Candian DAT

[soaring-sun]

Hi,

I have read somewhere that when cDAT goes over to US, the score increases a bit.

 

Is that true?

[xylem29]

That would be pretty sweet if it were...lol.

[Kittyp]

Hi,

I have read somewhere that when cDAT goes over to US, the score increases a bit.

 

Is that true?

 

Its not DAT its GPA that increases a bit because USA standards are much easier than Canadian. I mean getting 90% in USA is much easier than in Canada. so they have omitted this difference by taking our 90%(4.0) as 4.33. Its good they know Canadian system is more hard and giving this favor.

[Contach]

Its not DAT its GPA that increases a bit because USA standards are much easier than Canadian. I mean getting 4.0 in USA is much easier than in Canada. so they have omitted this difference by taking our 4.0 as 4.33. Its good they know Canadian system is more hard and giving this favor.

 

Umm... I beg to differ.

 

From how I understand it:

Each percentage will give you a lower corresponding letter grade at an American school. For example, a Canadian who scores 80% on a test receives an A- at most Canadian (all Ontario) schools, whereas in the USA, you will get a B. An A- on AADSAS will translate into a 3.7, whereas a B will translate into a 3.0. Thus the AADSAS GPA benefits Canadians. Contrary to Kitty's comment that "they know Canadian system is more hard and giving favor" is simply not true. We don't end up getting the short end of the straw, we get the long end.

The claim that attaining a 4.0 at an American school is much harder is rubbish. The fact of the matter is, if you go onto Student Doctor Network, ask them how often A+s are given out. Many will say that their school doesnt even give out ANY A+s. The highest mark at many American schools is an A. Whereas, on my and many of my friends' transcripts, A+s run rampant. It's way easier to get an A+ in Canada.

Finally, the reason why (or as I understand it) that AADSAS has two grade conversion schemes (GPA with and GPA without - abbreviated as GPA w/ and GPA w/o respectively) is to accomodate for those schools that do not give A+s to students. Thus, for GPA w/o, an A-, A, and A+ are all considered an "A" and are allotted a 4.0. I feel this is also a more accurate representation of Canadian students' GPAs as well. Generally, Canadians will have a higher GPA w/. For example, mine was about 0.15 higher than my GPA w/o and actually went above 4.00 - which shows you that this grading scheme shouldn't apply to us, because it is inconceivable to have a GPA above 4.00 if the GPA is out of 4.00. Some people ask which GPA American adcoms will look at, and I think for this reason for Canadian applicants, they will look at our GPA w/o, but at the same time, I still feel they are not comparing our GPAs directly with all American students' GPAs because it is still easier to get better marks at Canadian schools than say UCLA or UC Berkeley - and I hope everyone agrees with this.

[Kittyp]

Umm... I beg to differ.

 

From how I understand it:

Each percentage will give you a lower corresponding letter grade at an American school. For example, a Canadian who scores 80% on a test receives an A- at most Canadian (all Ontario) schools, whereas in the USA, you will get a B. An A- on AADSAS will translate into a 3.7, whereas a B will translate into a 3.0. Thus the AADSAS GPA benefits Canadians. Contrary to Kitty's comment that "they know Canadian system is more hard and giving favor" is simply not true. We don't end up getting the short end of the straw, we get the long end.

The claim that attaining a 4.0 at an American school is much harder is rubbish. The fact of the matter is, if you go onto Student Doctor Network, ask them how often A+s are given out. Many will say that their school doesnt even give out ANY A+s. The highest mark at many American schools is an A. Whereas, on my and many of my friends' transcripts, A+s run rampant. It's way easier to get an A+ in Canada.

Finally, the reason why (or as I understand it) that AADSAS has two grade conversion schemes (GPA with and GPA without - abbreviated as GPA w/ and GPA w/o respectively) is to accomodate for those schools that do not give A+s to students. Thus, for GPA w/o, an A-, A, and A+ are all considered an "A" and are allotted a 4.0. I feel this is also a more accurate representation of Canadian students' GPAs as well. Generally, Canadians will have a higher GPA w/. For example, mine was about 0.15 higher than my GPA w/o and actually went above 4.00 - which shows you that this grading scheme shouldn't apply to us, because it is inconceivable to have a GPA above 4.00 if the GPA is out of 4.00. Some people ask which GPA American adcoms will look at, and I think for this reason for Canadian applicants, they will look at our GPA w/o, but at the same time, I still feel they are not comparing our GPAs directly with all American students' GPAs because it is still easier to get better marks at Canadian schools than say UCLA or UC Berkeley - and I hope everyone agrees with this.

 

The reason why I said its hard to get A+ in Canada is because I have myself faced it. I have done one semester from American University (not to name but it has good reputation too). In US system first of all students don't take as many courses as we have to here every year which reduce their load. Many American Universities count lab hours separately, say they are taking Chemistry1 in one semester then their class will make 3 credit hrs and lab will make separate 2 credit hrs. So Chemistry alone will be 5 credit hrs in contrast to 3 credit hrs here. And taking science courses like this they don't take more than 16 credit hrs in a semester that makes our 4 half courses which is definitely less load than here. Secondly, I used to have lots of bonus questions even in class quizzes when I was at US University which helps a lot to gain marks. Say you have to get 90% here to get A+ and they put exams like 50 MCQs with no bonus at all and counting for 50% of the course. Here you have a margin of 5 questions that you can attempt and can go wrong. If anything more its going below A+. And in USA we used to have 5 bonus questions and see where the margin goes. I am not sure if I am able to explain my point but I have seen that when I was in USA I could easily manage A+ even if I hardly study coming back from class and just devote myself fully in the class but here I have seen I have to really work hard to attain these A+'s.

[Kittyp]

For example, a Canadian who scores 80% on a test receives an A- at most Canadian (all Ontario) schools, whereas in the USA, you will get a B. An A- on AADSAS will translate into a 3.7, whereas a B will translate into a 3.0.ng a 4.0 at an American school is much harder is rubbish.

 

 

But I mean to say is that its much easier to get 80% in USA than in Canada. Maybe AADSAS knows it and that's why they take our 80% as A and their 80% as B.

 

 

"it is inconceivable to have a GPA above 4.00 if the GPA is out of 4.00."

 

What can you say if someone is getting 225 out of 200. I got it because of the correct bonus points too when I was at US University. I believe in such a situation one deserves more than 4.0 on 4.0 scale.

[stresso]

Well I guess it depends on what province you're from. The AADSAS gpa conversion scale is the exact same thing as the one at the U of A, that is, A-=3.7, B=3.0. The only way the AADSAS scale would actually benefit someone from the U of A is if they got a lot of A+s. So for me, it makes no difference

 

From what I've heard from friends, I think it's easier to get an A+ in the US, just because a lot of their classes are curved to an A- (at least the ones my friends go to). At the U of A, the highest they will ever curve it to is a B+.