Different undergraduate grading scale

[jrunyan]

Ok, I have been trying to find the answer to this for quite some time now, and nobody seems to be able to help me.

Currently I attend Kettering University. We are a small private school in Flint, MI. We are widely accepted as one of the best undergraduate engineering schools in the country. The problem is, they do not grade on a 4.0 system, or anything that I am even able to find a conversion system for.

We use what is called the weighted average grade (WAG). This ranges from 65 - 100. The only problem is, there is no "university standard" conversion scale to relate back to the 4.0 scale. So, my question is, how would adcoms look at this WAG? Is there someone I should contact who would give a "universal" conversion (like the AMCAS), or will I be stuck with each college converting to a different scale?

Any Help You could give would be greatly appreciated,

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[Doc Oc]

When you fill out the AMCAS app, there is a table for grade conversions. AMCAS has you report grades in letter form, so most people, unless their school already grades in letters, have to figure out how to convert their grades. If your school grades with something like percentages, then AMCAS has a conversion table like 90-100 = A, etc. Look on the AAMC website www.aamc.org and see if they have their conversion table online. If not ,call AMCAS and ask them. I know that my "AMCAS GPA" is higher than my actual GPA because of how my school graded. Hope this helps you find the info you are looking for!

 

[Doc Oc]

I just went to the AAMC website and looked on their FAQ to see if it answered your question, and this is what I found:

9. When I try to enter current or future coursework, it says that there is no conversion available for my school.
This is correct. AMCAS does not assume that your school will be using the same grading system for the following term. Therefore you will need to designate the grading system manually.

When you go through the process of selecting the grading system, the software will ask what type of grades your school uses (e.g. does it use A - F without pluses or minuses or does it use A+ thru F, or does it use a numerical system from 0 - 100)
After selecting the type of grading system, the software will list specific grades and ask you to pick the ones that your school uses. If your school uses A - F without pluses or minuses, then select the line listing just A - F. If your school uses pluses and minuses, then select the line listing the exact grades that your school uses.

That's all that you need to do. All of the classes in that term will use that grading system. When you change terms, you will need to do this again.


On the software, you pick the grading scale closest to your and enter the grade reported on your transcript, and the software will convert it the the "AMCAS grade" for you. Then when grades are reported to med schools, it is all using this "AMCAS GPA" conversion, which is an attempt to make everyone on equal footing. My undergrad college graded with 4.0, 3.5, 3.0, etc. I hated this because if I barely missed a 4.0, there was no 3.7, etc. to show how close I actually was. So I guess there is no way to make /all/ grades from all institutions completely comparable. Anyway, I just wanted to check out my own advice and see if it woudl have helped you or not!