<p>I can't find answers anywhere, so I'm going to ask all of you. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Are Canadian grades actually deflated compared to the average American grades? I see American students with 100%+ averages in certain subjects, which is completely impossible here (or at least at my school!). If I have a 92% right now, is that somehow a B? Even though it's an A+ in Ontario, will universities see it as a poor GPA? (I'm just finishing Grade 10, so I have time to work on it)</p></li>
<li><p>How does GPA work for Canadian high school students? </p></li>
<li><p>Which grades do American universities see? Overall average for all four years? Just Grade 11 and first half of Grade 12? Each individual grade? </p></li>
<li><p>Is it true that rank is more important than actual grades for Canadian students?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I've searched CC for answers, but all I get in confusion. Can somebody please set the record straight?</p>
<p>Hey verityfate, I had the same questions recently! I’ll try my best to answer them but I suggest you talk to your guidance counselor because they’re the ones with the most info (usually anyway) </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Grades depend on a school and how hard/easy teachers are, and that’s why ranking matters. I think schools usually won’t give 100%+ averages. And here in Ontario, an A for us extends down to 80% whereas in the states it’s restricted to 90%+. A 92% is a great average and it is seen as an A. I know for a fact that selective colleges have admissions officers that are familiar with the grading systems of different countries so they will know how the Ontario system works. I attended a UPenn admissions event and someone asked what average would be good and the Dean of Admissions said 91% is perfectly fine (although higher would definitely be better!). Are you taking AP, IB or Honors? That is highly regarded as well and would compensate for not having the perfect 100% average as well </p></li>
<li><p>According to how my school does it, 80-100 is a 4, 70-79 is a 3, 60-69 is a 2 and so on, so it’s different from how american high schools would do it. You GPA includes all four years of high school, so it’s not like Canadian Unis that take your top 6 grade 12 marks. So if you’ve never gotten a mark less than 80% then you have that perfect 4.0! I’m speaking of unweighted gpa though, I’m not too sure how weighted gpa works for canadian high schools because my school doesn’t do that. </p></li>
<li><p>They see your transcript which is basically all your grades from 9 to 12. Unlike Canadian unis, they care about how you do overall in school and love to see an upward trend or high marks consistently </p></li>
<li><p>No, definitely not. Many many schools say that your transcript is the most important part of your application because they want to see how strong you are in different academic areas and your grade trends throughout high school. Ranking does matter though (yet some schools don’t consider it at all like UC Berkeley), it helps them see how you compare to your classmates. However, there are many high schools that don’t rank and in that case, it won’t work against them. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>I hope that helped! And sorry if any of the info is wrong, I’m only basing it on what I learned/heard!</p>
<p>I had the same question! I’m a student in BC, where A is 86-100. I thought I was hearing wrong when the school board first told me this. Is Canada the only place in the world with such a random grading system?</p>
<p>This is usually how it is in the US:
93-100% A
90-92% A-
88-89% B+
83-87% B
80-82% B-
78-79% C+
73-77% C
And so on…</p>
<p>(At least that’s how it is at my high school. We can’t get A+s because our school does not allow extra credit.)</p>
<p>Nonetheless, I don’t think you should worry about it; most universities have admissions counselors who are specialized in their regions and know the difference in grading systems, schools, etc. </p>
<p>I’m also a Canadian student, and we get the class averages beside our marks on report cards. Would that mark serve a similar purpose to class rank, to see how you compare to other students?</p>
<p>I also had this question, and after asking school counsellors and alumni who have applied to the states, the answer is to just not try to convert your percentage score to the American grading system. Different schools have different ways of grading their students as well as different levels of course rigor, so what it really comes down to is class rank.</p>
<p>That might explain, perhaps, why I assign the value 3.0 to students who wanted to be chanced with a 80% average, 2.0 with a 70% average, but that scale is more rigid than the scale under which I’m graded in college, yet less rigid than the one in post #5.</p>