<p>Hello there!</p>
<p>I'm an American student who is planning to graduate in 2014. Once I do, I would like to go up to UBC or SFU and study Computer Science. I've just toured both universities and I've talked with an adviser in SFU who couldn't answer my question about my grades. When I graduate, I will have ~3.83-3.9 GPA (Junior and Senior years will be a 4.0). Seeing as the American grading system and the Canadian grading system are two totally separate things, I was wondering what an American 3.8/3.9 translates into. I know in Canada, grades are percentages, with a 100% being an A+ and a gpa full of 100%'s is a 4.33. We don't have that in the states.</p>
<p>Basically, I just want to know how hard it will be to get into UBC/SFU with a 3.8/3.9 GPA (with almost full IB) seeing as there is no easy conversion.</p>
<p>I’m not sure how you got that impression of our grading system. We didn’t have A+s at my high school, and didn’t go above a 4.0; maybe some schools do that, but far from all. I think you’re thinking more of how the grading scale works at some (but again, not all) universities and colleges, but more commonly at those institutes, 90 or 95%+ is an A+. </p>
<p>You’ll get into both schools no problem, provided you have the prerequisite courses and SAT/ACT scores – just look at the required stats for American students on those unis’ websites. You’re well above the cut-off for admission, and the IB courses will be a plus.</p>
<p>Good luck – both are excellent schools, and I think you’ll really enjoy Vancouver. :)</p>
<p>Without context, grades and GPAs are just meaningless numbers. </p>
<p>Make sure that, along with your transcripts, you submit a letter from your counselor detailing your school’s grading system. It’s the only reliable way to convey that information, because there is no clear-cut standard and Canadian adcoms probably don’t understand your system. Doing the IB exams will help you, since that system is quite popular in Canada. SATs will be useful too, provided you have an above-average score.</p>
<p>All in all, Canadian universities are very easy to get into. They typically don’t publish acceptance rate statistics, but it is common for them to be over 80% for many schools. With a GPA like that (and corresponding above-average SAT/ACT scores), you should almost certainly get in.</p>