<p>3.84 </p>
<p>(10char)</p>
<p>Actually it might vary slightly from that, because it’s based on the semester hours of the course. For example, if you get 2 A+ and 2 A- all in courses that are 5 semester units, it’s a 3.835 (or 4 if they round up, I know my GPA is calculated to 3 places right now at a CC). But if one of those A+ was in a class that was only 3 hours, and the rest were all 5 hour courses it would be a 3.817. </p>
<p>You take the value of the letter grade and multiple it by the credit hours of the course in which it was received. You add up all those values and divide by the total number of credit hours attempted in that semester. You can calculate it pretty easily with a calculator or Excel, but the registrar’s website has an interactive one if you want to play around and see how things work out:</p>
<p>[Registration</a> | Registrar | University of Texas at Austin](<a href=“http://registrar.utexas.edu/students/grades/gpa/calculator/]Registration”>http://registrar.utexas.edu/students/grades/gpa/calculator/)</p>
<p>*Note: it only recognizes + grades for B+ and below, so if you have an A+, just enter it as an A.</p>
<p>“The McCombs average is higher than most colleges on campus because they have access to very competitive opportunities and are usually most able/motivated to stay on top of the curves. The classes that bring down other major’s GPAs are the ones that business students need to use to bring theirs up.”</p>
<p>LOL. The McCombs average is higher because the McCombs classes are typically easy (sans more quantitative classes and BA324), and the teachers hand out lots of A’s. Its necessary because this gives Business majors a big boost of confidence when they walk into their interviews. If you give out less A’s, your students will be less confident in their interviews, making them less likely to get the job. And if they don’t get that lucrative job, they won’t donate money to the university! So, the Business school, like it or not, has a vested interest in grade inflation. </p>
<p>Business School. Hard to get into. Easy to get a degree in. The engineering and natural sciences majors will all tell you this. </p>
<p>Fiyero, I agree with you for the most part on the +/- system, it hurts people in your situation who are in a quantitative heavy field. Its hard to make a 90, much less a 93. Thats asking too much. Obviously, the instructor has the option of choosing the system, but most of them will not go back. They like the +/-. But it helps curb grade inflation for easier classes.</p>
<p>the mccombs is easy? why is it ranked so highly then??</p>
<p>I don’t understand why some people on here are talking bad about McCombs. If you don’t like McCombs or the students in McCombs, then you can keep your comments to yourself. The fact is that McCombs is ranked top 10 in the country and it is one of the hardest school to get in at UT. And lastly, McCombs classes are not easy. It seems easy because the students are smarter. These are the facts so stop this nonsense about McCombs and get a life.</p>
<p>i agree with shane- mccombs attracts the brightest students in texas(top 1-2%) so they are more apt to work harder. its not easier.</p>
<p>For all of you who are defending McCombs, you have valid reasons, but are missing my point entirely. I will admit I over exaggerated a bit to make my point clear, but the truth is still apriori. As a student at McCombs, I feel obligated to make valid observations about the grading here. </p>
<p>What you have right. </p>
<ol>
<li>McCombs students on average, are smarter and do work harder. True. No doubt. The admission standards for McCombs are high. Very few people from outside the top 5% get in. </li>
</ol>
<p>What you have wrong. </p>
<ol>
<li> Myth- All of McCombs classes are difficult and students work extremely hard to obtain high grades.<br></li>
</ol>
<p>-Many McCombs classes are fairly easy and students work reasonably hard to obtain high grades. Upper-Division Management, Marketing, MIS, etc is nothing in workload compared to Upper-Division Math or any Upper-Division Engineering course. Of course its probably a bit harder than your average liberal arts class (no offense there). </p>
<p>Sure, Business students are often more social and extroverted than engineering students, so you could make the argument that an engineering major would find Management a challenge. Even accounting for the differences in abilities and social tendencies, the engineering, natural sciences major, is spending significantly more time studying than most business students. Ask any business major. Most of them will admit that much (sans a few in MPA, BHP, etc), though sometimes the workload in those fields can’t even compare with the workload in EE. </p>
<p>I’ll admit though, its probably a lot harder to create difficult work for something like marketing than it is for engineering. You can also view this as an economic diminishing returns situation. Studying for 2hrs a day for a business class and your most likely going to get an A. Studying 4hrs, well, still gets you an A. So a perfectly rational student, which business majors tend to be, will study just enough, or a tad over, to prevent error. Again Business majors are smart, as you all pointed out. So they’ll risk hedge, study two and a half hours, and use that saved time to do something else. The situations changed now with the +/- system, but thats how it used to be. </p>
<p>On another note, recently the business school has been pushing hard for group projects in EVERY class. Classes that I took in previous semesters that only required tests and quizzes, now usually have a team project component as well. It seems to be the general trend for most classes. So you build great skills here learning to work with a diversity of individuals. Learning to work as a team is a difficult task and is one thing that the Business school excels at teaching. Engineering, liberal arts, natural sciences, students spend most of their time huddled in books during their studies. Business students are spending time working collaboratively which is a great skill in itself. You need teamwork skills to excel in a corporate environment. No joke. McCombs does as an outstanding job of teaching these skills. </p>
<p>Work hard, play hard is the ethic here. Upper-Division student’s usually don’t have class on Friday. </p>
<p>McCombs is a good business school. Check out the business-week evaluation though, it is important to note, that the general consensus of students was, that McCombs BHP program offered an excellent education, while most students found the general instruction was uneven. </p>
<p>McCombs is a great place. No doubt.</p>
<p>i do agree with you, buisness is no way considered easy, but not as hard as science/enginnering classes.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.utexas.edu/academic/ima/sites/default/files/SHB08-09Students.pdf[/url]”>http://www.utexas.edu/academic/ima/sites/default/files/SHB08-09Students.pdf</a>
-Page 44</p>
<p>And I’ve been in a lot of classes where the professor curves TOO much. While there was a distribution of 20% A’s, 40% B’s, 40% C’s before the curve, the instructor frequently changes it 40% A’s, 50% B’s, 10% C’s or something along that line. Why? They claim it is to follow “departmental policy”. </p>
<p>But departmental policy for the most part is really just bureaucracy mandated grade inflation.</p>
<p>Hi I am a 4.0 Electrical Engineering student and I know for a fact that grades in McCombs are inflated. I have talked to people in the business school who can’t tell right from left and have GPAs > 3.8. Either the classes are getting easier or the grades are just going up, but one thing is for sure; the students are getting more dumb.</p>
<p>MLG, you forgot to mention your FACTS as to how the GPAs are inflated.</p>
<p>mlg2658 is the same guy who was talking bad about McCombs. He just created another username. As you can see, this is his first post and he straight up starts talking about the same thing about McCombs.</p>
<p>McCombs is a very good business school, but that doesn’t override the fact that undergrad business schools are a joke. Much of their work is not academic work, but is group projects and case competitions to build resumes.</p>
<p>The academic side of McCombs, with the exception perhaps of Finance, is a farce. It’s designed to be incredibly easy and get the point across and give good grades. But it’s not very academically challenging.</p>
<p>I do agree with the post above me. Im currently a freshman ChemE major and I have 3.0 GPA after my first semester. McCombs is a good school but the classes required by business majors are so easy and simplistic it makes me gag. They have to do lame group presentations and projects that take absolutely NO thinking or problem solving (more like grab something from the book and show it to the class type of deal). My roommates friend is a McCombs BHP student and he has a 4.0 and all he does all day is party, workout, and do stuff with his frat. Engineering students tend to work hard (put in over 12+ hours a day) and attempt to balance a social life (which, as a freshman engineering student, I did not have LOL). I’m not suprised about how low the engineering freshman GPA is.</p>
<p>the finance curriculum is very much lacking a rigorous statistics aspect. most top business school would have an equivalent of an upper division stats paper (with business relevance) in their core.</p>
<p>Anyone know the average freshman engineering GPA by speciality (ie. Chemical, BioMed, Enviromental, etc.) at UT?</p>
<p>theloneranger, I’m a junior at McCombs and I’ve never done a case competition. Keep up the good work!</p>
<p>Iambored, I’m glad you’re basing McCombs School of Business off your roommates friend study habits. Think about that for a second. Since you’re an engineering student you should know one person doesn’t equal a population. I’m at McCombs and study about 45 hours a week and have even hit 70 hours a few times this past semester. </p>
<p>Churchy, McCombs has an intro Stats course and have just added an upper level Stats course starting I think next fall.</p>
<p>I have to agree with anieo, my son is also a junior in the MPA program, and last semester was a KILLER! He had to work harder than he’s ever worked in his life!</p>
<p>I think it all depends on the track you are on, and what the required courses are.</p>
<p>I just don’t get all this McCombs hate… It’s Christmas, be Merry! :D</p>
<p>haha, ag54, I don’t understand all this hate either! </p>
<p>The MPA is probably the most intense work load offered at McCombs, but if he can stick it out he’ll be set.</p>