Not sure about now, but back in the day, Cornell was the grindiest Ivy.

Engineering schools don’t usually inflate grades and Penn certainly does not.

Most of the “elite” colleges significantly inflate grades. A few like Princeton and MIT have held the line. If you are majoring in anything other than Econ, Math or Physics and you don’t have a least a 3.7 you are doing something very, very wrong or just plain stupid.

Anonymous wrote:I know someone in UPenn engineering and they do not grade inflate. They do use a curve, however. I don't think it's uncommon to get below 50% on tests.

+1 I have a kid in engineering there, and it's no joke. Definitely no grade inflation. The PP is correct: super low grades on tests are common, with a curve in some (but not all) classes at the end of the semester. Many students get Cs and below as final grades.

Cornell lists the median class grade on each transcript so there is really no grade inflation or easy As that mean anything.

Much less grade inflation at Penn that at other ivies. It's known for more of a cut-throat environment (and less happy students!)

Anonymous wrote:Ivies take the top couple percent of kids--I don't think it's grade inflation that they will mainly earn As. More like appropriate benchmarking. So I think this is kind of a dumb question.

Anyone who went to an Ivy knows it has plenty of students who fail to meet deadlines, fail to study, procrastinate, party too much, do too much drugs and alcohol, and otherwise screw around. Plus, there are students who suffer from depression and other mental health issues, medical issues, family problems etc that interfere with performance before they can get help. Grading is not an intelligence test. Plenty of really smart people with a history of strong performance in school do poorly and get bad grades (or should get bad grades if they were grading fairly) when they are living on their own in college. It's more than the 20% who didn't get all A's at Yale.

I know someone in UPenn engineering and they do not grade inflate. They do use a curve, however. I don't think it's uncommon to get below 50% on tests.

Anonymous wrote:Christ they all do it. If you want real grades go to UChicago.

This. Plus Johns Hopkins, MIT, and CalTech. If they don't drive you crazy from stress and competition first.

Christ they all do it. If you want real grades go to UChicago.

Anonymous wrote:Grading means sorting and ranking the group before you. If everyone gets an A that is not grading. It's fake.

No, that's rank-ordered grading. There is also benchmark grading. That an A level performance in Econ 101 or Evolutionary Bio looks like x and everyone who achieves that gets an A, regardless of whether that's everyone or no one in front of you. I think the latter is more meaningful.

To really benchmark you would need to have a standard Econ 101 paper or tests from a range of university's and have an external evaluation.

Anonymous wrote:Grading means sorting and ranking the group before you. If everyone gets an A that is not grading. It's fake.

If employers and grad school treat As like As, it doesn't matter if they are fake or not

Grading means sorting and ranking the group before you. If everyone gets an A that is not grading. It's fake.

Ivies take the top couple percent of kids--I don't think it's grade inflation that they will mainly earn As. More like appropriate benchmarking. So I think this is kind of a dumb question.

Does UPenn grade inflate like Harvard, Yale, etc... if so, even in engineering?