How to Explain Grades and Rank in a LOR

How to Explain Grades and Rank in a LOR

Do not convert the grade. Give it in your own scale, then add the three facts the transcript cannot: the student's rank, the size and years of the group you ranked them in, and what the top band means at your institution. One sentence usually does it.

A letter that says "she has a CGPA of 9.1, equivalent to a 3.9 GPA" gives the reader a second number that helps nobody. The reader already has the transcript, with your university's scale on it, and the conversion in your letter is unofficial and may disagree with theirs. What the reader cannot get from the transcript is how hard a 9.1 is to earn in your department. This page gives sentence patterns for five grading systems and shows which application forms ask for a ranked comparison. If the letter is drafted, you can get a free Quick Review of your recommendation letter.

Every university page quoted below was checked on October 31, 2026. None of them states a cycle year for these rules.

What the reader already has

Graduate programs receive your student's grades from the transcript, in the original scale. Several destination universities require the scale itself:

• Toronto Mechanical and Industrial Engineering: "Every transcript must include its respective grading scale." (Toronto MIE MASc)
• Waterloo: uploads must show "transcript legends/keys/grading scales" (Waterloo application documents).
• UC Berkeley, for translated records: "Degree names and grades should be transcribed, not converted, into English words or the U.S. grades of A-F." (Berkeley Graduate Division requirements). That rule is about translations of transcripts, not letters. It still tells you how the reader meets your grade: in its own scale.

Berkeley asks recommenders for something else: "your intellectual ability, your aptitude in research or professional skills, your character, and the quality of your previous work and potential for future productive scholarship." Grades are context for that judgement, not its substance.

There is one case where the letter must carry the marks. LSE asks: "If you are an academic referee from an institution which does not supply transcripts or mark sheets until graduation, and if the applicant is a current student, please, if possible, comment in detail on the applicant's progress at university, including all of their marks to date." (LSE information for referees).

Our view: state the grade once, in your scale, and spend the sentence on rank and group. The countercase: if your university issues no transcript before graduation, follow LSE's rule and list the marks to date, with the scale. Converting them is still not your job.

The forms that ask you to rank the student

The five forms below put a ranking question beside the letter. They do not use the same scale, and two of them count in opposite directions.

Sydney's bands are percentiles counted from the bottom: "90% plus" is its "Excellent" column. UNSW Engineering counts from the top: "top 10%" is its "Excellent". By our arithmetic, a student in your top 10% sits in "90% plus" on one form and "top 10%" on the other. Read the column labels before you tick, and make the letter say the same thing as the tick.

Warwick also asks the referee to "indicate the standard attained" where they know the applicant's recent study. That is a request for the level, not a conversion.

Three facts that make a grade readable

The quoted phrases in this section and the next two are constructed examples, written by us; the numbers are invented.

1. The rank and the group. "Third of 118 students in the 2022–2026 B.Tech batch" is readable anywhere. Stanford's form asks for exactly this: the group, the years, and roughly how many people.
2. What the top band means locally. "Fewer than ten students a year finish above 9.0 in this department" tells the reader what 9.1 means. Use only numbers your department can confirm.
3. The direction. "Her semester averages rose from 7.8 to 9.4" says more than a final CGPA when the early terms were weak.

Leave out anything you cannot check. A reader cannot use a percentile you estimated from memory.

Sentence patterns by grading system

Five constructed examples, written by us, not real applicant statements. The names, institutions and numbers are invented. Each gives the grade in its own scale, a rank with a group, and no conversion.

Constructed example: CGPA on a 10-point scale

Ms. Ananya Rao finished with a CGPA of 9.12 on our 10-point scale, third of 118 students in the 2022–2026 B.Tech ECE batch. In my eleven years in this department, fewer than ten students a year have finished above 9.0.

Constructed example: percentage with a class of degree

Mr. Bilal Ahmed scored 81.4% in aggregate, which our university's regulations class as First Division. Of the 64 students in his M.Sc. Physics year, he placed second, and he topped both of the courses I taught him.

Constructed example: CGPA on a 5-point scale

Miss Chiamaka Obi graduated with a CGPA of 4.71 on our 5.0 scale, inside the band our senate regulations call First Class. She was one of four students in a set of 132 to reach that band in 2025.

Constructed example: a 100-point average with a major rank

Mr. Li Wei's weighted average is 89.6 out of 100 across 152 credits, which places him sixth of 210 students in the Automation major. In my course on control systems, his final mark was the highest of the 96 students that year.

Constructed example: a 1–7 scale

Ms. Valentina Rojas earned a 6.3 on the 1–7 scale our university uses, fourth of 63 students in her entering cohort. The transcript legend shows the pass mark; her lowest course grade was well above it.

Each sentence answers Stanford's three questions (group, years, size) or Warwick's (same course, same period) without asking the reader to trust a conversion. For country-specific grade systems on the applicant's side, see our guides to Italian grades on 30 and 110 and Latin American grades.

Naming your institution's standing

A national label can mean nothing to a reader abroad: a ranking-list position, a funding-scheme name, or a tier that is common knowledge only at home. Do not lean on it. Replace it with one clause the reader can check:

• how students enter (the name of the national entrance examination and the share admitted, if your institution publishes it)
• how many students your department admits a year
• what the student's cohort was ranked against

Our view: one clause of selectivity, sourced from your own institution's figures, beats a ranking label. The countercase: if the reader is in the same country, or the program says it knows your system, the label can stay; the clause costs one line.

Ranks you cannot verify

Some departments publish no rank. Do not invent one. Compare the student with the people you have taught or supervised, and say how many and over how many years: "Among roughly 140 students in this course over five years, she is in the top five." That is what Stanford's form asks, and it is honest.

If a class rank is most of what you know, see the recommendation letter for a student you barely know.

If you cannot compare at all, the forms give you a way out: Stanford's "No basis for judgment", Sydney's "Unable to judge", UNSW Engineering's "No opportunity to observe". Use it rather than guessing. Our page on the "no basis for judgment" rating shows when each response fits.

If the student's grades are weak and you still support them, our sibling page on a letter for a student with low grades covers what to say.

Check before you upload

1. The grade appears once, in your institution's scale.
2. There is no converted GPA or "equivalent to" phrase.
3. Every rank names its group, its years and its size.
4. Every number is one your department can confirm.
5. Any form tick (top 10%, "90% plus") says the same thing as the letter.
6. If your university issues no transcript yet and the program asks (LSE), the marks to date are listed.

For how this sentence fits into the whole letter, see the LOR format and sample for MS and PhD recommenders and how to write a letter of recommendation for a student. For the wider gap in register between letter cultures, read European vs American recommendation letters.

Questions about grades in recommendation letters

Should I convert my student's CGPA to a 4.0 GPA in the letter?

No. The transcript carries your scale, and programs such as Toronto MIE and Waterloo require the scale with it. Give the grade in your scale and add rank and group.

How do I mention class rank in a recommendation letter?

Give the position, the size of the group and the years: "third of 118 students in the 2022–2026 batch". Stanford's form asks for the group, the years and roughly how many people.

What if my department does not rank students?

Say so, and compare the student with those you have taught, with a count and a period. If you cannot compare, use the form's "No basis for judgment" or "Unable to judge" option.

Should I list all the marks?

Only when the program asks. LSE asks referees from institutions that issue no transcript before graduation to comment on "all of their marks to date". An annotated UK reference sample shows a CGPA, scale and rank written for a UK reader.

Swiss programmes ask for this directly: see what ETH programmes ask referees to compare.

Get a free review of the letter

Get a free Quick Review of your recommendation letter against GradPilot's graduate recommendation letter rubric. It reads for how you know the candidate, incidents rather than adjectives, comparisons that name their reference group and window, and the strength of your endorsement. For a letter going abroad, choose the international academic recommendation rubric; it also checks whether your grades and rankings make sense to a reader who does not know your system.

GradPilot's letter reviews aren't for a letter you drafted for a recommender to submit as their own.

More guides for international recommenders:

• Recommendation letter from a Nigerian lecturer: format and rules for letters from Nigerian universities.
• Chinese professor recommendation letter sample: a labelled sample for a letter from a Chinese university.
• Graduate school essays hub: all our master's and PhD guides.

Sources

Retrieved October 31, 2026.

• University of Toronto MIE, Master of Applied Science (no cycle stated): grading scale required on every transcript.
• University of Waterloo, Application documents and materials (no cycle stated): transcript legends and grading scales.
• UC Berkeley Graduate Division, Requirements (no cycle stated): transcribe-not-convert rule for translations; what recommenders are asked.
• London School of Economics, Information for referees (no cycle stated): marks to date; the "similar programme" question.
• Stanford Graduate Admissions, Recommendations (no cycle stated): comparison group, years, group size and rating bands.
• University of Warwick, Guide to providing academic references (no cycle stated): Economics cohort bands; "standard attained".
• University of Sydney, Postgraduate Research Referee Form (form version "vMay16"): percentile bands and "Unable to judge".
• UNSW Engineering, Research applicant Referee's Report form (no date stated): top-down bands and "No opportunity to observe".