GPA question for Canadians

[qkitty]

I took a bunch of courses in UWO and got all of them above 80s. In some of my classes, there was nobody got 90 above. In most of my classes there was only under 5% students got 90 above. According to the school grading scale, 80-89 is A and 90 above is A+. But in US, usually 90+ is A and there's no A+.

Do you know how AMCAS calculates this kind of 5 scale canadian GPA? I'm so afraid that they would count my 80' as B', especially we worked so hard to get 80s... Thanks for any info. on this topic!

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[VC15]

I'm pretty sure an 85 is counted as an A (4.0) on the AMCAS application for courses done at Canadian schools. I didn't apply through AMCAS this year, so I can't say for sure. Maybe some of the other Canadians here (brandonite, etc.) can give a more definite answer? BTW I see that you're from Boston. Are you an American attending UWO?

 

[moo]

Canadian schools generally have a different grading scale and AMCAS reflects this. At a lot of Canadian schools, 50% is a pass, which may seem low, but when 1/3 of the class gets below 50%, it's not that low! In any case, all of my percentage grades translated to what my school called A+, A, A-, etc.

 

[qkitty]

Thanks VC15 and Moo!
VC15: I'm not an American. I just temporarily relocated to Boston area with my family. But I got the feeling that Canadian schools are a lot harder than schools in the U.S.! In one big class I took at UWO, nobody in my class (out of 400) got 90+! I complained to the school and got no response... Anyway, wish us all good luck!!

 

[brandonite]

What shows up on your transcript? The percentage, or the letter grade?

My percentages aren't on my transcript, which made it easy for me. My 80-85 marks got translated to an A-, and the rest of them got translated to an A by AMCAS.

You're right - a mark of an 80 will get you an A- in Canada, and a B- in the US, but it is very much harder to get an 80 in Canadian schools.

If I were you, I'd translate them directly on your AMCAS app (ie - if you got an 82 in a class, mark it down as an A-), and then have Western's registrar send in a copy of the criteria for an A-, A, etc... Hopefully there shouldnt be any problems!

If you have percentages on your transcript, then you'll have no problem! My application got verified without any changes.

 

[jase133]

When you enter it into the AMCAS online application, it will all convert for you.

 

[moo]

I put in letter grades, but AMCAS changed it all to percentages (My transcript has both letter grades and percentages), but the GPA turned out to be the same.