UW Grading System

This week I got the grade for my Data Compression class and was somewhat surprised at the format. From my undergrad experience I was expecting it to be in the usual A, B, C format, but instead I got a "3.9" grade.

I looked up the University of Washington's grading system, which is apparently number-based and on the same scale as the GPA system. So 3.9-4.0s are "A equivalents", 3.5-3.8s are "A-"s, 3.2-3.4s are "B+"s, etc..

I'm a bit torn on my evaluation of the merits of this system. On one hand, it's much more fine-grained than the lettering system, and you can distinguish between students who worked really hard and got perfect scores on everything, and other students who just did the work required to get an A. The letter grade system doesn't really distinguish between people to that degree, until you start using the plus/minus quantifiers to the letters, at which point you've basically admitted that just using the letters doesn't quite cover all the information you need to convey. It seems that UW has solved that problem by just throwing away the letter system and replacing it with the number system.

On the other hand, I'm sort of miffed by this, because after all these years of school, it's become very ingrained in my mind that an A == 4.0 GPA. Now I have an "A", but my GPA is 3.9, which in my mind means "dang, screwed up and got a B in 1 out of 10 classes." Of course, in reality, a 3.9 is a perfectly fine grade and probably nobody will ever care anyway (how much to MBA/PhD programs care about GPAs? I am not really sure.. hrmm..). Still, grr :).

Now that I know how the system works, I can accommodate it if I decide I really need that 4.0 (which, honestly, I probably don't).

Posted on December 21, 2007
Comments (6) Trackbacks (0)
  1. Yeah, I got my report card last term and it said I had a 4.1 (yes, you can get above a 4.0) and I was pretty excited about that but when I checked my grades online, it said I had a 3.9 and I got all pissed off… Need 4.0!!!!

  2. only 3.9? im shocked and disappointed faller 🙂

  3. I know, I know.. slacking

  4. I hear what you’re saying, but wow! Congratulations on the GREAT grades! Very impressed (but not surprised…)

  5. Oh! and Merry Christmas! (I know – it’s a little late…)

  6. Thanks! Merry Christmas too!

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