<p>If someone could please explain how GPA is calculated for Ontario students looking for admission into US schools I would really appreciate it!</p>
<p>I have no idea what weighted/unweighted honors/AP is (I just keep reading about it) and how this all relates to the Ontario curriculum.</p>
<p>Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>What follows is what I’ve learned from lurking around here for the past year, (funny how time flies and yet its sad how i’ve been here for so long)</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Generally speaking, in order to find your “American” gpa, you can add around 10-15% to your average… so a 90+average, would become 100+… and you may think holy crap that means im in my dream school of choice for sure, it doesnt work like that… cause yeah sure u might have a 91, and then with the boost, you’ll have a 101 in “american terms”… but joe from across town might get a 93… and thus have 103 in “american terms”… do you see what i mean? they boost our marks up a lot(10-15%, is just an estimate), but at the same time you are most likely competing against people from your own region … what i personally think is, after a 90+ canadian average(combined from gr9-12) it pretty much doesnt matter anymore… unless u have like 97+</p></li>
<li><p>if your school doesnt offer AP, dont worry… unis only look to see that you used all the opportunities around u… meaning if your school offers chem, physics, bio, functions, english and you end up taking woodworking, drama, english, fashion and philosophy… it may not seem amazing…</p></li>
</ul>
<p>do what you can man, i recently applied to Yale SCEA so you see I’m in the same struggle as you… just on a general note: a friend of mine got accepted into Wharton a couple of years ago… and our school does not offer any APs… however… he did have a 97 average all throughout highschool(yes i know that is insane)</p>
<p>edit:
heres the topic where i got most my info from
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/599998-canadian-students-applying-harvard.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/599998-canadian-students-applying-harvard.html</a></p>
<p>"weighted/unweighted /honors/AP? "</p>
<p>I understand from friends living in the States and some research that: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>Honor class: more intensive than regular class. You are allowed to take ‘honor’ class only when approved by your highschool. In Canada, I suppose the honor class might be similar to ‘enriched’ class. However, they differ in that when applying to US college, our enriched class does not gain us extra points while honor class does.</p></li>
<li><p>AP class: more intensive than regular AND ‘equivalent’ to college freshman course. When you complete this class at highschool or self study for AP exams, AND take the CB’s AP exams in May, you earn college credit on the subject, that is depending on your score. For instance, if you take AP calculus at your highschool and get a B, the chances are that you get 5 points for that B instead of 3 in regular calculus class. In case you write the CB’s AP calculus exam in May and earn score of 3 or higher, you likely earn ‘college credit’ as well.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>** In the States where AP is offered, students get 5 or even 6 points for an A rather than 4 points, and 4 or 5 points for a B rather than 3, etc. Most US highschools offer honor and AP program for competitive students.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>unweighted gpa: gpa when weighing just 4 full points for A’s in ‘all’ classes including honor and AP.</p></li>
<li><p>weighted gpa: gpa when weighing higher points (5 or 6 depending on each school) for honor and AP classes.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Sorry for mumbling and hopefully it helps.
Please join “post your stats please-Canadian students aiming for US” thread. You will learn quite a bit. It seems that Canadian gpa of over 90 is 4.0 in US gpa, I recently found out and am happy about. ^^</p>
<p>@pakalypse: Good to confirm 90+ is 100. Thanx.</p>
<p>That “they add 10% to 15%” myth is complete ********. </p>
<p>The past successful applicants to top U.S. schools from my Canadian high school have had near perfect records. Pretty much 97 to 99% averages. Your grades also mean nothing without a relative rank to put it into perspective. My school doesn’t rank except for the top two students in each grade; they get a small award at the end of the year. </p>
<p>We have not had a top 10 U.S. admit at my school who hasn’t consistently won those prizes.</p>
<p>If you’re applying to top U.S. colleges and you’re one of the best students in your class, you probably have nothing to worry about. Otherwise you have much to worry about.</p>
<p>My guidance counsellor told me my unweighted GPA was 3.82, yet I have never gotten a mark below 90% in any course from Grade 9 to now (Grade 12).</p>
<p>So I’m not really sure how they calculate it.</p>
<p>A lot of schools in the US have a system that an ‘A’ is 93-100, or 94-100, and in some rare cases 95-100. So, if you got a couple 91s or 92s or 93s or so, then that is probably why your GPA is at 3.82.</p>
<p>Technically, according to provincial standards (I’m looking at Ontario here), an 80 counts as an A-.</p>
<p>My cumulative is in the low 90s and my school translates to a 4.0.</p>
<p>^ That’s odd, I’m in Ontario too.</p>
<p>Maybe I should talk to my counsellor…</p>
<p>yea, if the councilor converted just using what we know to be A+'s A’s and A-'s, you should have 4.0, but if he/she used what American schools use, then maybe that’s why its 3.82</p>
<p>US and Canadian marks don’t convert 1:1 usually…so you should just talk to your counselor and ask how they convert…</p>
<p>^ I see. Thanks for the info! (@ ViggyRam & darks0ulz)</p>
<p>that’s wierd… cause I had a 93 average… but she gave me a 3.66 GPA? anyone wanna ask a guidance counselor?</p>
<p>It’s going to vary by school. My school profile (top 10 in Ontario) states A = 4.0 and a 90 = A. </p>
<p>Regardless, you need to have a frame of reference. That’s why there is that ranking thing. At some schools it’s easy to get a 95+ avg whereas at others only a few get 90+. The rank helps keep things a bit more consistent. </p>
<p>At my school there are only like 10-15 people out of 300+ that have avgs higher than 90.</p>
<p>Yea ranking is very important to top schools. Especially with us Canadians having percents, it gives them an idea of where we stand. </p>
<p>You gotta hand it to the US, their system is much better than ours when it comes to university applications. Canada = study and get high average, your into the best universities </p>
<p>US = all rounder, SAT, GPA, class ranks, ECs, references, essays, volunteer, and more…then you have a shot at a top school. It makes sure people are truly leaders and develops kids earlier to be responsible.</p>
<p>Hello, OP here, and I just found this conversion chart that the NCAA uses for student athletes for the province of Ontario. One admissions counsellor I spoke to said he does use this scale…</p>
<p>Grade Scale and Conversion for Ontario, Canada:
Grade Translation Numeric Grade Equivalent U.S. Grade Quality Points
80-100 A 4
70-79 B 3
60-69 C 2
50-59 D 1
0-49 F 0</p>
<p>man, we really luck out with that scale haha. I think almost everyone on this forum thats Canadian would have a 4.0. Nice!</p>
<p>Universities do not care about your so called “GPA”. Do you honestly think they’ll compare two GPAs from two completely different schools, regions, and countries? Universities unfortunately are not that stupid. They will TAKE your grades and percentages and converted it to their own, which in the end, will compare nicely with people applying from elsewhere. Tell your counselors to use whatever scale they want, because ultimately it does not matter.</p>
<p>I am not too concerned about GPA for admissions, I don’t expect GPA will be an issue for admissions as most of the schools on the short list aren’t too selective–it’s more for the automatic scholarships–there can be thousands of dollars difference between a 3.5 and a 4.0. That’s really where I’m coming from.</p>
<p>I think that its dumb how Ontario and Canadian universities just care about marks, but we don’t have a standardized test. GPA and the SAT just get us a chance at elite schools. Once over a certain point then it doesn’t matter, that’s when the rest of your app. comes into play. </p>
<p>This is why I find it silly when people retake SAT scores of 2310 or 2290 and such. What’s the point? After about a 2250 or so, then you can throw the SAT out the door and focus on subject tests, then after a certain point on those then they look at the rest of your app. GPA plays a smaller role than one would think. Class rank is probably more important than GPA.</p>
<p>^ There are some Ontario universities that ask for more than marks. I know for Waterloo, they make you fill out a form with basically a series of short answers. McMaster’s Health Sci program has quite a lengthy supplement too. </p>
<p>But yeah, I agree about the SAT thing. With a score that high, I don’t think any admission officer really cares if you had a 2300 vs a 2310.</p>