Students at colleges with grade deflation and grad admissions
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Anonymous
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I'm seeing a lot of posts/people making allegations about "grade deflation" at certain schools. Cornell, Colgate, BU and others have been noted on this site.
My kid is thinking of college in the next couple of years and wants a pre-health path (poss. Pre-me, PA, not sure) so I'm thinking of this. Is grade deflation a real thing? And if so, are the students at those schools able to compete with the schools that don't "deflate" or that "inflate"? So a 3.3 or 3.4 GPA from Cornell or Colgate vs. a 3.6 from another school--- will the Cornell person be shut out? I realize there are other factors. I'm just trying to understand if this is a real thing or just navel gazing by nervous parents (like myself, admittedly)? |
Anonymous
| No schools "deflate" grades. Come on. At most, they might not inflate them to the extent that notorious offenders like Harvard do. |
Anonymous
I mean, I don't know if this is true or not but it is a common view that many schools -like the ones listed in the OP- do grade difficult to the point of deflation. |
Anonymous
| Purdue has very harsh grading in STEM fields. Not deflation necessarily but a curve is needed so that over half of the class does not fail. For example, the average on this semester’s first physics exam was in the 40s. And these are bright kids taking these exams. Average on my son’s Calc 3 (Multivariable calc) final last semester - again in the 40s. |
Anonymous
Wow. . . . what did the average end up being with a curve? |
Anonymous
| Grad schools know what the grading is like at different schools. Just as colleges are able to understand that a 4.7 from Churchill is not necessarily better than a 3.8 from GDS, they are able to compare a GPA from Cornell and one from Princeton. |
Anonymous
That means nothing. A percentage is not a grade. As you said, it's curved. All grades are curved once you get past K-12 schools where (some) teachers don't understand basic math. Patrick Mahomes completed 62% of passes in the Super Bowl. If the grading wasn't curved he would have gotten a D! |
Anonymous
The true curve is not released until after the final exams but in classes like this 88 usually curves to A-. A C would usually settle in around a 67. It is a TOUGH school and takes STEM/Engineering seriously. Graduating kids know their stuff. |
Anonymous
But how does this play for grad school apps? Compared against not as tough school (recognizing that is subjective)? These kids come out with a C in a STEM class and another school a B or A? |
Anonymous
| My friend went to Cornell back in the day, and the curve was brutal. He and his friends complained bitterly about not catching much of a break on GPA exceptions when applying to law school. |
Anonymous
Not so sure a 3.8 at GDS equates to a 4.7 at Churchill but I can imagine things like SATs would help settle that. |
Anonymous
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Top graduate programs know what the median GPA is at most schools as well as the 25th and 75th.
While Harvard has grade inflation, it's worth mentioning that Harvard has grade cutoffs for various latin honors and those are restricted to certain percentages of the class, and those tell you a lot, and every top grad program is familiar with them. For example, in order to get Summa you must be in the top 5% of gpas in the class, in addition to other requirements. |
Anonymous
| It's a fairly big con for Boston U for my student. I'm not sure I disagree with that. If you want to go to grad school, it might be a lot harder. |
Anonymous
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Trust me folks. For a happy pre-med path, do not go to the best (most competitive) schools that accept you for undergrad. Grade deflation is real. Med School AOs may allow a small discount for top undergrad programs but this will not make things up for most kids. I have two DCs in med school. One Princeton undergrad and another from a T50. Both in about the same place now wrt med school. Princeton grad is in therapy from all the stress.
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Anonymous
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Like the college discussion, you all are kidding yourselves if you think most college have the time to say to themselves this person with a 3.7 at GDS is same as 4.2 at Churchill or any other school.
There are just too many applications and too many variables. It is an algorithm. It is a computer who sorts. GPA and test scores and maybe just maybe if you get into the bubble stack they will do more than that. I do not know if grad schools do same. With smaller app numbers, they probably do more but I doubt it is the fidelity you raise. |