GPA conversions

[ikanovica]

Hey guys if im applying to a university for direct entry as opposed to through GEMSAS for post graduate i.e. something like JCU or JMP etc.

I am applying from UoM- so do I convert my overall WAM i.e. 82 % per say which by UniMelb standards is 7.0 GPA or do I covert my individual subject scores to gpa i.e 70+ to 6 and 80+ to 7 then take my average- as this is what I believe those uni's that I am applying for will do.

Also how does the university only obtain my Semester 1 grade as opposed to my potential year long Average, is It based upon when my application is sent- as im aware applications go through in September so is it that it'll be semester 1 results by default or?

any help appreciated

 

[Crow]

Hey guys if im applying to a university for direct entry as opposed to through GEMSAS for post graduate i.e. something like JCU or JMP etc.

Are you saying you're applying to an undergraduate uni, or you are applying to a postgraduate uni through a special pathway where you don't need to apply through GEMSAS?

or do I covert my individual subject scores to gpa i.e 70+ to 6 and 80+ to 7 then take my average- as this is what I believe those uni's that I am applying for will do.

Do it this way.

Also how does the university only obtain my Semester 1 grade as opposed to my potential year long Average, is It based upon when my application is sent- as im aware applications go through in September so is it that it'll be semester 1 results by default or?

Depends which unis you intend on applying to, if you apply to JCU for example they will use semester 1 results to make interview offers, then all results available by a particular cut-off date in early January (iirc) for place offers, I'm guessing other undergraduate unis are similar. If you're applying to postgraduate unis then they will make their offers before semester 2 results are available - your offer would likely be a "conditional offer" which means you need to maintain a certain GPA by the end of semester 2 to keep your offer.

 

[ikanovica]

Are you saying you're applying to an undergraduate uni, or you are applying to a postgraduate uni through a special pathway where you don't need to apply through GEMSAS?

Do it this way.

Depends which unis you intend on applying to, if you apply to JCU for example they will use semester 1 results to make interview offers, then all results available by a particular cut-off date in early January (iirc) for place offers, I'm guessing other undergraduate unis are similar. If you're applying to postgraduate unis then they will make their offers before semester 2 results are available - your offer would likely be a "conditional offer" which means you need to maintain a certain GPA by the end of semester 2 to keep your offer.

Thanks for the reply, yeah my aim is to apply for undergraduate as non-school leaver, however I dont feel that I shall be able to score above 80% in my core subjects as the difficulty of assessment is quite high here in comparison to other universities. I am under the impression that the university you attend has no weighting in your application assessment for GEMSAS but seeing as im only in my first year and essentially am applying directly to the uni, will it be taken into regard?

 

[A1]

but seeing as im only in my first year and essentially am applying directly to the uni, will it be taken into regard?

You won't be applying directly to the uni, it's to UAC for JMP, to QTAC for JCU etc. We more or less understand how UAC calculates your GPA in that they give grade points to a subject according to its grade code (HD, D...) on your academic record, the percentage mark doesn't matter.

QTAC otoh sits on the fence with saying "First you need to find out your Grade Point Average (GPA). This will involve contacting both the institution you attended and the one you want to get into". This complicates things a little since say you have a subject with 82 at UMelb = HD = 7 but that mark at JCU would be a D = 6, we are not sure which one you get.

 

[ikanovica]

You won't be applying directly to the uni, it's to UAC for JMP, to QTAC for JCU etc. We more or less understand how UAC calculates your GPA in that they give grade points to a subject according to its grade code (HD, D...) on your academic record, the percentage mark doesn't matter.

QTAC otoh sits on the fence with saying "First you need to find out your Grade Point Average (GPA). This will involve contacting both the institution you attended and the one you want to get into". This complicates things a little since say you have a subject with 82 at UMelb = HD = 7 but that mark at JCU would be a D = 6, we are not sure which one you get.

Well I believe the latter complicates things even more so as, UoM utilises the WAM System as opposed to GPA, I understand that post grad students must use GEMSAS conversions, but if QTAC does it this way should I contact the university that I am applying to, as after all my grading system is a lot harsher for a reason?

 

[A1]

Well I believe the latter complicates things even more so as, UoM utilises the WAM System as opposed to GPA, I understand that post grad students must use GEMSAS conversions, but if QTAC does it this way should I contact the university that I am applying to, as after all my grading system is a lot harsher for a reason?

UoM utilising WAM is not relevant to your case since they still give a percent mark and/or grade code to individual units, which is sufficient for the other TAC/uni to calculate a GPA. The key issue is whether QTAC/JCU counts a UoM 82 as HD/7, or D/6 based on JCU scale. You can give someone at JCU Med a call to verify but chances are they will say ask QTAC, then QTAC will give a vague estimate without telling you their overall method.

 

[ikanovica]

UoM utilising WAM is not relevant to your case since they still give a percent mark and/or grade code to individual units, which is sufficient for the other TAC/uni to calculate a GPA. The key issue is whether QTAC/JCU counts a UoM 82 as HD/7, or D/6 based on JCU scale. You can give someone at JCU Med a call to verify but chances are they will say ask QTAC, then QTAC will give a vague estimate without telling you their overall method.

Heres an update on the situation for anyone else in similar position,

"
Dear Alex,
Thank you for your email.
JCU uses a 7.0 scale for GPA. Where other institutions do not use the same scale a conversion calculation is done using the total score, the passing grade and the achieved score to create the equivalent GPA on a 7.0 scale.
If you would like to know what your current GPA will convert to you can provide us with your current cumulative GPA, the highest mark and the passing mark on your grading scale and we will let you know what that converts to on a 7.0 scale.
Kind regards"

Albeit I havent received my first semester grades yet, but ill let you all know how they end up converting them when they do

 

[A1]

JCU uses a 7.0 scale for GPA. Where other institutions do not use the same scale a conversion calculation is done using the total score, the passing grade and the achieved score to create the equivalent GPA on a 7.0 scale.

It'll be interesting to see how JCU calculates but I think this reply doesn't address what we were asking. This person talks about converting like GPA 4.0 or US 4.0 scale to the 7.0 scale. Our concern is both UoM & JCU use the same 7.0 scale, same 50 passing mark, but differ in 60/70/80 vs 65/75/85 for the grades. Can you reply to this email asking JCU to clarify this?

 

[ikanovica]

It'll be interesting to see how JCU calculates but I think this reply doesn't address what we were asking. This person talks about converting like GPA 4.0 or US 4.0 scale to the 7.0 scale. Our concern is both UoM & JCU use the same 7.0 scale, same 50 passing mark, but differ in 60/70/80 vs 65/75/85 for the grades. Can you reply to this email asking JCU to clarify this?

Okay so they finally got back to me and stated:

Dear Alex,
Our apologies for the delay in responding to your enquiry as we have sought further clarification from QTAC.
QTAC have confirmed that they have a policy which means they calculate GPAs on the basis of letter grades in all cases. Therefore a GPA will be calculated as follows (with appropriate weight granted to subjects that are worth more credit points):
H1 - 7.0
H2A - 6.5
H2B - 6.0
H3 - 4.5
P - 4
N - 1.5

So it seems to be QTAC will calculate GPA based upon the University you are currently at, as opposed to converting it by standards of the university of application. Which is definitely reassuring for me.

Hopefully this may be useful information for others in similar positions