Pomona- absurd grade inflation?

[Anonymous]

To qualify for Latin Honors (top 25% of the class) you needed a 3.96 GPA or higher this year.

Contrast to just eight years ago when the requirement was already high at 3.84, but at least it was lower.

Tons of students mentioning they just coasted through many of their classes and were assured As and Bs with no effort whatsoever. How is this acceptable to parents paying 100K for presumably an academically well regarded school? How do employers and grad schools figure out who the real deal is from Pomona if GPAs are so sky high?

[Anonymous]

What is your source? I have not heard that Pomona inflates grades any more than any other SLAC.

[Anonymous]

Any guesses as to what Pomona did to this troll to necessitate so many anti-Pomona posts/threads? Rejecting him/her or his/her DC seems insufficient to cause such an obsession.

[Anonymous]

Strange. I hear pretty much the opposite from current Pomona students: grading depends on the professor, but you have to work hard for a top grade in every class.

[Anonymous]

I am a Pomona student. The grading is pretty inflated, but to say you are getting "Bs with no effort" is pretty hyperbolic. Most students work very hard and classes average B+. STEM courses were asked to deflate grades this past year, and some subjects, like economics, are made artificially more difficult than need be to separate the future PhD types from the industry types.

Grading has always been like this for Pomona. Back when we were on the 12 point scale, you needed a 12/12 to be Pomona Scholar (top 25%). If your only perception of rigor is grade inflation, go to Harvey Mudd. Our grades are not anymore inflated than Williams or Swarthmore. CMC does grade deflate, but they have fewer majors and a student body with a particularly strong, niche interest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To qualify for Latin Honors (top 25% of the class) you needed a 3.96 GPA or higher this year.

Contrast to just eight years ago when the requirement was already high at 3.84, but at least it was lower.

Tons of students mentioning they just coasted through many of their classes and were assured As and Bs with no effort whatsoever. How is this acceptable to parents paying 100K for presumably an academically well regarded school? How do employers and grad schools figure out who the real deal is from Pomona if GPAs are so sky high?

Who are these "tons" of Pomona students during the summer? There's very few people on campus currently, and the type who are on campus currently are doing research, meaning they had to be good enough in their course that a prof recognized their potential.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any guesses as to what Pomona did to this troll to necessitate so many anti-Pomona posts/threads? Rejecting him/her or his/her DC seems insufficient to cause such an obsession.

Probably rejected OP or their kids. Obvious troll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To qualify for Latin Honors (top 25% of the class) you needed a 3.96 GPA or higher this year.

Contrast to just eight years ago when the requirement was already high at 3.84, but at least it was lower.

Tons of students mentioning they just coasted through many of their classes and were assured As and Bs with no effort whatsoever. How is this acceptable to parents paying 100K for presumably an academically well regarded school? How do employers and grad schools figure out who the real deal is from Pomona if GPAs are so sky high?

Most of the students are the "real deal." Simply failing them to feign enhanced rigor is not going to suddenly produce better graduates; in fact, it'll probably harm their post-graduate prospects.

[Anonymous]

What is the purpose of grade deflation outside of a public university? Do I really want to compete in my Quantum Mechanics class of 12 students? What "good" does it do to campus community?

[Anonymous]

This has been a debate for a while. Back in 2013, a student wrote for the TSL that...

I don’t find such arguments convincing at all. If you find a laptop more affordable now than 10 years ago, you would say, “I have better purchasing power!” rather than, “I am getting a worse laptop.” But when it comes to grades, do you blame the grading standard without considering our hard work at all? Many professors at Pomona would tell you that they don’t curve grades. If your work is of A quality, then you get an A. They are not making us lazy. They are making us responsible for ourselves. They give us As because of how good we are, not how terrible others are.

After one of her peers wrote an article pleading Pomona to get rid of the grade inflation and begin failing students. Today, the article writer is an angel investor and ex-PM for meta, and she was combating Saahil Desai, who's a well-known editor for the Atlantic. So, really, for products of grade inflation, the students come out pretty successful and continue to climb.

[Anonymous]

pomona students take classes at deflated mudd/cmc, and a good chunk study abroad as well, and they also get all a's or close at them

it's a school where almost a third of the class were valedictorian in their high school, so the students will take the steps to do well

same narrative is true at harvard, yale, stanford, amherst, etc.

[Anonymous]

The students are good. It’s that simple.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:pomona students take classes at deflated mudd/cmc, and a good chunk study abroad as well, and they also get all a's or close at them

it's a school where almost a third of the class were valedictorian in their high school, so the students will take the steps to do well

same narrative is true at harvard, yale, stanford, amherst, etc.

This. People are shocked that straight A students continue to be... straight A students?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To qualify for Latin Honors (top 25% of the class) you needed a 3.96 GPA or higher this year.

Contrast to just eight years ago when the requirement was already high at 3.84, but at least it was lower.

Tons of students mentioning they just coasted through many of their classes and were assured As and Bs with no effort whatsoever. How is this acceptable to parents paying 100K for presumably an academically well regarded school? How do employers and grad schools figure out who the real deal is from Pomona if GPAs are so sky high?

Parents paying 100K a year expect all A’s, so schools deliver. Employers do their own testing early in the application process to weed out applicants that didn’t earn those A’s.

It is why major employers have expanded their recruiting efforts beyond the “prestigious schools” realizing that a college degree is just another participation trophy.

[Anonymous]

What do you want the profs to do?