Can anyone give me a rough US equivalent for the UK grading standard?
I got a Bachelor (hons) degree with a "first class" grade.
What GPA would that be? a 4.0?

Nope, but it's something I've been meaning to look into (and yep, I know there are companies that can evaluate your transcripts etc... trying to work out whether it's worth it) - to this day I can't quite get across to my fiance that my 2:1 is not the same as a 2.1 GPA.

I'm not going to pay anyone to get it evaluated - unless I really need it.
I just need a rough estimate, that's all.

Yup, same here... I think it'd only really be necessary to have it evaluated if applying for a postgrad course in the US or something. Can't imagine it'd be worth the expense otherwise. From what I've heard, I think a first equates roughly to a 4.0 and a 2:1 would be a 3.5 or thereabouts... but I haven't had much luck finding definite evidence that that's the case!

GPAs are difficult to translate from British degrees, but I would say that a First Class honours degree would be in the range of 3.8-4.0. Grading in Universities here is so different to the UK though. My wife regularly gets 96-100% on tests, when I was at Uni if you got over 70% on a test you were an exceptional student (not saying my wife isn't an exceptional student, but by the UK standards she'd be in Einstein Terroritory with the grades she's getting).

Actually given this I'd say a first class honours degree from the UK is equivalent to a 6.0 GPA average.

I don't think all American universities are like that...

The 4 I have worked at all have been, and those include 2 UCs and a Big Ten school.

Although I'm not in the US yet, I had my UK degree evaulated to help out with jobs etc - I used the World Education Service, www.wes.org, who evaulated my degree, A Levels, and GCSE's for $150. My GCSE's were considered the equivalent of a US High School Diploma, and my 2:2 degree came out as a 3.19 GPA. It took them a couple of months as I was a bit lax in sending off my transcripts etc, but I'd definately recommend them as a good evaluation service (and the employers/universities I'm looking at all accepted the translation as correct).

It may be well worth getting it evaluated as a good UK honours degree can easily equal an American Masters.

Hm haven't heard of that organization yet, I want to get my degree evaluated as well. A friend of mine btw in MA went to their local college were here interim-audit (after 4 semesters) was accepted as American BA. They said European High Schools are just so good that 2 years at college equals a BA!
Anyway, I will look into professional transcripts and GPA grading. And I know what Dr. Lha means: heck getting an A was for Einsteins only at my university. Average was C and all these people needed excellent A-levels to be admitted to the university. My hubbie attended an Ivy League college and everybody had As and Bs there. I do not doubt their abilities, but in Munich you could hand in a perfect paper and it still would be a B. I think the grading system is different.

Anyway, best bet is to "translate" things.

That depends on what universities you are comparing - a first class degree from the University of Derby? Please!

The default "British universities are so much better/more challenging that US ones" is a load of crap


Also when you're talking about 70% versus 95% -- you're talking about a different grading curve -- the 70% still equals a first, like 95% equals summa cum laude

I was attempting to be humorus, Mr Serious.

I was also trying to point out the futility of trying to convert UK scores to US GPA where in the UK a 70% on a test is equalivalent to get 95% on a test here. I wasn't implying that US unversities are worse or easier than UK ones, far from it. Being as I have been in the employ of several US Universities, I would be pretty stupid to have an elitist attitude like that.

I'm not being serious, it's just an old chestnut that is often repeated (and believed) and needs to be cracked.


It's my understanding that these services evaluate degree results (and not individual exam results) and turns them into a US GPA equivalent, so exam results of 70% which would deliver a First Class Honour degree would result in a GPA that would equate to Summa Cum Laude in the Latin honors system.

so 70% UK should still = 95% US



All of this is probably pointless if you are already established in most careers, however, as your experience will probably matter more than your degree,

True, but some employers still require it. My latest employers did and I had to pay $85 for the priviledge of a small piece of paper saying yes, a PhD from a major UK university was the same as PhD from a major US university.