and when they have to scale the bell curve to make a class "fit" it - it's even worse!

I took a class and got something between 87-91% which gave me a B! Since there is a certain amount of students above me they got the (A+,A,A-,B+).
When applying to Vet School can you mention the grading system of your University? Since that could reflect how "hard" the school was to get good grades.

My University wants to become one the tops schools in North America, at some point, and they pride themselves on having this amazing grading system, which I think is completely unfair and does not reflect a students true effort. At this University we use the 4.0 (ie A=4.0) grading system BUT there are no percentages beside the letters, since that changes depending on the class!

What I think is kind of sad, is that because of our grading system, we've been trained to always compared our grade to the class. It all depends on were your sitting when compared to class average on what grade you'll get.

Anyway - There was my giant rant! Can you tell I issues with my schools grading system!

 

[Tiktaalik]

At my University, every class is on the bell curve - no matter what the size of the class. I've been in classes of 20 to 400 and they've all been curved 🙁. Not only are we on the curve but each class has to have a certain number of A, B, C etc. It really sucks! I hate the bell curve, and when they have to scale the bell curve to make a class "fit" it - it's even worse!

I took a class and got something between 87-91% which gave me a B! Since there is a certain amount of students above me they got the (A+,A,A-,B+).
When applying to Vet School can you mention the grading system of your University? Since that could reflect how "hard" the school was to get good grades.

My University wants to become one the tops schools in North America, at some point, and they pride themselves on having this amazing grading system, which I think is completely unfair and does not reflect a students true effort. At this University we use the 4.0 (ie A=4.0) grading system BUT there are no percentages beside the letters, since that changes depending on the class!

What I think is kind of sad, is that because of our grading system, we've been trained to always compared our grade to the class. It all depends on were your sitting when compared to class average on what grade you'll get.

Anyway - There was my giant rant! Can you tell I issues with my schools grading system!

You can mention that sort of thing in the Explanation Statement (On last year's app, Application -> Background Information -> Explanation Statement) section, but if you do, be careful to phrase things really objectively and not come across as complaining.

Here's their explanation of what the explanation statement section is for

Explanation Statement
Use the explanation statement to record information that could not be listed within the web application, such as missing parental information, and disciplinary action(s) which require detailed explanation. This section can also be used to provide the admissions committee(s) additional information that you consider vital to your application. Your explanation statement should be clearly and succinctly written – 2000 characters (including spaces) have been allotted for this purpose.

Examples of pertinent information might include explanations about interruptions in your studies or experiences, unique circumstances you have faced, or reasons for decisions you have made.

 

[twelvetigers]

If your school has a genuinely odd grading scale, it's certainly fair to mention. Just be very matter-of-fact about it. Say it was a bit different, then explain the scale/method briefly.

 

[sumstorm]

You have to bear in mind that the type of testing and strictness of grading is likely different. For instance, the grades at my school tend to cluster at 65-80%. This is not because everyone's a slacker, it's just that it is really rather extraordinary to get > 8.5/10 on any one essay question -- and the tests are pretty much all essay questions. I'm not sure why this is or how to explain it more specifically, but grading here is substantially different than the grading system in my first college (in America).

My college doesn't participate in grade inflation. our top ranked student had a 3.60 (I had a 3.39.) Our classes also aren't weighted (ie if you have a science course with 90 minute classes 3x a week + 4 hours of lab each week it was worth the same as the speech class of 2 hours/wk, all = 1 credit) but we had 100% first application acceptance for pre-health and 98% continue on to terminal degrees. So....there are some atypical amercian schools. As far as I know, Purdue was the only school that dinged my GPA...but I believe they were not happy with how old my classes were.

I also attended highschool where you were allowed 1 C once a year, or you were kicked out. we were in college classes where the college students were failing out.

 

[sumstorm]

If your school has a genuinely odd grading scale, it's certainly fair to mention. Just be very matter-of-fact about it. Say it was a bit different, then explain the scale/method briefly.

If your school does have a genuinly different system, ask if the registrar has a standard letter (many do) and/or ask a dean to include a letter with your transcripts.

 

[laurafinn]

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