AbbeFaria Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > being done with undergrad is hardly something to > Woo! about. Wooooooooooooooooooooo!
I spent a semester studying abroad in Melbourne at Monash University in my junior year. I can tell you, as a student who graduated from a good (but not great) US college with a 3.9 GPA, getting a high distinction in a given class is substantially more challenging than getting a 4.0 in most cases. It all depends on the teacher really, but more often than not a student in the US can attain an A by simply possessing a thorough knowledge of the material that the teacher emphasizes. Sometimes far less is required–grade inflation tends to run rampant in US colleges as far as I can tell. Whereas, in Australia, a high distinction is awarded (again, from what I witnessed) very rarely, and is really only intended for when a student goes truly above and beyond the call of duty–simply fulfilling (even if in impressive fashion) the stated objectives for a paper/project is not enough. Of the group of 35-40 students that I went abroad with, who were all possessing at least a 3.7 GPA (read: at least A-), I would say the vast majority did not receive a high distinction for even one of their classes. It really is quite an achievement relative to an A.
not intended to badmouth or trash talk on US universities, but I think it’s almost common knowledge that US universities do give out more generous grades, not that it is a bad thing (I’d be happy to get more for doing less, wouldn’t you?)… I met a lot of exchange students from various places in the world while I was at university and most of them said they chose my school cos it’s Canada and it’s cheaper than US and because of our close proximity to US, they assumed it’d be as easy as US universities (relative to their own university in their home country) and would essentially be a worry free vacation for them, and they couldn’t be more wrong, some were so stressed it ruined their whole exchange experience, most of them tend to do well in the end though because of the work ethics they established studying in other more competitive education systems overseas also, a number of my friends are doing masters and phds at some top US universities and they told me about how they thought the grading scheme for undergrad was somewhat more lenient personally though, I’d rather go to a more reputable university where high grades are easier to achieve (somehow that sounds conflicting…), after all what good is university without some crazy moments (no, studying all day doesn’t count as crazy or memorable moments)
Here is a GPA scale that my univeristy used when I graduated a few years ago. 9-A+ 8 -A 7-A- 6-B+ 5-B 4-B- 3-C+ 2-C 1-C- P-Pass F-Fail
Ive heard the same thing about some US schools. But ive witnessed it first hand for some of the Canadian Unis…not sure how common it is though liaaba Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > not intended to badmouth or trash talk on US > universities, but I think it’s almost common > knowledge that US universities do give out more > generous grades, not that it is a bad thing (I’d > be happy to get more for doing less, wouldn’t > you?)… > > I met a lot of exchange students from various > places in the world while I was at university and > most of them said they chose my school cos it’s > Canada and it’s cheaper than US and because of our > close proximity to US, they assumed it’d be as > easy as US universities (relative to their own > university in their home country) and would > essentially be a worry free vacation for them, and > they couldn’t be more wrong, some were so stressed > it ruined their whole exchange experience, most of > them tend to do well in the end though because of > the work ethics they established studying in other > more competitive education systems overseas > > also, a number of my friends are doing masters and > phds at some top US universities and they told me > about how they thought the grading scheme for > undergrad was somewhat more lenient > > personally though, I’d rather go to a more > reputable university where high grades are easier > to achieve (somehow that sounds conflicting…), > after all what good is university without some > crazy moments (no, studying all day doesn’t count > as crazy or memorable moments)