US GPA conversions

[Rach]

I did my undergraduate degree in the US and am waiting on the grade conversions that OMSAS will give me. Does anyone have any clue how they handle these US letter grades and GPAs?

 

My GPA for my undergrad degree was 3.67 in the US and now I have been in Ontario undergrad courses (Guelph) for 1.5 years with a 3.87 GPA. Any idea how much the 3.67 will hurt my chances given that its from the US?

[Classic]

Rach,

 

Are your American grades on your transcipt listed as a percentages (i.e. 82%) or as a letter grades?

[Rach]

Letter grades only.

[Classic]

At the school I went to the the States they also only listed letter grades on my transcript. The problem then was that the university had a grading system where > 92% was an 'A' and any grades in the 80's was considering a 'B' ... etc etc.

 

So now OMSAS converts my grades as A = 4.0 and B = 3.0 ... BUT I had to get 85% to get a 'B' ....

 

At a Canadian University (i.e. U of G) 85% = 'A' ... but my American 85% = 'B' ... therefore I lose BIG TIME (like a bad currency exchange)

 

I hope you have better luck than I do ....

[Rach]

Ugh Classic that sucks. I know my 85% were also lumped as Bs so I suspect they will do the same thing to me that they did to you. No fun.

[Classic]

I tried explaining all this to the Canadian med schools ... I sent the course syllabi and everything ... they don't care

 

You're coursework at U of G should help though ... especially to schools which look at your top 2 or most recent 2 years of study

[Kurenai]

Hey Classic,

They already told you what your converted grade is? I had my transcript sent out months ago and I still have not heard from them!

 

Since you already have the experience, what do you think they'll do with my US undergraduate grades? In my school, we didn't do 4.0 grade system. My average is 86.44% out of 98%. Any thoughts?

[Rach]

Hey Classic,

They already told you what your converted grade is? I had my transcript sent out months ago and I still have not heard from them!

 

Since you already have the experience, what do you think they'll do with my US undergraduate grades? In my school, we didn't do 4.0 grade system. My average is 86.44% out of 98%. Any thoughts?

 

I would assume that works to your advantage since the problem we have is that the GPA don't reflect the high % we might have gotten. But with only %, maybe they will give you the more lenient GPA scores that are used here.... Either way I don't see how they can screw you over with % marks.

[Kurenai]

Believe me,

This is OMSAS were talking about here. They'll find a way...

 

Thank you for your input though.

[Classic]

Unfortunately, my knowledge of grade conversions are from previous OMSAS applications (yes, "applications" is plural).

 

I would guess that any grades listed as a percentage on your transcript would not be treated as harshly as the letter-only grades.

 

I think OMSAS reveals their omniscient conversion in the fall sometime (they mail a letter to you) .....

[Rach]

Hey Classic. Do you have any idea how to merge my US GPA with my current courses? I'm not sure how to weigh the credits from the US degree (124 credits) with the half-degrees they give in Ontario..... I'm kind of freaking out that I put all my eggs in one basket by applying to Mac only, and having a GPA in the 3.7s so I wanted to see how screwed I really am.

[n00b]

why don't you apply to more schools?

[Rach]

why don't you apply to more schools?

 

Well I'm not straight out of school (am almost 26) and so already have a house in Guelph, and I'd love to stay put.... So I told myself I would try for Mac maybe twice, then expand my search and move if I absolutely have to.

[Classic]

At the school I went to the the States each class was 4.0 credits (as opposed to 0.5 credits/class at some Ontario schools). OMSAS weighed my classes from the States equally with my classes from Canada.

 

However, now that I am applying to med schools in the States, AMCAS gives me 4.0 credits for each class I took in the States, but only 3.0 credits for each class I took in Canada.

 

FRUSTRATING .... !!!!

[Jochi1543]

At the school I went to the the States they also only listed letter grades on my transcript. The problem then was that the university had a grading system where > 92% was an 'A' and any grades in the 80's was considering a 'B' ... etc etc.

 

So now OMSAS converts my grades as A = 4.0 and B = 3.0 ... BUT I had to get 85% to get a 'B' ....

 

At a Canadian University (i.e. U of G) 85% = 'A' ... but my American 85% = 'B' ... therefore I lose BIG TIME (like a bad currency exchange)

 

I hope you have better luck than I do ....

 

Same thing here when I applied last year. You only get a good conversion if your uni lists percentage grades along with letter on your transcript, but the overwhelming majority don't.

[Jochi1543]

At the school I went to the the States each class was 4.0 credits (as opposed to 0.5 credits/class at some Ontario schools). OMSAS weighed my classes from the States equally with my classes from Canada.

 

However, now that I am applying to med schools in the States, AMCAS gives me 4.0 credits for each class I took in the States, but only 3.0 credits for each class I took in Canada.

 

FRUSTRATING .... !!!!

 

Weird, AMCAS weighted my US and Canadian courses the same.

[Rach]

At the school I went to the the States each class was 4.0 credits (as opposed to 0.5 credits/class at some Ontario schools). OMSAS weighed my classes from the States equally with my classes from Canada.

 

However, now that I am applying to med schools in the States, AMCAS gives me 4.0 credits for each class I took in the States, but only 3.0 credits for each class I took in Canada.

 

FRUSTRATING .... !!!!

 

Ugh I was hoping OMSAS would weigh my Ontario grades higher than US ones.... Looks like I'm stuck at 3.72. Hopefully I can get into an interview, then at least I'll have a little more control!

[DoctorToB3]

Same thing here when I applied last year. You only get a good conversion if your uni lists percentage grades along with letter on your transcript, but the overwhelming majority don't.

 

I know this is an old thread, but I pulled it up and it had some valuable information. I am currently completing undergrad in the US, and I wanted to know what my GPA conversion is. On my transcript, both letter grades and GPA are provided. I think that there is also a grading scale provide with the transcript that gives a conversion of letter grades to the following percentages:

 

A=90 and above

B=80-89

C=70-79

D=60-69

F=59 and below

 

My question is, if a grading scale is provided with your transcript, will OMSAS convert letter grades to their respective percentages using the scale on the back of my transcript? For example, if for one semester I had 2A's and 2B's according to my transcript, would they convert my percentage as 2 90% and 2 80% and then convert those percentages to their respective OMSAS GPA's?

[bored]

I know this is an old thread, but I pulled it up and it had some valuable information. I am currently completing undergrad in the US, and I wanted to know what my GPA conversion is. On my transcript, both letter grades and GPA are provided. I think that there is also a grading scale provide with the transcript that gives a conversion of letter grades to the following percentages:

 

A=90 and above

B=80-89

C=70-79

D=60-69

F=59 and below

 

My question is, if a grading scale is provided with your transcript, will OMSAS convert letter grades to their respective percentages using the scale on the back of my transcript? For example, if for one semester I had 2A's and 2B's according to my transcript, would they convert my percentage as 2 90% and 2 80% and then convert those percentages to their respective OMSAS GPA's?

 

you might wanna call them and ask them your self becuase your situation is unique

[GentlemanAlone]

DoctorToB3:

I am in the EXACT same situation as you. Please let me know what it is that you find out when you call OMSAS, as I am about to figure out how my college registrar will also put % on my transcript.

 

I applied through OMSAS this year with a solid MCAT and decent US GPA, solid ECs but due to this grade conversion issue did not meet a single academic cut-off.

 

I have scoured these boards and SDN long and far. It is time to put this issue to rest, if you have experience please advise:

 

How can Canadians who did undergrad in the US get fair GPA representation when applying to Canadian medschools, especially though OMSAS??

 

[At my school, like many US schools: A=94, A-=90, B+=87, B=83 etc...]

[jojoluvsu2]

I have a feeling this post won't be helpful at all, but...

 

Aren't you supposed to go through world education services (WES) to get them to evaluate what your transcript means in terms of Canadian standards? Or is that only for "more" international schools (ie. anything that isn't the US).

[GentlemanAlone]

Thank you for the reply, jojo.

 

This actually may be the way to go, but it's hard to tell from WES' website whether their services would apply to this case and their contact department is severely lacking. Any American UGs have experience with using WES??

[GentlemanAlone]

I spoke to OMSAS. If there is a conversion chart on your transcript, they will not use it. In my case including that chart actually hurts me even more, because they will use column 7 instead of 8 (there is no A+ at my school).

 

The only possible alternatives I can figure:

 

1. Have your registrar place the correlating percentage next to each individual grade on the transcript. Then OMSAS will use a numerical column and your GPA does not get unfavourably converted.

 

2. Go through WES and (hope/pray) ask that they convert your grades into percentages before they get to OMSAS. I dont actually know if this will work, someone with experience knowledge, your help would be greatly appreciated

 

As an aside, if you are a Canadian that attended American undergrad you are at a SEVERE disadvantage for applying to medical school. I don't know why I was never told this. I would've stuck around in Canada 100%. We either get hammered on the conversion coming back to Canada (which is looking like a pipe-dream) or held to GPA/MCAT standards 1-2 deviations higher than domestic American applicants.

 

TL/DR: IF YOU ARE CANADIAN PREMED DO NOT GO TO AMERICA FOR UNDERGRAD