I’m an international student and just curious before I join.
why is it that scoring a good grade is harder at a university like Harvard vs maybe a community college or a not so famous college even if the course is the same?
is it just because of the standards the students are held at and the grading curve or something else ?
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@medkid18 because in most cases, the courses are not the same (a Harvard course will likely be more rigorous than a CC course in the same subject).
I’m almost certain that the average grade at most community colleges is lower than the average grade at Harvard (famously reported as A minus). Pretty much every Harvard student is good at academics because that’s how they got to Harvard, but community colleges accept almost everyone. In addition, Harvard students typically have fewer outside responsibilities (e.g. kids or a full-time job), and they are more likely to get upset over non-As and pressure the faculty to inflate grades. I doubt that the community college is objectively more difficult, at least intellectually, but the student bodies are completely different.
If you’re comparing Harvard to other relatively prestigious universities, I don’t think it’s clear that Harvard is more difficult (or has more difficult grading standards) in the first place.