Grade conversion confusion?

[willotree]

I am digging through the forums and I am a little confused. Students from other schools than Guelph were discussing how letter grades were converted into percentages for obvious reasons. The person stated,"For an A I got (85+100)/2 = 92.5%" since at their institution "A = 85% - 100%." But why do they do this? Don't the schools designate a percentage once a course is completed For instance, I attend UofT and they provide a % for the course once I finish it. So instead of lets say taking my 92% from a course towards my 8 prerequisite average & 2 semester average, since "90-100" at UofT is an A+ they would do (90+100)/2 = 95% instead since 92% is an A+ basically? Sorry if this is confusing. And that would mean if I get a 96% in a course.. since it falls under A+ (90-100) it would automatically become a 95%?

Here is the forum I stumbled upon:
fvc.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=admissions&action=display&thread=733

[dreizehn]

Simply put: no, not all universities record the final percentage grade received in courses.

Different schools record their final grades on transcripts in different ways. I've attended several universities, and had my transcripts show only a percentage grade, only a letter grade, or a combination of both a percentage and letter grade. At schools that record only a letter grade, the exact percentage final grade received is often not recorded, as the grade is simply converted to a letter associated with a range of percentages. For example, my grades from when I went to McGill are reported only as a letter grade, and they have no record of the exact percentage grades I received in my classes. Similar to with letter grades, some universities only report a person's GPA for individual classes (using various numerical scales), which, again similar to letter grades, then has to be converted to a percentage if percentage grades are not also recorded.

For the purposes of applying to the DVM program, what grades will be used simply boils down to whether or not percentage grades are reported on your transcript:

• If you have a percentage grade recorded on your transcript, then that exact grade will be used by admissions (regardless of whether a letter grade is also available). This would seem to be the case for UofT as you've described it.
  
  
• If only a letter grade is recorded (such as on my own McGill transcripts), then it becomes necessary for admissions to convert this to a percentage (the process of which has been gone though in a few posts before, such as the one you were reading, but which usually boils down to them using the midpoint of the associated range of percentages, or using a conversion scale provided by the respective university on their transcript).

So here's a basic summary of the three versions I've seen (and GPA only would be treated the same as the letter only example):

• UNIVERSITY A: Only reports percentage grades
  Class A = 93% --> Grade Used by Admissions = 93%
  
  
• UNIVERSITY B: Reports both percentages and letters
  Class A = 93%, A+ --> Grade Used by Admissions = 93%
  
  
• UNIVERSITY C: Only reports letter grades
  Class A = A+ --> Grade Used by Admissions = conversion scale provided on the transcript, or just the midpoint of the range associated with an A+ at this university

[willotree]

Thanks dreiz for your reply! This was very helpful. Wouldn't it be unfair for a McGill student in a sense because since A (85-100).. (85+100)/2 = 92.5.. they can't get higher than this? I mean 92.5 is impressive.. but if someone were to get higher lets say. And if one student gets an 85 they would get an automatic bump up to an 92.5? I mean I guess it's unfair and fair at the same time.

And I am not 100% sure if the transcript for UofT will specify a percentage. How can I make sure?

[dreizehn]

You basically summed it up yourself by saying "...it's unfair and fair at the same time." In some cases, converting to/from a letter grade would be a detriment by converting to a lower grade than was actually achieved, while in others it would benefit the student/applicant by converting to a higher grade than was actually achieved. I know I experienced both of these myself, as some bird-courses I know I got very high 90s in got converted down to 92.5%, while on the other hand some courses I know I got mid/upper-80s in got converted up to 92.5%. I guess the hope is that everything kind of averages out. Besides, if a university doesn't record or report percentages, just a letter/GPA with a corresponding percentage range, I don't think there's any different or better way it could be handled and converted to a percentage than what UofG/OVC admissions is doing at the moment.

You can't really "make sure" "[they'll] specify a percentage" on your transcript, it really just depends what format of transcript and grades your university uses. If you want to know out of interest what format is used on your school's transcripts and what type of grades are reported (i.e., percentages, letters, GPA, or some combination thereof), your registrar/transcript office should be able to tell you.

[willotree]

Alright, I called my transcript office and at UofT they do include BOTH the letter & percentage grades just in case any future pre-vets stumble across this forum! And dreiz, one last question. Do you know how the University of Guelph designates their grade? Because I am interested in taking distance learning courses (online).

[dreizehn]

It appears UofG reports percentage grades on their transcripts (that's what my unofficial transcript since starting vet school has on it, and I also asked someone who did their pre-vet undergrad at UofG, and that's what they said was on their undergrad transcript).