Grade Point Average

[Dr. Yankem]

Hi,

I'm familiar with only the following GPA conversion:
% Letter GPA
85-100 A+/A 4.0
80-84 A- 3.7
77-79 B+ 3.3
73-76 B 3.0
70-72 B- 2.7
etc...

Many people post averages of 3.6 and 3.88 so where do those sit in the above chart?
I go to a Canadian school and this grading system is consisting with U of T's method, are US schools different?

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[OSUDDS]

Yes very different
A 100-94
A- 94-90
B+ 89-87
B 85-83
B- 83-80
C+ 79-77
C 77-74

 

[apaul]

holy cow!, I'd have straight A's in Canada eh?

 

[Dr. Yankem]

so a US student with a college/university GPA of 3.7 has a (insert letter grade) and a (insert % grade)...

 

[Dr. Yankem]

Whoops, I got it a bit wrong. This is what I meant:

A+ 90-100 (4.00)
A 85-89 (3.90)
A- 80-84 (3.70)
B+ 77-79 (3.30)
B 73-76 (3.00)
B- 70-72 (2.70)

Notice how there is a wide range of grade points missing from this GPA system (e.g. a student with a 79% overall earns a B+ and receives a 3.30 GPA, but a student with an 80% overall earns an A- and 3.70 GPA. So I guess there just isn't a grade that lies at 3.40, 3.50. 3.60 in this system, correct me if I'm wrong).

 

[INFNITE]

there are different methods of calculation. Some use 3.3 for B+ and 3.7 for A- while others use 3.333 for B+ and 3.667 for A-. In most cases, the final calculated GPA wouldn't differ by much. I believe AADSAS uses the 2nd method while my undergrad school used the 1st method, and the result differed by less than 0.05 since many of my B+'s and A-'s cancelled each other out.

 

[OSUDDS]

either way, an A in canada is really easy to get

 

[INFNITE]

another thing to note, an A is normally set at 4.0. Some schools consider A+ also as 4.0, while others calculate it as 4.3 or 4.333. AADSAS does take A+ into consideration and calculates it as 4.333.

 

[prez_al]

either way, an A in canada is really easy to get

Right... the educational system is totally different from all accounts, there's no way you can assume you'll get straight A's in Canada until you actually go to a Canadian institution (where the avg is usually a C+/B-). In fact the mark distribution is the same as the states. But then again, I can see A LOT of ppl getting upset if a Canadian steals their spot in dental school cuz we have it easier apparently . But I believe that the same amount of work is required to achieve a certain letter grade regardless of the difference in percentages, so saying how one system favours another is kinda redundant. If you think about it this way, the diff between an A- and A+ in the states is 5% while in Canada is 10%, so in a way more effort is required to get those grades. Just hope your remark doesn't imply that Canadians are a bunch of slackers who watch hockey in our igloos while eating our poutine and therefore we get off easy .

To the OP, my cGPA using the Canadian system is 3.7, while the AADSAS calculation gives me a 3.8 if that's any help to you if you wanna know where you stand.

 

[Dr. Yankem]

another thing to note, an A is normally set at 4.0. Some schools consider A+ also as 4.0, while others calculate it as 4.3 or 4.333. AADSAS does take A+ into consideration and calculates it as 4.333.

Yeah, that's true, I read about it somewhere how a "+" indicates an extra 0.25 or 0.33 grade points while a "-" is just the opposite. Thanks for your info!

Also theses values are obtained from OMSAS (Ontario Medical School Application Service) 2007 column "3".

http://www.ouac.on.ca/omsas/pdf/c_omsas_b.pdf

 

[Dr. Yankem]

Right... the educational system is totally different from all accounts, there's no way you can assume you'll get straight A's in Canada until you actually go to a Canadian institution (where the avg is usually a C+/B-). In fact the mark distribution is the same as the states. But then again, I can see A LOT of ppl getting upset if a Canadian steals their spot in dental school cuz we have it easier apparently . But I believe that the same amount of work is required to achieve a certain letter grade regardless of the difference in percentages, so saying how one system favours another is kinda redundant. If you think about it this way, the diff between an A- and A+ in the states is 5% while in Canada is 10%, so in a way more effort is required to get those grades. Just hope your remark doesn't imply that Canadians are a bunch of slackers who watch hockey in our igloos while eating our poutine and therefore we get off easy .

To the OP, my cGPA using the Canadian system is 3.7, while the AADSAS calculation gives me a 3.8 if that's any help to you if you wanna know where you stand.

Hey prez_al thanks for your response

Yeah, I agree. Hopefully that isn't what OSUDDS was implying, I probably inadvertently misled him/her by my original and incorrect post.

I also currently had a 3.7 CDN cGPA, so I'm guessing that the AADSAS probably gave you some additional grade points for A+ grades since your US GPA was slightly higher?

Also I found this AADSAS Application Instruction online and it shows GPA calculations that are essentially the same as the OMSAS column 3 values. So the US system isn't that different compared to the CDN one then, except that I don't think Canadians are awarded additional grade points (i.e. 4.33) for A+ grades since a 4.0 is the maximum a CDN applicant can receive in Canada.

See Page 40 on GPA Calculations
http://www.adea.org/AADSAS/WebDocs/AppAADSASInstructions.pdf

 

[Dr. Yankem]

The AADSAS also awards an intermediate "AB" (and a "BC") grade(s) that corresponds to a GPA of 3.5. That's definitely a nice feature that the OMSAS doesn't have, you're either a 3.3 or a 3.7...

 

[Chakshu]

either way, an A in canada is really easy to get

Dunno about easy or hard but entering GPA for dental school at U of T is around 3.85 while for UWO (University of Western Ontario), its around 85% (they look at percentages). This past admission cycle, applicant required a minimum average of 3.72 GPA using the above GPA system just to get an interview.

 

[kvip]

r u serious? i am a canadian and my school gives out numerical marks such as 75, 80 etc. so u mean if i get 78 thats only a C+ even though according to canadian standards thats a B+

Yes very different
A 100-94
A- 94-90
B+ 89-87
B 85-83
B- 83-80
C+ 79-77
C 77-74

 

[Chakshu]

I was told by some SDNers (I am at U of T) that they will only look at your letter grade regardless of marks, so don't worry about your grade in terms of numbers

 

[kvip]

hmm..what i mean is my school doesn't give out letter grades but a numerical mark for each course i take, so when i enter the marks, will i have to enter the numerical mark or convert it myself to a letter grade or do they do that for me? i am confused. thanks for ur help though.

I was told by some SDNers (I am at U of T) that they will only look at your letter grade regardless of marks, so don't worry about your grade in terms of numbers