<p>Thanks all for your input. Trying hard NOT to be a helicopter parent. Have given up mostly, but only the GPA was bothering me as she was a straight A student at a top private high school. I am trying to figure out how much of this is due to the curve at Penn vs how hard is she really trying. She has lot at least 4 A’s by missing a point or 2. </p>
<p>She is determined to try harder, so hopefully if the upper level classes are better at giving at more As than Intro classes, she can do some damage repair. If she went to our instate flagship Univ, she would have easily had a A- or 3.7 average. Wondering if all this extra $ we are spending at the cost of her GPA makes sense. Will recruiters give Penn students that much of a break when it comes to job applicants? Do Grad schools take it into consideration as well?</p>
<p>Lovemom- keep in mind that nearly every Penn student got straight As in high school. Even when you have a group of really smart students, there is going to be a distribution and some students are going to end up with Bs and Cs. Now of course I don’t know your daughter but make sure you aren’t judging her performance based on how easy it was to get As in high school. </p>
<p>That being said, unfortunately GPA is important for grad school (especially law school), and at least from what I have heard prestige isn’t given as much weight as many would like. However, for most employers, a 3.0+ GPA at a school like Penn looks great and your daughter will have plenty of opportunities.</p>
<p>They did mention that at Parents weekend - that since almost all the kids at Penn were in the top 10% of their HS, some of these kids have to end up at the bottom half of Penn She aced her Standardized tests as well - near perfect scores and 3 perfect scores. So I thought she is definitely capable of being in the top 25% at Penn. </p>
<p>I was afraid Grad schools give more weight to GPA than to prestige. She really ought o have a stellar junior year and senior year to get to 3.5 GPA by the time she graduates. </p>
<p>3.5 from Penn wont probably cut it for top 10 MBA programs? She is not considering Law, but working a few years and then going back for an MBA.</p>
<p>The top grad schools DO take into consideration the academic reputation and overall relative difficulty of individual undergrad schools, just as the top undergrad schools do for individual high schools. A 3.5 from Penn is excellent, and would do very well for her. The top MBA programs tend to emphasize work experience as much as–or perhaps even more than–undergraduate GPA. But again, a 3.5 or higher from Penn would indicate to any top MBA program that she is more than capable academically.</p>
<p>As pointed out by yeszir, you have to put college GPAs in context and–above all else–RELAX! You’re daughter has enough stressors in her life without having to worry about her mom’s fretting over her future. :)</p>
<p>I’m a junior biology major and don’t know much about social sciences but can speak on the hard sciences. Most introductory courses in bio, chem, math and physics are curved so that one standard deviation (SD) above the mean is an outright A and the average is a C+ or B-. Class distributions generally follow a right-skewed distribution so about 20% of students end up getting A’s of some sort, 30-40% B’s of some sort (fewest B+'s, more B’s, most B-'s), and the remaining 40-50% will get C’s with a few D’s. I’ve never seen more than 10% D’s and F’s are extremely rare because students doing that poorly usually withdraw.</p>
<p>200-level biology courses and chemistry above orgo tends to be curved to a B- or B. Upper level courses with more prerequisites that are generally taken by upperclassmen and grad students don’t seem to have a unified grading scheme. Most aren’t curved and grades are based solely on the quality of your work, participation, test scores etc. </p>
<p>Most humanities classes and psychology classes (I’ve never taken a Health and Societies course but would think they’re the same) are also not curved or are curved to a B or B+. </p>
<p>This variable grading scheme may seem cruel, especially from a parent’s perspective, but from a student’s perspective it has its benefits. The University wants to allow the top students to distinguish themselves so that students with good Penn GPAs who are accepted to graduate school perform well and maintain Penn’s reputation. Schools getting tons of Penn applicant with high GPAs or applicants with high GPAs who when accepted don’t perform well is detrimental to all future applicants and to those who are able to perform. It’s Darwinian, but colleges like to maintain at least a semblance of meritocracy. </p>
<p>My advice to anyone who isn’t pre-professional would be to stay out of classes that draw pre-professional students. HSOC falls in that category because it’s health-related but easier for those who aren’t as strong in science or don’t like it and don’t want to major in it. As for a GPA estimate at the end of sophomore year, I’d say 2.9 hard sciences 3.4 humanities and mixed majors or social sciences between.</p>
She aced her Standardized tests as well - near perfect scores and 3 perfect scores. So I thought she is definitely capable of being in the top 25% at Penn. </p>