<p>I am a Canadian pre IB student right now and i am really confused( as are other people from what i read) about this issue. My question is a simple one, but the answer seems to be painfully difficult to find. In Canada, an A is 80 plus.. B is 70-89 .. a C is 60-69.. and so on and on. For all the sake for all the Canadians applying to US universities, how in the world do I convert my grades to the American 4.0 GPA scale. </p>
<p>My grade 10(Sophomore) pre IB mark was:
Science:91
Math:87
Gym: 90
History:87
Careers:85
English: 81
French: 81
Drama:87</p>
<p>As it comes in the Canadian scale, i have an average of 86 ish and have straight As. What does that correspond to in terms of the American GPA Scale. I hope i get an answer finally. How will top US colleges look at these Grades.. in terms of GPA or just letter grades. Pleaseee, i really hope someone can really answer this!</p>
<p>I'm not sure what the exact conversion would be; it varies by school. At my school (a Midwest public school) an A is 93-100, a B is 83-93, and so on.</p>
<p>I'm not sure how the rigor of a Canadian school curriculum compares to American schools, though, so I'm not sure how helpful this post will be.</p>
<p>Here's what I would do.
Get on the Internet and find some, hmmm, let's see, pick Loyola U. in Chicago, Univ of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.
Those are 3 private universities, 2 of which are closer to the border. The ones closer to the border probably have some experience with this issue. You could pick other universities instead, just places that perhaps had experience. I bet a college in Seattle, Washington would be just ideal for having Canadians attend.</p>
<p>Then get the university Admission Office email address, and email them your grades and explain your predicament.</p>
<p>Keep persisting until you get a couple of universities to agree in their decision.</p>
<p>that way, you will know what U.S. colleges you would be competitive for. That makes sense.</p>
<p>Traditionally in public school in California:</p>
<p>A: 90-100
B: 80-89
C: 70-79
D: 60-69</p>
<p>I would NOT submit your numeric grade without converting. I agree with the poster who suggested you contact the admin office of a U.S. college close to the Canadian border.</p>
<p>thanks. but i still havent found my answer to the conversion. im assuming one exists since colleges use it to figure out if students are qualified for acceptance.</p>
<p>teenage cliche that is not correct because like i said in my post ilive in canada.. in canada finding the GPA is different... in canada 80 plus is A... and it is much harder to get 90 here than 90 in states because of that simple fact. my friend had 90 avg college gave him 3.9 ish so if im 86 avg im assuming im about 3.75</p>
<p>Shad, maybe you should ask your counselor? I understand what you are trying to say because I came from Canada. </p>
<p>While an 80 for an A sounds too good to be true, it's actually hard to get an A because you don't get as many assignments that are graded...and if I recall, there are like only 4 tests throughout the whole year, so if you bomb one, it will be tremendously hard to get your grade up. </p>
<p>When colleges look at your grades, they will probably keep in mind the fact that you are from Canada. Otherwise, your transcript might just report "A" or "4.0" instead of reporting the percentage, which was the case for my school back in Canada.</p>
<p>The grading scheme is a lot different in the US than in Canada. For one, most US schools 'weigh' their honors, AP, etc. classes, where Canadian schools do no such thing. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this makes it so that in the US, it's possible to obtain a mark higher than 100%. Some American schools also heavily curve tests, where that's not so common in Canada. It's also generally understood that Canadian schools are usually more difficult than US schools. Take my friend, for example. He was a pretty average guy in terms of marks (70-85s), recently moved to America and this year suddenly ended up with marks ranging from 90-100. </p>
<p>Anyway, because of the varying differences between Canadian and American schools, one can't just simply convert percentages to GPA. Even in the US, there isn't just one standard way of calculating GPA. Different schools have different means of finding it out.</p>
<p>and no american colleges factor in what you got in Gym, Art or non academic electives as part of your GPA </p>
<p>Science---->part of your GPA
Math--->part of your GPA
Gym---->not part of your GPA
History---->part of your GPA
Careers---->probably not part of your GPA
English----> part of your GPA
French----->part of your GPA
Drama-----> not part of your GPA</p>
<p>Yes Teenage Cliche i meant 79... yea it is much harder... i would say its the same difficulty to get 90 in states and thats equal to getting 80 in canada which both come out to an A in their countries. Who knows. I am going to apply to Johns Hopkins.. such an amazing school i would think they know how to solve this problem.</p>
<p>You don't have to convert your grades. The colleges have their own systems and will sort it out on their own. You are quite correct in your assumption that the admissions office at Johns Hopkins U will know what to do with a Canadian transcript. So will just about every other college and university in the USA.</p>
<p>I'll post this here too in case anyone else is looking for the same answer.</p>
<p>I agree with happymomof1; I'd say most (if not all) American universities will understand the Canadian grading system (even though most CCers don't... don't let that freak you out). I also included a short note with my applications about what letter grade each of my percentage scores translate to.</p>
<p>If you're still worried about your GPA on a 4.0 scale, however, here's a site that will let you calculate it using the Canadian percentages. GPA</a> calculator
So in your case (assuming careers is a half credit course) your GPA is a 3.91.</p>
<p>While Star*'s post may be techinically correct, as I wrote above, many colleges, in particular the University of California nine campus system, does not count plus or minus, but converts these back to the whole grade.</p>
<p>As an int'l student i understand you completely...I was confronted with the same problem as you do a couple of weeks ago...but i found a solution. According to mychances.net, you should divide your GPA by the maximum possible GPA, and then multiply this number by 4.
for example: my sophomore GPA was 9.84 on a 10 scale - converted, it is 3.94. Done :D</p>