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Reporting your GPA when registering for the GMAT

May 28, 2015 by EssaySnark 11 Comments

MBA admissions teams have become more customer-friendly in recent years – so much so, that we had thought this one issue had been put to bed. But then we were reminded that no, it has not. There’s this thorn in the side of most international BSers that apparently won’t go away.

What thorn is that?

The need to convert your grades to the U.S. 4.0 system.

This came up yesterday when we saw a very reasonable question posted over on Beat the GMAT, in the Ask the Test Maker forum where the official GMAT people hang out.

Used to be, many top U.S. bschools required applicants to report their final undergraduate grades using the American system. Which meant that many if not most international candidates had to go through a stressful exercise of figuring out exactly how to do that.

For anyone whose undergrad marks are reported as a percentage, or on a scale of 1 to 10, or even a 5.0 scale, this idea of “converting grades” is challenging to say the least.

ESPECIALLY since there’s no one agreed-upon method for doing the conversion.

We wrote about converting your college grades for your MBA apps way back in 2011. We were happy when we were able to update that post as “old” and tell you that you don’t need to worry about it anymore.

Well guess what? This question from the Brave Supplicant on Beat The GMAT has prompted us to revisit the issue.

The obvious question is, why in heck does the GMAT ask you for grades in the 4.0 scale anyway? That’s pretty outdated stuff there, as our quick history of this problem belies. And, it’s sooooooo American-biased. The GMAC people (the makers of the GMAT) like to insist how their test is culturally neutral. The apparently test the test, by putting the questions to people of all sorts of different nationalities, to see if there is any bias or slant that would give American test-takers an advantage. They say they’ve removed any of that from the GMAT exam itself – so why this leftover artifact of pure pro Americanism?

Why not just let applicants enter their grades as their school has reported it, in the native scale?

We can guess as to the answer for why not: Because GMAC likes to mine their data (YOUR data) and then come up with fancy reports to issue to the schools, to help support their marketing position of how important their test is. (Sorry. We’re doing a bit o’ GMAT bashing here.) If everyone reported their grades in whatever native scale their college used, then the value of asking test-takers for their college grades in the first place is vastly diminished.

GMAC forces YOU, the test-taker, to self-convert your grades. They clearly don’t care if you do it right nor not. They just want the data.

Well, you may be asking yourself, “So what?”

If GMAC is using this data for their report, what does it matter?

It’s not like it’s going to affect your GMAT score.

True, Brave Supplicant. True.

But guess what?

The GPA you report in that little field DOES get included on your score report that goes to the schools when you apply.

Now, please don’t get too hung up about this, but we do have to issue the gentle reminder that the schools see the GPA that you report in your GMAT profile.

“Uh oh,” we hear some of you saying.

Very often, for international candidates, we take a glance at their GMAT score report and we see the GPA they entered, and we’re like, “WHAT?”

Either someone naively enters “4.0” or they enter something crazy low like “2.3.”

There are very very few people in the world who earned a 4.0 cumulative GPA in college. As in, hardly anyone. A good chunk of those who did attended a lower-regarded school. One that was a little less challenging curriculum-wise. Yes you see kids graduating from Princeton and Harvard and Yale with a 4.0 but it ain’t common. Nope, not at all.

If you’re coming from even a very good Indian university and you enter “4.0” in your GMAT profile GPA field, well, that’s just a little bit questionable.

Even worse perhaps is when someone uses one of these online grade conversion tools and it spits out a very low GPA – like the 2.3 we just cited. This happens all the time.

If you have a 2.3 GPA from college, you are going to have a VERY difficult time getting into a top MBA program.

But the thing is, you probably don’t have a 2.3. If you did even halfway decent in undergrad, your GPA is equivalent to at least a 3.0.

That’s the challenge with the Indian universities and their disparate grading systems. It’s very often an apples-to-oranges comparison. What one BSer ended up with as a 70.2% could mean something very, very different compared to the 70.2% that another BSer eked out.

And obviously, a 70.2% when strictly translated to the American 4.0 scale is quite a low GPA indeed.

So all of this is a bit of a minefield.

If you’ve already taken the GMAT and you realize your converted GPA is out of whack, then maybe it’s possible to correct that before you send your scores to the schools. We have no idea how that works (if anyone does, please leave a note in the comments of this post so we can be educated on it).

If not, then please do not sweat this. It’s never going to keep you out of bschool. If you have a low GPA and you were already realizing the need for an optional essay to go with your apps, then this might be something to mention there, along with your discussion of your college experience and whatever else you have to say about the performance at the time.

One main objective with your MBA apps is, you don’t want the adcom reviewer to have any questions. About anything. You want to be proactive and pre-emptively address anything for them that might come up in their minds as they’re going through your materials.

This oddball GPA thing on the GMAT score report could certainly raise an eyebrow in some cases – we know that it has with us in the past. We don’t think it merits writing an optional essay if it would be the only issue you’re covering – but it also would not be out of bounds to do that. It really depends on the entirety of your pitch and how “off” the GMAT-reported GPA actually is.

Questions on any of this? Lay them on us in the comments and we’re happy to help.

And to you GMAC peeps if you’re reading this? We know you’ve got these test-taker-friendly GMAT-experience-improvement initiatives going on. Maybe this is an item to look at in that context?

Filed Under: GMAT/GRE, GPA and grades

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Good luck on your apps, Brave Supplicant!

Here's what others have said about this:

  1. Nirmal says

    September 22, 2016 at 6:08 am

    Hi,

    I\’m trying to register on MBA.com and I\’m facing a similar issue. Could you please help me in identifying the accurate GPA for my undergrad score?

    I have graduated from Andhra University (India) with distinction in 2006. My cumulative score is 4707/5800 (~81.2 %). The university follows a unique grading system and individual subjects are scored on varying scales (0-75 marks, 0-50 marks etc.). I am certain that my overall score falls in the top 2-3 percentile (highest score could be around 83-84%) but a 3.2 GPA as per the standardized conversion chart suggested on MBA.com does not accurately represent my score.

    I\’m planning to take GMAT in two weeks. Kindly help at the earliest.

    Thanks.

    Reply
    • essaysnark says

      September 22, 2016 at 7:21 am

      @Nirmal – yeah, we wish they would change that part of the GMAT registration process! It’s ridiculous when so many people taking the test are not American. From what you’ve said, it’s very clear that your academics are stronger than a 3.2. We wouldn’t be able to give an accurate estimate for how the academics might literally be converted to the 4.0 system based only on what you stated here, but what we can suggest is to enter 3.5 as your GPA.

      Why?

      Well, a 3.5 is a “good” GPA by anyone’s definition, and it’s clear that your academic record is “good.” Plus, a 3.5 is not so high that it will raise questions by anyone who’s reviewing it — meaning, if your academics actually are VERY good, it would still be reasonable to guess at 3.5 — and if they’re only sort of good then you’re not exaggerating things terribly much with the 3.5.

      It sucks when we see people who have decent grades yet they entered 3.0 — or conversely, when ANYONE enters 4.0 (or even 3.9) since in America, it’s quite rare to see students finish four years of college with a GPA at that level.

      Anyway, go with 3.5, is what we say. When you submit your apps to the bschools, they’ll see the full transcripts and will be able to evaluate the reality from those. Given what you shared with us here, you won’t get yourself in trouble with 3.5 as a safe estimate.

      Hope that helps!

      EssaySnark

      Reply
  2. Sagar says

    September 26, 2016 at 12:34 am

    Hi,

    I’m trying to register for GMAT and I’m trying to ascertain what will be my GPA on US scale. Can you please help me in identifying reasonable GPA for my undergrad score?

    I have graduated from IIT Roorkee in 2014. My Cumulative GPA is 6.92/10. The university also gives formula for conversion from CGPA to Percentage which stands at 74.2%. {(GPA+.5)*10}

    Can you please help me which number should I be using to convert to US standards as my percentage is 5% more than 10 multiplier of my CGPA. Should I be using the same number in B-School applications as well?

    I also believe that if I use standardized chart suggested on MBA.com with my percentage numbers it will come out to be ~2.4, which does not accurately represent my score.

    Can you please help me answer these questions to summarize:
    1. Should I used CGPA or percentage numbers in my B-School application?
    2. What would be realistic GPA number that I should enter in GMAT form?

    Thanks.

    Regards,
    Sagar

    Reply
    • essaysnark says

      September 26, 2016 at 7:54 am

      Hi Sagar – you’re right, a 2.4 out of 4.0 is VERY low and it does not sound like your marks were that bad! Of course, a 6.92 isn’t the best, either, as you’re aware. šŸ™‚

      When you enter your academic details into the MBA application forms then always use the actual native score that your school provides on the transcript, so the 6.92 / 10 and not the percentage.

      We can’t really give a good estimate of what your grades might truly convert to without seeing the full transcripts, however based on what you’ve provided, and similar to the logic that we’ve offered to Nirmal above, then we’d say to enter 3.0 into the GMAT registration form. It’s possible that your actual 4.0-scale equivalent is much higher than that but we can’t say for sure. You would not want to enter lower than 3.0 since it does not seem like your marks were that bad, but with the <7.0 then definitely there's evidence of weakness, and if you estimate too high then that doesn't look so great.

      That's the best we can offer without going through a full transcript review (which we do offer in our Transcripts & Grades App Accelerator in case you’re interested!).

      Good luck on the GMAT!!

      EssaySnark

      Reply
  3. rakshith says

    October 4, 2016 at 4:14 pm

    Hi,

    I’m trying to register for GMAT and I’m trying to ascertain what will be my GPA on US scale. Can you please help me in identifying reasonable GPA for my undergrad score?

    I have graduated from PES institute of Technology in 2015. My Cumulative GPA is 7.31/10. The university also gives formula for conversion from CGPA to Percentage which stands at 65.6%. {(GPA-.75)*10}

    I also believe that if I use standardized chart suggested on MBA.com with my percentage numbers it will come out to be ~1.6, which does not accurately represent my score.

    Reply
    • essaysnark says

      October 5, 2016 at 8:40 am

      @rakshith, we’re nervous about giving out conversions like this without seeing the actual transcripts. In your case, you’re right, your academics definitely are better than 1.6 since that would be a failing result! šŸ™‚ Please do not use the 65.6% to convert to a 4.0 scale as it is not accurately representing your record. For applying to U.S. bschools, you should always report your marks in the 10-point scale from your college. It’s very difficult to say what a true conversion would be, however using logic similar to what we presented for Nirmal and Sagar, you might want to enter a 3.2 or 3.3 into the GMAT registration system.

      EssaySnark

      Reply
  4. PRAKASH says

    November 28, 2016 at 7:50 pm

    FOR AN UNDERGRADUATE FROM MADRAS UNIVERSITY WITH CGPA 7.988/10 ,
    WHAT IS MY GPA FOR ENTERING IN THE GMAT FORM?

    Reply
    • essaysnark says

      December 20, 2016 at 9:01 am

      @PRAKASH, you’ve probably already registered for the GMAT by now and maybe even taken the test – if so, we hope it went great!! We chose not to reply to this at the time because, well, it kinda came across as a little bit rude. The all-caps thing is rather intense, being on the receiving end, and there wasn’t even any sort of ‘please’ or ‘thank you’. You know, the little things. šŸ™‚

      Apparently we’re showing up on specific google results with this post which is great, but anyone who first finds the ‘Snark based on that search is invited to introduce themselves before just lobbing a demand question over and hitting us in the face like that.

      Or just leave that GPA field blank on the GMAT registration screen; it doesn’t require you to enter a value, does it?

      Good luck to all sweating through the GMAT, now and in the future! We’ve got plenty of other advice on applying to bschool on this here blahg besides this one tiny post. Pull up a chair! Stay awhile! We love having company ’round these parts.

      EssaySnark

      Reply
  5. A chauhan says

    February 11, 2017 at 6:05 am

    I have same question what gpa conversion I should enter.
    I have 67.84/100. So which scale should I enter as the gmac conversion scale wes scale(https://www.wes.org/calculator/igpa.asp).
    Please suggest me something.

    Reply
    • essaysnark says

      February 16, 2017 at 5:39 am

      @A chauhan, you can read through the comments we’ve answered for others on this post (especially the one right above this, to Prakash šŸ™‚ ).

      If you or anyone else reading this page need more assistance, we offer a special service where we can look at your exact situation specifically. You’re invited to check out our Private Consult which is ideal for one-off questions like this and others that you may have about your application strategy.

      Or, feel free to adopt the guidance that we’ve laid out to other posters here on this page, which is pretty much the best we can do with such limited information.

      Thanks and good luck with your applications!!

      EssaySnark

      Reply
  6. Hussain says

    March 7, 2017 at 4:49 pm

    Could you please let me know my GPA . I have completed my Computer Engineerk from University of Pune(UoP), which is one of the most stringent to evaluate students. My aggregate percentage (4 years combined) is 62%(First class).
    With the American system , even our college toppers (@70% usually,) won’t even get a 3.0 šŸ™

    Reply

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