<p>Does brown award a normal GPA like any other college would? I heard that they did not, but instead graded students on a pass/fail basis without giving students a GPA. Please enlighten me.</p>
<p>Brown does not calculate GPA on its transcript. Students either get a grade (A/B/C/no credit) or a Pass/no credit – the student decides which way to go for each class. It is NOT true that every class is taken on a pass/no credit basis, although theoretically one could decide to do that.</p>
<p>If you don’t pass the class, it does not appear on your transcript.</p>
<p>I love that Grading Policy, maybe that is one reason of why i’m applying!</p>
<p>So do you think that this would help or hurt students as the apply to graduate schools?</p>
<p>Thousands of Brown students have applied to and gotten accepted to the best graduate schools in the country.</p>
<p>^that hardly answers the question asked</p>
<p>OK, I’ll dumb it down. Brown’s grading policy does not hurt students when they apply to graduate school. How do we know this – because they’ve gotten into the best graduate schools in the country, no problem.</p>
<p>And to backup fireandrain: [Brown</a> Admission: Facts & Figures](<a href=“Undergraduate Admission | Brown University”>Undergraduate Admission | Brown University)</p>
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<p>Clearly Brown graduates have no problem getting into graduate school. And, considering the statistics for professional school, I’m sure most get into top schools.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/brown-university/499152-brown-frequently-asked-questions.html?highlight=brown+frequently+asked+questions[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/brown-university/499152-brown-frequently-asked-questions.html?highlight=brown+frequently+asked+questions</a></p>
<p>Please search the forum before posting. Note #7 on the FAQ.</p>
<p>Wolfman and fire&rain,</p>
<p>we were visiting my sister and sil last weekend. My dear B-i-L said that Brown has the lowest acceptance rate for graduate school of all the ivies. Of course, I read the Brown facts links, which contradict this. </p>
<p>But, sounding so confident, he stumped me. Why would he say this? Is it the P/F? the Open Curriculum? something else? As a Wharton graduate, was he just being competitive/envious? My son, still only in HS, is thinking he’ll go to med school. Is there any truth?</p>
<p>Being a Wharton graduate doesn’t really make you an expert on all things college, and in fact, very few Wharton graduates go to graduate school.</p>
<p>No one reports admission rates, but my friends who graduated with me in 09 have had no problems going to top schools. I know people studying at the best schools in the country in Russian literature, economics, chemistry, medicine, law, etc. 79% of Brown students get some kind of graduate degree within 10 years of graduating. I can’t tell you if we’re doing worse or better than anyone else, but we’re not hurting at all.</p>
<p>BTW, My BiL went to Wharton grad school & Penn State (engineering) udg. I figured he made this statement b/c of a combination of the P/F and Open Curr, but to circumvent that, my son (if he gets in) plans to take a smattering of courses that can be a “core” and stay away from P/F. Is that what ‘most’ students do? or at least, what you did?</p>
<p>Most students do not stay away from SNC but most students do take a smattering of courses. Grad schools in most areas care very little what you did outside of your concentration, but Brown’s curriculum is designed to encourage breadth not discourage.</p>
<p>For whatever reason he made his claim, it’s not something that is substantiated by the evidence. While I think this study was poorly constructed, to give you just a little more evidence:
<a href=“http://www.wsjclassroomedition.com/pdfs/wsj_college_092503.pdf[/url]”>http://www.wsjclassroomedition.com/pdfs/wsj_college_092503.pdf</a></p>
<p>What’s SNC?</p>
<p>Satisfactory/No Credit. That’s what Brown calls “pass/fail”.</p>
<p>I suppose students who are interested in med school, (hopefully my son one day), take a regular grade for required pre-med courses. And then go with SNC for those courses that aren’t part of one’s concentration. Is that what “most” students do?</p>
<p>Most students don’t do anything at Brown, that’s sort of what makes it Brown.</p>
<p>However, few students take courses required for pre-med pass/fail, however, I know many who have taken courses in their concentration SNC. There’s a famous (and true story) about a kid who took every class at Brown SNC and ended up at Harvard Med school. It’s not necessarily advisable, but possible.</p>
<p>Pre-meds have nothing to fear about having a shot at getting into top medical schools if they are successful at Brown.</p>
<p>I’m curious as to what type of culture the lack of +s and -s in the grading system breeds. It seems to me like it might result in a lot of, “well, since I did badly on that last test, this class is definitely a B, nothing I can do about that.” I often felt like this in high school if I had recieved something like B+ and B+ in the first two trimesters, I had no incentive to work harder in the last trimester considering getting a B would result in the same final grade as getting an A-: a B+. </p>
<p>Does the fact that there aren’t any in between points cause Brown students to not work as hard because they get locked into one grade or another? I know Brown is supposed to be all about the intellectual experience etc but I find it a little hard to believe kids will really be working much harder than they need to, and if A- (or even B+ in some humanities) worthy work is enough to earn an A, doesn’t that lead to a lack of incentive to actually do A grade work when you won’t be rewarded any better?</p>
<p>My daughter, a third year student, has taken several classes S/NC, and she says that she does not work any less hard in those than in the ones she takes for a traditional grade. Some classes have been harder and she has worked harder.</p>
<p>In addition, there are a fair number of courses at more every level that the professors have said are mandatory S/NC. I think that is really wonderful. It puts the learning/teaching environment on a whole different level. With the extremely high caliber of students that are at Brown, these non-traditional approaches to grades are fabulous.</p>
<p>jackpot: Back in the dark ages (i.e., 30 or so years ago), when I was in high school, I was ultra competitive and worried over every test grade because it might affect my GPA. Then, I got to Brown – and all of that melted away. I no longer spent time thinking about grades in that way, the way you describe. And I got accepted into the very top grad school, the number one program in my field. </p>
<p>In subsequent visits to Brown I’ve talked to many students and have been thrilled to see that grade consciousness like you describe still does not exist at Brown. There is a subset of students – usually premed – who focus a lot on grades, but I think it’s a small group.</p>
<p>One thing to consider – in many classes at Brown, there are only a handful of grades in each class. Some classes have two tests and a final worth 50 percent, and that’s it. Some will have three or four papers, and that’s it. So it’s not like high school where you have a solid average going into a final and a minor variation on your final test can change your grade from an A to an A-.</p>