Harvard Crimson -Student Reaction to Grade Inflation Report

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:. These kids think their lives will end if they aren't perfect, but really that will allow them to live more healthy lives.

Bingo.

While the average Harvard GPA goes up-up-up, the student body reports skyrocketing mental health issues. When an A- (3.67) is below average, that's a big problem.

Average GPA at Harvard:
1950: 2.55
1975: 3.05
1985: 3.17
1990: 3.3
2000: 3.4
2011: 3.6
2022: 3.8

Where are these #s from?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These are ridiculous replies. I have a kid at a T10 that has largely resisted the grade inflation, and I read this article. How I interpreted the kids' reactions was that they were stressed because they felt they needed to be perfect and would no longer get perfect grades. It took our kid a year to adjust to the fact that they weren't going to have a perfect GPA but it was all for the good. These kids think their lives will end if they aren't perfect, but really that will allow them to live more healthy lives. I don't think these are under-prepared kids. Quite the opposite, but they haven't let go of the unrealistic expectations we put on kids.

No, your kid's T10 hasn't. It may not have been as severely affected by grade inflation as Harvard -- few institutions have surrendered their standards as swiftly -- but GPAs everywhere started climbing during the 1970s, and this has only continued.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do any of you actually have a student at Harvard?

I do, but DD doesn’t spend her time complaining about grade inflation… she works her a$$ off, something clearly the stay-at-home, miserable mothers here cannot relate to.

I think that you need to grow thicker skin. (And learn to avoid personal attacks - they aren’t persuasive).

If you are number #1 in anything, everyone will gun for you. Harvard, for better or worse, is seen as the number one US university. Criticism of Harvard is ubiquitous.

Harvard itself has admitted that grade inflation there is a problem. So the critics here don’t seem to be off base.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is not the fault of the faculty who are frustrated, or the students who can't cope with rigor. If they were admitted, it's been taken for granted that they have what it takes to succeed with rigorous classes. If a large number of admitted students are trying but can't cope, it is a problem with the admissions process, and admissions officers need to learn to do better to admit students who are academically prepared for a rigorous college education.

Exactly. It's not the students or professors' fault, it's the admission's team for "match-making" so poorly and picking the wrong individuals for the class. Try harder, Harvard AOs. I feel bad for both the students who are struggling and the professors who think they are lacking.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Harvard is outstanding at the graduate level - law, business, medicine, science. A Harvard PhD, JD, MBA, MD is indicative of genuine talent.

But Harvard undergrad these days is different. It's a country club school for the hooked. Harvard undergrad is a networking opportunity, and not much more. As demonstrated by Harvard students who don't go to class and need remedial math and get straight As regardless.

💯

The delta between kids in Harvard’s graduate programs and the ug is the widest ever

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard is outstanding at the graduate level - law, business, medicine, science. A Harvard PhD, JD, MBA, MD is indicative of genuine talent.

But Harvard undergrad these days is different. It's a country club school for the hooked. Harvard undergrad is a networking opportunity, and not much more. As demonstrated by Harvard students who don't go to class and need remedial math and get straight As regardless.

💯

The delta between kids in Harvard’s graduate programs and the ug is the widest ever

I went to Harvard college and HBS. I loved my experience at both. That said, my firm hires from both and I would say the top Harvard college undergrads are at a different level for pure horsepower. We often counsel the best performers to not bother with business school (and we don’t require it for advancement if the they can drive results). I am confident that I would not get into Harvard college today, but I’d have a shot at HBS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard is outstanding at the graduate level - law, business, medicine, science. A Harvard PhD, JD, MBA, MD is indicative of genuine talent.

But Harvard undergrad these days is different. It's a country club school for the hooked. Harvard undergrad is a networking opportunity, and not much more. As demonstrated by Harvard students who don't go to class and need remedial math and get straight As regardless.

💯

The delta between kids in Harvard’s graduate programs and the ug is the widest ever

I went to Harvard college and HBS. I loved my experience at both. That said, my firm hires from both and I would say the top Harvard college undergrads are at a different level for pure horsepower. We often counsel the best performers to not bother with business school (and we don’t require it for advancement if the they can drive results). I am confident that I would not get into Harvard college today, but I’d have a shot at HBS.

Duh, business school isn't real school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard is outstanding at the graduate level - law, business, medicine, science. A Harvard PhD, JD, MBA, MD is indicative of genuine talent.

But Harvard undergrad these days is different. It's a country club school for the hooked. Harvard undergrad is a networking opportunity, and not much more. As demonstrated by Harvard students who don't go to class and need remedial math and get straight As regardless.

💯

The delta between kids in Harvard’s graduate programs and the ug is the widest ever

They shouldn’t really be near each other anyway. Graduate school is for a particular type of person, and it definitely isn’t the average undergrad at Harvard lmfao.

[Anonymous]

This thread: a bunch of miserable parents who’d get their butts kicked academically at Harvard.

[Anonymous]

It's surreal to read this.

The students' reaction: Hysterical

"The whole entire day, I was crying," 'I Was Just Sobbing in Bed': Mentally unstable

"any effort to crack down on grade inflation 'attacks the very notion of what Harvard is.'": Come on

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:. These kids think their lives will end if they aren't perfect, but really that will allow them to live more healthy lives.

Bingo.

While the average Harvard GPA goes up-up-up, the student body reports skyrocketing mental health issues. When an A- (3.67) is below average, that's a big problem.

Average GPA at Harvard:
1950: 2.55
1975: 3.05
1985: 3.17
1990: 3.3
2000: 3.4
2011: 3.6
2022: 3.8

You realize in the early part of this timeframe the admissions rate was like 30 Percent (lots of rich legacies / feeder schools). Now the admissions rate is like 3 Percent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You'd be a fool not to acknowledge Harvard practices significant social engineering. Raising the rigor traps the school because it disproportionately affects the social engineered demographics. So what is Harvard to do?

It'll affect most the largest group that benefits from this, the holistically admitted white females.

Bro, girls perform better in school now.

[Anonymous]

cried all day is wild.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:About a quarter of students at Harvard are prepared for the rigor. They are not admitting kids who are academically prepared.

DEI (diversity), athletes, donor kids, celebrities' kids, legacies etc. make up about 70% of the class. Rest were admitted on merits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:cried all day is wild.

SKIPPED CLASS and cried all day. I'm sure she'll get an A . . .