Do most people not graduate college with honors?

[Anonymous]

Duh

[Anonymous]

You'd be surprised how uncommon 3.5+ GPAs are. They just seem common because people with mediocre grades are less likely to reveal them. 3.5+ is generally no more than 15-20 percent of the graduating class. Not rare, but still something to be proud of.

Many people had a "bad semester" (or two). It only takes a couple of bad grades to knock your GPA down below a cum laude, permanently.

[Anonymous]

Huh I graduated magna cum laude with honors and nobody cares.

Don't get wrapped around the axle about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I was in school, you needed a 3.5 or above to graduate with honors. Plenty made the cut, for sure, but most did not. (I barely made it.) I've known plenty of people who didn't even achieve a 3.0 upon graduation. They're fine, but not everyone is a superstar.

yeah, we had 3 levels. One started at 3.0, the next at 3.5, the last was maybe 3.8? I was in the lower level somewhere. I don't remember what my GPA was in college anymore. I didn't work incredibly hard there, but still made Dean's List most semesters.

Ah, a liberal arts major.

Do you have a point? I have a Bachelors degree and a Masters degree. i wasn't trying to get into grad school immediately where a high gpa would have been more critical. I did enough to get academic honors based on the criteria at my school at the time. I wasn't obsessed with grades-I didn't have to be. I still was a decent student at an academically intense school. I had type-a friends there who used to shake their heads that I would write a paper in 24 hours and get the same grade they did after working for weeks. I'm not saying I was a slacker-I did all my assignments, did well on tests, all of it. I just didn't kill myself for it.

At this point in life,no one gives a rat's ass what your gpa was. Or even what your major was (for the most part). I have the degrees on my resume-end of story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought Harvard was/is PASS or FAIL???????

Lots of experience with top schools, huh? For the record, the percentage of "Latin honors" magna, summa, cum laude at Harvard is capped at 60% of the class, lower than the percentage 50 years ago. Before the cap was instituted, the percentage had risen to over 90% in the mid 1990s.

Why is it surprising that a school full of entrants with perfect SAT scores, 4.5 high school GPAs and awesome extracurriculars and want to go to grad school would study hard and learn the materials for their classes in college? Except in classes designed to cull students like organic chemistry, there is no real need for forced curves. Professors set a standard and smart, hard charging student work hard to meet it. Harvard isn't full of students like those at a state college that need six years to graduate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought Harvard was/is PASS or FAIL???????

Lots of experience with top schools, huh? For the record, the percentage of "Latin honors" magna, summa, cum laude at Harvard is capped at 60% of the class, lower than the percentage 50 years ago. Before the cap was instituted, the percentage had risen to over 90% in the mid 1990s.

Why is it surprising that a school full of entrants with perfect SAT scores, 4.5 high school GPAs and awesome extracurriculars and want to go to grad school would study hard and learn the materials for their classes in college? Except in classes designed to cull students like organic chemistry, there is no real need for forced curves. Professors set a standard and smart, hard charging student work hard to meet it. Harvard isn't full of students like those at a state college that need six years to graduate.

I'm going to a state college and I'll be done a semester early, which means that I'll have finished in 3.5 years, not 6, thank you very much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought Harvard was/is PASS or FAIL???????

Lots of experience with top schools, huh? For the record, the percentage of "Latin honors" magna, summa, cum laude at Harvard is capped at 60% of the class, lower than the percentage 50 years ago. Before the cap was instituted, the percentage had risen to over 90% in the mid 1990s.

Why is it surprising that a school full of entrants with perfect SAT scores, 4.5 high school GPAs and awesome extracurriculars and want to go to grad school would study hard and learn the materials for their classes in college? Except in classes designed to cull students like organic chemistry, there is no real need for forced curves. Professors set a standard and smart, hard charging student work hard to meet it. Harvard isn't full of students like those at a state college that need six years to graduate.

Many people going to state school worked their way through college, a concept that your snide comment indicates that you are unfamiliar with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought Harvard was/is PASS or FAIL???????

Lots of experience with top schools, huh? For the record, the percentage of "Latin honors" magna, summa, cum laude at Harvard is capped at 60% of the class, lower than the percentage 50 years ago. Before the cap was instituted, the percentage had risen to over 90% in the mid 1990s.

Why is it surprising that a school full of entrants with perfect SAT scores, 4.5 high school GPAs and awesome extracurriculars and want to go to grad school would study hard and learn the materials for their classes in college? Except in classes designed to cull students like organic chemistry, there is no real need for forced curves. Professors set a standard and smart, hard charging student work hard to meet it. Harvard isn't full of students like those at a state college that need six years to graduate.

Many people going to state school worked their way through college, a concept that your snide comment indicates that you are unfamiliar with.

Actually, most people who go to state school need to work part-time during college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought Harvard was/is PASS or FAIL???????

Lots of experience with top schools, huh? For the record, the percentage of "Latin honors" magna, summa, cum laude at Harvard is capped at 60% of the class, lower than the percentage 50 years ago. Before the cap was instituted, the percentage had risen to over 90% in the mid 1990s.

Why is it surprising that a school full of entrants with perfect SAT scores, 4.5 high school GPAs and awesome extracurriculars and want to go to grad school would study hard and learn the materials for their classes in college? Except in classes designed to cull students like organic chemistry, there is no real need for forced curves. Professors set a standard and smart, hard charging student work hard to meet it. Harvard isn't full of students like those at a state college that need six years to graduate.

Many people going to state school worked their way through college, a concept that your snide comment indicates that you are unfamiliar with.

Actually, most people who go to state school need to work part-time during college.

My DC goes to a flagship state school and many of the OOS students do not seem to be working their way through college. Sure there are some doing work study, but that's true at all colleges, including my other DCs private SLAC.

[Anonymous]

Back in the late 80s/early 90s my friends/grad school buddies at Ivies and SLACs graduated with honors and as PP noted, especially those from Harvard. However at my large midwestern state university, not many did. It was truly reserved for the top 5% of the student body. Not sure if it's that way now with all the grade inflation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought Harvard was/is PASS or FAIL???????

Lots of experience with top schools, huh? For the record, the percentage of "Latin honors" magna, summa, cum laude at Harvard is capped at 60% of the class, lower than the percentage 50 years ago. Before the cap was instituted, the percentage had risen to over 90% in the mid 1990s.

Why is it surprising that a school full of entrants with perfect SAT scores, 4.5 high school GPAs and awesome extracurriculars and want to go to grad school would study hard and learn the materials for their classes in college? Except in classes designed to cull students like organic chemistry, there is no real need for forced curves. Professors set a standard and smart, hard charging student work hard to meet it. Harvard isn't full of students like those at a state college that need six years to graduate.

Many people going to state school worked their way through college, a concept that your snide comment indicates that you are unfamiliar with.

Actually, most people who go to state school need to work part-time during college.

My DC goes to a flagship state school and many of the OOS students do not seem to be working their way through college. Sure there are some doing work study, but that's true at all colleges, including my other DCs private SLAC.

I'm sure that few OOS students work. Most state schools have a substantial local "commuter" population that works. However, the most prestigious schools tend to have relatively few working students that truly have to work their way through. It's mostly regional state schools and non-elite "flagships" that have a lot of commuters.

Many elite schools intentionally discourage commuter students because they take longer to graduate and often struggle to fit in socially with the more affluent students. They also tend to be older.

[Anonymous]

This must be the stupidest question ever asked on DCUM. And that is really saying something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought Harvard was/is PASS or FAIL???????

Lots of experience with top schools, huh? For the record, the percentage of "Latin honors" magna, summa, cum laude at Harvard is capped at 60% of the class, lower than the percentage 50 years ago. Before the cap was instituted, the percentage had risen to over 90% in the mid 1990s.

Why is it surprising that a school full of entrants with perfect SAT scores, 4.5 high school GPAs and awesome extracurriculars and want to go to grad school would study hard and learn the materials for their classes in college? Except in classes designed to cull students like organic chemistry, there is no real need for forced curves. Professors set a standard and smart, hard charging student work hard to meet it. Harvard isn't full of students like those at a state college that need six years to graduate.

Many people going to state school worked their way through college, a concept that your snide comment indicates that you are unfamiliar with.

Actually, most people who go to state school need to work part-time during college.

My DC goes to a flagship state school and many of the OOS students do not seem to be working their way through college. Sure there are some doing work study, but that's true at all colleges, including my other DCs private SLAC.

I'm sure that few OOS students work. Most state schools have a substantial local "commuter" population that works. However, the most prestigious schools tend to have relatively few working students that truly have to work their way through. It's mostly regional state schools and non-elite "flagships" that have a lot of commuters.

Many elite schools intentionally discourage commuter students because they take longer to graduate and often struggle to fit in socially with the more affluent students. They also tend to be older.

I would think that it isn't the schools themselves making a conscious decision - it's all about money. Commuters cannot generally afford the "elite schools" - they just can't.

[Anonymous]

The ivies may be known for grade inflation, but it's not true of all schools (or colleges within universities). I remember a running joke a GW was frustration about paying so much and not even getting the benefit of a little grade inflation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actually, most people who go to state school need to work part-time during college.

Actually, two-thirds of Harvard students work during the school year and 60% get financial aid. Because Harvard gives grants/scholarships instead of loans in their financial aid program, the net cost of Harvard is often substantially lower than a state school. It is far more economically diverse than a state school like UVA. Harvard is essentially tuition free for families earning less than $150,000/year because family contribution is capped at 10% of income (books and living expenses).