Wrong GPA mentioned, please advise

[sharma16.ash]

I received my GMAT score report today.
And I realised that the GPA entered (mistakenly) is 4.0
In our education system in India, we don't get GPA or grades.
So, I don't know how to calculate my GPA.
I relate GPA with percentile (and not percentage).
In that case, my GPA should be somewhere between 3.5 and 4.0
The problem is my GMAT score report alongwith the GPA of 4.0 has already been sent to the five schools that I selected during my GMAT exam.
Please inform whether this wrong GPA can affect me in any way.
Many advise me that this GPA is not used by B-schools and only by GMAC. B-schools are concerned with information I submit with my application and not with this GPA.
So, what can/shall I do now, to correct this or even if I need to do anything?

An early response, especially from Instructors shall highly be appreciated.
I am really tensed regarding this.

[StaceyKoprince]

It is the case that the b-schools will expect you to report your GPA directly to them, and most will also want you to send an official transcript from your school, so it's not terrible that the GMAT score report says something different.

First, contact GMAC to correct the record in case you send out more reports in future. Here's the conversion table published by GMAC (scroll down after clicking the link):

http://www.mba.com/mba/schoolsandprograms/applytoschools/assemblingyourschoolapplication.htm

Then, have you submitted your applications to these schools yet? The schools don't actually get a piece of paper in the mail; rather, they get access to your record in an online database. So they may not even have gone to look yet and, when they do, the report may already be corrected.

If you haven't submitted your app yet, don't do anything now. When you submit your app, just include a note that the 4.0 GPA originally reported on the GMAT score report is inaccurate. (Make sure to specify that 4.0 was the original report - as I said, it may be corrected by the time you submit your app, so they may only see the correct GPA.)

If you have already submitted your application, then communicate with the school in whatever manner it requests (most request email or a written note sent in the mail) and just let them know that the 4.0 GPA originally reported on the GMAT score report is inaccurate.

[sharma16.ash]

Hi Stacey,

Thanks a lot for your quick reply.
It was really a big relief.
Will follow the process mentioned by you.
I havn't yet submitted my application, so it would be a little easier.

I have seen the table that you have referred for GPA calculation but am still unable to figure out my GPA. I don't think its correct to use this table to convert 0-100 scale (percentage) to 0-4 scale (GPA).
For example, take the case that highest percentage in my class is 80% and I achieve 70%. In that case, as per this table, my GPA should be 2.0. But this does not seem correct to me. Because, the topper of the class (who should get highest grade and hence GPA of 4.0) will get a GPA of 3.0 as per this table.

In some forum, I read that to convert percentage to GPA, divide your percentage by the highest percentage of your class and then multiply the result by 4. If we use this formula, then for above example, my GPA should be 3.5.

Again, I read in some forum that each B-school has its own table/formulae to calculate GPA from percentage, and these calculation tables/formulae also depend on the institute from where one achieves the graduation degree. And hence, depending on my institute from where I did my graduation, and my percentage, the B-schools will calculate my GPA.

Please correct if I am wrong.
And suggest whether for the time being I should get my GPA corrected to the value obtained as per the formula mentioned (my %age divided by %age of class topper and result multiplied by 4).

Thanks again.

[StaceyKoprince]

If the top score was not always 100%, then there isn't only one standard way to deal with that. You will have to contact the individual schools to which you plan to apply. Explain how your grading system worked and ask them what (if anything) they would like you to do. They may do the calculations themselves, or they may provide you with instructions to do whatever calculations they prefer.