Thanks for the clarification, strawberries and turquoise stuff. I was actually careful to make sure that I had one letter of recommendation by an American, more because I suspected that there might be a standard form for such things than because I considered (at the time) that norms of praise would be different. Now I know better, I'm even happier I thought of it.
The lack of commensurability between US and UK grading goes beyond different numbering schemes: when I did my undergrad degree, you took a degree in one subject and were given a single result based on your performance in that subject - there was no equivalent to the course-load, GPA or what have you. It's such a fundamental difference that it can be hard to wrap one's mind around it. No majors, no minors, just the subject chosen at the time of application to university. Further, the possible grades were pass, fail or distinction; not a very clear metric in numerical terms. Perhaps strangest of all, I later found out that the professors who approved my application here in the US never tried to draw a clear parallel - they didn't know abot any of these differences...
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Posted by Anonymous to academicsecret at 10/06/2006 06:06:55 PM
