<p>Hello, I'm a computer science student from University of Waterloo in Canada. I'm thinking of going to grad school in US, and unsure what kind of mark is required. At Waterloo, we have numerical grade, instead of letter grade. So for each course, we get a mark out of 100. And so we don't have GPA's like 3.8, 3.6 that of US style. How would our marks equate to that of US style GPA? would a mark of 80 be equivalent to 3.7 GPA? </p>
<p>At our school, in computer science, it's tough to get over 80 average, and lots of students go to grad school with mark of 80 or above.</p>
<p>So what kind of marks out of 100, do you think I need for grad school? of course there are other stuff like research, recommendation letters, GRE, and etc. but that will come later.</p>
<p>i'm thinking of M.S computer scient right now, and thinking of top-tier schools, like stanford, berkeley, etc, or maybe some other schools slightly below those top-tier schools.</p>
<p>In the US, an 80 average is something like a B- (2.7 .. not very good.) But I think Waterloo has a good reputation for math and sciences and most decent US adcoms will understand that grades are way tougher there than in the US where grad inflation is rampant. Besides, if you do well on the GRE, that will really show them. Maybe also make sure you get your recommenders to explain your grades too (ie. that an 80 is a really great grade, this guy/girl was in the top of the class, etc.)</p>
<p>The US and Canadian grades are completely different!</p>
<p>In Canada:
100 -80 = A
79 - 65 = B
65 - 55 = C
55 - 50 = D
below 50 = F</p>
<p>The US has a very high rate of grade inflation compared to Canadian schools, so you cant compare grades between US and Canadian schools. </p>
<p>I suggest you contact the university you are interested in and ask them for Waterloo's Grade Conversion Chart, then you will see what the exact GPA conversion is. Usually, an 80% in a Canada school equates to a US GPA of 3.7 to 3.8. A 85% usually equates to a US GPA of 3.9.</p>
<p>But each school sets its own standard, and it would be best to check and make sure.</p>
<p>But otherwise, you definitely have a shot if your overall average was above 80%.</p>
<p>and as for xnormajeanx comment, i've looked at some different US schools courses and how they grade, and it seems to differ with each instituition, and some give letter grade A with a mark above 80, some with 90, and others do it purely by selecting first 10-20 best student in class.</p>
<p>PsychD
[quote]
I suggest you contact the university you are interested in and ask them for Waterloo's Grade Conversion Chart, then you will see what the exact GPA conversion is. Usually, an 80% in a Canada school equates to a US GPA of 3.7 to 3.8. A 85% usually equates to a US GPA of 3.9.
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<p>are you sure about this? are you also a canadian undergrad student applying to us grad school? can you give me more information on this? I've contacted different US instituitions about this and not one has replied back with relevant information.</p>
<p>I am a Canadian undergrad, and possibly in the near future I might be considering applying to a US grad school (If a program I come across, really interests me).</p>
<p>Okay, here is the OMSAS (Ontario Medical School Application System) GPA conversion chart.</p>
<p>I graduated from Waterloo last year in Electrical Engineering. To calculate my GPA I used a conversion chart that you can find on the registrar's website. It is no longer used but it was used in the past (pre-2001 I believe). My 86% (roughly 8th to 10th out of a class of 100) converted to a 3.8.</p>
<p>oh wow. so you've gone to phd directly from waterloo undergrad right? and it's michigan ann arbor. so i'm guessing average of 80% or higher got considered pretty high from michigan. any other grad program in US you got accepted? and can you also show me other informations like GRE scores, undergrade research experience, etc.</p>