Major change?

[yearning]

If you don't have a high GPA but you were on the Dean's List, I would recommend including the Dean's List on your resume. That tells the employer that at least your academic experience wasn't a total train wreck.

If your GPA is below 3.0 AND there is a good explanation (for example, extended hospitalization, working 40 hours a week to support yourself, etc), consider including a brief note of the explanation with your GPA.



Right. But at least that tells the employer that your GPA probably isn't that bad, so it's better than them assuming your GPA is very bad.



One strategy you can follow to boost your GPA is to take some easy courses. Even if you don't have to take them, it might be worth considering just for the GPA boosting effect.

I wish I could take easy courses, but thing is that my specialist program has a lot of really really hard prequisite courses and they essentially fill up my timetable. My highest marks are in electives, sadly. And in 4th year, if you take easy junior courses, it looks bad for grad/professional schools.

Dean's List is 3.50 at my school and that's not good enough for research, med, or some grad schools. I usually just put some major scholarships I got though, and that gives them an idea that I did well (sometime during my university career) haha without saying my GPA or Dean's List.

[Suet Seung]

How can you have low GPA and be in the Dean's list?

Is that even possible? In my med school- the dean list ppl have at least an A average.

Han Solo

Who said that?

At my school you have to earn a GPA of 3.500 or higher placement merit to be on the Dean's list.

By the way, what's the point of being on the Dean's list? If you continue to be on the Dean's list, does that acculumate to something? Like when you get your degree and graduate, is it announced? Anyone know?

[yearning]

How can you have low GPA and be in the Dean's list?

Is that even possible? In my med school- the dean list ppl have at least an A average.

Han Solo

What GPA is "A"? I like the average system more, favors me more.

[warlock110]

if i have a 3.5+ when you graduate it's consider "academic distinction", atleast at my school it counts like that.

I just changed the major today, drove to the school and ran around thier offices sweating like a pig under 90 degrees out in the sun, with a little changes here and there i actually was able to cut back 1-2 classes from my predicted plan before, plus now i feel good going to the classes i have to take. let's hope i'll graduate with a 3.0 haha.

[Han Solo]

Who said that?

At my school you have to earn a GPA of 3.500 or higher placement merit to be on the Dean's list.

By the way, what's the point of being on the Dean's list? If you continue to be on the Dean's list, does that acculumate to something? Like when you get your degree and graduate, is it announced? Anyone know?

my med school is pretty small- my year was about 250 to 300 ppl.

Dean's list has about 7-10 ppl i.e. about 5% or less of the total student in the course.

A is marks of 80% or more.

I can't convert it into your GPA as i'm not verse with the system.

Han SOlo

[jay_z]

If you graduate with a cumulative GPA of 3.5-3.69, you are graduating with honor, cum laude. You will graduate with high honor or magna cum laude if your GPA is 3.70-3.84. GPA 3.85 and above is the highest honor or summa cum laude. On your diploma, it will indicate your honor. Your school might give you a plaque. (see attachment)

Instead of putting down your GPA on the resume which only recent grads do, it's much better to put down one of the honors, cum laude, magna cum laude, or summa cum laude. If I were a hiring manager, I would much prefer interviewing candidates with a couple years of experiences and that they don't come in and expect more than $50k a year.

If you are borrowing $, you want to get out of school as soon as possible. Otherwise, you stay as long as you want to and study subjects that you are interested in if $ is not an issue. College should be fun.

[PJ]

How can you have low GPA and be in the Dean's list?

Is that even possible? In my med school- the dean list ppl have at least an A average.

Han Solo

Well, an "A" average would be a perfect GPA of 4.0 out of 4.0 !! Very few students can achieve that level of academic success

[warlock110]

Well, an "A" average would be a perfect GPA of 4.0 out of 4.0 !! Very few students can achieve that level of academic success

in my school, there's about 2 out of every 40K students, some year we get bless and we get 3 hahaha.

[yearning]

An average is very different from a GPA. My average has always been better than my GPA since I've gotten mid 90s in subjects I really liked or been into, but once you go below 80 in even one subject, the GPA curve starts being very nasty and it's almost exponential in a really dirty way. So essentially, moral of the story is to be a jack of all trades and don't bother getting mid 90s or 90s even. Just try to maintain > 80 and you're all set. Easier said than done.

I've had an "A average" (if A is 85% or more) for all my three years, but my GPA certainly doesn't reflect that, not in the slightest bit. Damn the GPA system and borderline marks...(can you sense my hatred for the GPA system)..

jay_z, where do you go to school? That system sounds really really brutal.

My school is similar to warlock's ...3.5 for highest academic distinction, 3.3 for academic distinction. And apparently, only 10% of the faculty gets 3.5 or more which is why it's considered the "Dean's List".

[yittz]

How does the GPA work in US?

Cousin want to calculate his GPA and I think at Syd it's similar to the US system - he gets things like HD, Distinction, Credit, Pass instead of A+ to C-, D sort of system.

Do you get 4 for HD?, 3.5 for D, 3 for C and 2 for Pass?

[warlock110]

How does the GPA work in US?

Cousin want to calculate his GPA and I think at Syd it's similar to the US system - he gets things like HD, Distinction, Credit, Pass instead of A+ to C-, D sort of system.

Do you get 4 for HD?, 3.5 for D, 3 for C and 2 for Pass?

A+/A = 4
A- = 3.7
B+ = 3.3
B = 3
B- = 2.7
C+ = 2.3
C = 2
C- = 1.7
D+ = 1.3
D = 1
D - = .7
F + = .3
F/F- = 0

should also notice that no one ever get an F-, most of the time they're group into F.

Each of the class has an amount of credit assign to, say if a math class has 3 credit, then they take the grades, times it by 3, and your GPA is reflected on the average grade per credit. So if you get a C in a 3 credit class and an A in a 3 credit class, your GPA is 3.0 (average of (4 X 3 + 2 X 3)/6. Now if you have an A on a 4 credit class and a C in a 3 creidt class, your GPA will be higher than 3.0. (4 X 4 + 2 X 3)/7

getting Ds is passing, but not for certain cources (it's selective), you still get the credit, but u might have to retake the class. C and C- are passing with credit and no retake. Generally speaking, if we include the C-, about 70% of the class pass and 30% fail with Ds or under, it's like that for all class, we rarely get any class that actually perform so good that more than 70% pass with Cs or higher. Most of them are on pretty hard curves so it'll end up like a slight bell curve (it's the unwritten system of our school lol).

[yittz]

Thanks! Sounds pretty tough. Are there marks for different grades, or different for different papers? So is >50% a pass i.e. Ds?

[warlock110]

Thanks! Sounds pretty tough. Are there marks for different grades, or different for different papers? So is >50% a pass i.e. Ds?

it's actually based on some sort of software, you do get a grade for all the assignments, but generally it's not what you get, but it's what you get in relation to your peers. They generate a bell curve using the results of the class, the top 70% pass and the rest fails (the final accumulative grades), What they do is assign points to each assigment/final/midterm, that way everything can be generate into numbers. They still gives letter grades, but the letter grades also translate to number ect...

it's rare that we get a class that actually is better than the normal bell curve where 50% of the people sits above the 75% mark (a C), that's why they use this bell curve system, your grades depends on how smart your peers are lol, it's so mess up because people in the same class don't help each other, because if their peers is sucking they'll get a higher grade.

with this system, the theory is that if no one studies, they'll all have the same grades as if they do study (assuming that they study the same amount of time, and grade is base on how smart they are). But just like any bussiness no one know if the guy next to them studied or not, so everyone has to study, lol, then the grades really reflect on how much they studied and how much work they put into it. it's a freaking mind game IMO. oh, and they make tests extra tough, so that it follows the curve, soem math class getting a 50% is an A, it's quite funny.

[yearning]

I don't think that happens for EVERY single class..only the larger first-year or second-year ones. I have lots of classes in upper years where the average was B+ with the majority of the class getting over the average and a few people pulling down the average. But these are the more advanced classes and getting into it in the first place is selective.

And the professor can write a letter to the Dean explaining why the distribution does not fit normal distribution...although most of them don't want to do that, but a few will.

[warlock110]

I don't think that happens for EVERY single class..only the larger first-year or second-year ones. I have lots of classes in upper years where the average was B+ with the majority of the class getting over the average and a few people pulling down the average. But these are the more advanced classes and getting into it in the first place is selective.

And the professor can write a letter to the Dean explaining why the distribution does not fit normal distribution...although most of them don't want to do that, but a few will.

it happen less in the upper division class, but it still follow the trend, however because the upper division class has a tighter packed grade for many reasons, but the #1 reason is that if they made it to upper division class that means they actually studied a bit, or that they didn't drop out, either way they're good enough to continue school, the rate of failing is actually less, the professor can either fail more my shifting his standard to 1 side, or he can fail less by shifting his standard to the other side (say 40% is failing = less people or 50% = more peple failing). Because most of them are not jackass regardless of what students says about them, they tend to slide over to the easier side. I have had classes where they call average was "B", the average ended up like 34/100, and u don't even wanna know what i got haha, it's freaking funny.

What i sort of explain above is like the trickle down effect, because the middle distribution is so tightly packed, even if the standard is shifted slightly a bunch of them get to go on the "passing boat", it's not intentional, it's just the way it works, upper division classes are more competative, everyone studies (including me), so whent he grades come out the standard deviation is quite low.

[mind_wander]

it's actually based on some sort of software, you do get a grade for all the assignments, but generally it's not what you get, but it's what you get in relation to your peers. They generate a bell curve using the results of the class, the top 70% pass and the rest fails (the final accumulative grades), What they do is assign points to each assigment/final/midterm, that way everything can be generate into numbers. They still gives letter grades, but the letter grades also translate to number ect...

it's rare that we get a class that actually is better than the normal bell curve where 50% of the people sits above the 75% mark (a C), that's why they use this bell curve system, your grades depends on how smart your peers are lol, it's so mess up because people in the same class don't help each other, because if their peers is sucking they'll get a higher grade.

with this system, the theory is that if no one studies, they'll all have the same grades as if they do study (assuming that they study the same amount of time, and grade is base on how smart they are). But just like any bussiness no one know if the guy next to them studied or not, so everyone has to study, lol, then the grades really reflect on how much they studied and how much work they put into it. it's a freaking mind game IMO. oh, and they make tests extra tough, so that it follows the curve, soem math class getting a 50% is an A, it's quite funny.

I do agreed with this, for example some of students worked party/worked til midnight, never studies; still can passed the test with 80-90% or fail it.
So unfair to the people who actually studies and don't get a good grade; I had experienced this

[pemberly]

gpas and laude merits differ in every school. my school doesn't believe in grade inflation. nytimes even wrote an article about it, and interviewed a bunch of students who felt screwed. the person with the highest gpa in my graduating class had a 3.4.

a lot of schools will scale their top students in each class to an A or A-. My school has a forced B- average, a C+ when i started. This means that is the average they strive for in each class. like, if you got the class average on an exam, let's say a 90, they'll scale you down to an 82. but if you all failed the exam, and the average is a 65, they'll likewise scale that up to a 82. Most schools will scale the highest person up to the 90s.

Needless to say, nobody from my school ever puts their gpa on their resumes. Some will put their class ranks, and grad schools are already well aware of my school's grading policies.

They do this because they want students to really learn instead of getting BS good grades, (so they say).

[KeongJai]

don't know about you guys, but when I was applying for grad roles, they always wanted a copy of my full academic transcript. Maybe it was to see which classes I took and how well I did in the hard ones. after that they never look at your grades. They look at experience and whether you have a degree or not (if even that).