Canadian GPA

[RKG]

Hi,
I am from university of Waterloo and instead of gpa we have only percentage based system where 80+ is considered "excellent standing". The only problem is that even with my borderline 82 I still have a few grades that I have done really bad in and some that I have done extremely well. Keeping this in mind how can I compare my gpA to AMERICAN counterparts ?

Thanks

 

[ethan.wen]

Actually, you can compare your grade with your fellow students'.
And what kind of courses did you do badly? When your grades are evaluated, different courses weigh differently.

 

[RKG]

Some math courses I have done terribly on and some like my special major courses I have excelled on. As a result I have quite a few 90 and 80s but also a fair share of 70s and 2 60s thrown in. Most of my electives have been Econ and I have done good in them.

I was reading some stats and saw that roughly 29% people graduated with 80+ last year. Keeping all this in mind I don't know if I have a fair shot or not in top tier unis.

But I do have very relevant internships/ coops

 

[New Trader]

check out this post :
http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/canadian-grades-to-gpa

 

[RKG]

I checked it out, it seems like most of the posters are just guesstimating though (although I wish they are right). I called UCLA and they were like that for different schools we have different ways of checking but I couldn't get much more out than that.

 

[ethan.wen]

Some math courses I have done terribly on and some like my special major courses I have excelled on. As a result I have quite a few 90 and 80s but also a fair share of 70s and 2 60s thrown in. Most of my electives have been Econ and I have done good in them.

I was reading some stats and saw that roughly 29% people graduated with 80+ last year. Keeping all this in mind I don't know if I have a fair shot or not in top tier unis.

But I do have very relevant internships/ coops

That is not a good news if you want to be admitted into NYU or Uchicago since they value math grades a lot. As far as I am concerned, NYU will calculate your math GPA, which might play a more important role than CGPA.
Relevant intern does help a lot. But be prepared when whey ask what you had done during your intern.
Have to say, being top 10% is essential for being admitted into tier1 program. But you can still impress the committee by your intern, personal statement, research, project or recommended letter.

 

[RKG]

Hi
Thanks for your response. I am in 3rd year so i am going to make sure that for the remaining 3 semesters i kill the math courses.

But is it such that some schools tend to focus on math related gpa much more than others while others see cumulative. I called mqf from waterloo and they reiterated exactly what you said. But i was wondering if other schools like baruch might be a better chance if they are more holistic in terms of gpa.

 

[glyvin]

My undegrad school in Canada has the class average on the transcript, so your grade is put into context which I think really helps. Also, when applying, scan the back of your transcript where it explains how the grading works. You won't be the first to apply, and won't be the last. The schools know quite a bit about this already.