McGill, GPA's and LSAT

[warholmuse]

*Sigh*

[FossilJ]

If it makes you feel any better, my brother is currently doing his PhD in the engineering physics/nanotechnology department here at the U of A, and he agrees with that sentiment.  That's because there's a certain level of objectivity and certainty in science grading -- you generally know what to study for and what not to study for, and you can generally know how many you got "right" and how many you got "wrong" with little room for debate.  In Arts, most of this is at the prof's discretion, and most profs don't like to dish out really high marks. 

I'm not really all that impressed with a 3.6/3.7 out of Arts, while I am when it's from someone out of Engineering/Genetics.  However, a 3.9/4.0 in Arts is impressive, and probably more difficult to get than a similar mark in most science-related degrees.  I think the mark where it shifts for me is around 3.7 to 3.8.  It still takes a shitload of work to manage this in any degree, but your chances are just much lower in Arts -- you have to count on so many factors beyond "what's right and wrong".

[Doraemon]

Although the engineering curriculum is in general more demanding, I am less impressed by excellent grades in engineering than top grades in arts. Top engineering students can consistently get 95%+, whereas a top student in English would find it hard to crack 90%. So I think an engineer's 90% is less impressive than an English major's 90%. An engineer's 95% would be comparable to an English major's 90%. I think this is what warholmuse was trying to say.

[FossilJ]

This is precisely what I said.

Which is not surprising, given that I was completely agreeing with her.

[Doraemon]

This is precisely what I said.

Which is not surprising, given that I was completely agreeing with her.

Indeed. I declare myself in agreement with both of you.

[FossilJ]

Most excellent!

[warholmuse]

Haha, how swell it is to all be in agreement.

Anyway, I am still really curious as to how my school's 12 point grading system will convert into a gpa.

Hmmm...

[nerfco]

I would argue it is much harder to maintain a good GPA in my major (physics), than it would be in English. In an English major, it may be tough to get a 90 in a class, but I would argue it is relatively easy to get an 80 or 85. In physics, I would argue it takes much more work to get an 80 in a class, and still takes more work to get a 90 or higher than it does in English. As evidence of this, my last four upper-level physics classes had class averages of 59%, 61%, 39%, and 50%.

I would, however, concede that once you have already reached 90, it would be much harder to change that mark into a 97 in English than in physics. (However, at my school, there is no difference between 90 and 97 to a GPA--both are 4.33.)

This likely varies from school-to-school however. Math, at my institution, is much easier than physics--class averages tend to hover around 75% rather than 55%. It would be quite easy to maintain a high GPA in math relative to physics at my school.

[FossilJ]

Fair enough.  Still doesn't allow people to summarily dismiss the difficulty of an Arts degree as did the poster that we were responding to.

[Geo_Storm]

put it this way, i'd have a lot more ease maintaining my 3.5ish gpa in arts than in engineering, which I am. That said i do agree that the possibility for an A in every engineering class is more within grasp. The difficulty lies in getting A in every class every semester, it takes an insane amount of work.

back to the topic, i'd say my engineering degree adds to law school diversity, and therefore boosts my chances on a diverse-driven, less-number-driven law school such as mcgill. Plus i'm from mcgill, gotta count for something.