College Grade Inflation

Colleges and Universities A-Z Boston College
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<p>I am a sophomore at Boston College double majoring in history and political science and minoring in Italian. I tested out of a lot of the introductory courses for both of my majors and my minor, so since the spring semester of my freshman year my schedule has mainly consisted of upper level classes. For each of these first three semesters I have nervously worried over my final grades, feeling I could have done better on my exams or more thoroughly revised my essays. And yet, my current GPA is a 3.8. </p>

<p>However, in my constant crusade to keep myself from being too content with seeming success, I have latched onto the issue of grade inflation. Have any other college students on this forum been able to identify grade inflation as contributing to your own high grades at BC or at other universities? Do other students at BC find the grading and/or the course work itself easy? </p>

<p>Personally, I think my classes are challenging; I’m just concerned that I have better grades than I deserve. Even though I do, in fact, put in a lot of effort should I get an A when my work truly warrants a B? Of course, I suppose a central question is if any of you think it’s reasonable to begin with that I’m worried I’m getting higher marks than I should, especially when it’s a practice employed by professors at many colleges and universities throughout the country. Is anyone else as uncomfortable with grade inflation as I evidently am? </p>

<p>Looking over this post my questions seem kind of frivolous, paranoid, and prickish given how I’m fretting over whether I merit a 3.8 when I’m sure most you will say I should just enjoy the 3.8. Regardless, sorry I rambled.</p>

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<p>I made an account just to reply to your post! I am also a sophomore Political Science major and History minor, as well as a student in the Honors Program if that also provides some insight into my academics. I find the Political Science department to be challenging, having earned two A-'s and one B+ so far in my Political Science classes - I could certainly never say that any of them have been easy A’s, as the grading and expectations have been tough. I’m actually really curious to see what professors you’ve had and are taking, as none of my professors in the department have been at all “easy”, as I believe I’ve earned fairly strong grades through hard work. For History, I’ve earned two A-'s and an A. I think you should be happy with the 3.8, as you beat me by .15 in the GPA department, and are certainly on a good path academically…there are also Honors Programs within the History and Political Science department if you are so inclined. Best of luck with the rest of your year, hope this provides some insight.</p>

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<p>Some departments are known for giving out easy grades. Do the best you can and don’t worry about what others get, since that’s beyond your control. If everyone else is getting A’s and A-'s, you’ll need more than a good GPA for jobs or grad school, though. You probably already figured that out, though.</p>

<p>Stronger students are uncomfortable with grade inflation because they’d be getting high grades regardless. Mediocre students love grade inflation since it makes them look better than they really are. Professors in some cases like it because they don’t have to deal with students complaining about their grades if they give A’s out like Christmas candy.</p>

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<p>@cococarey. Thank you very much for your reply; you bring up a good point. My lower grades have all been in political sciences courses, and I don’t think I would as readily accuse those professors of grade inflation as I would my history or Italian professors. I decided to take on the political science major only after my fall semester freshman year, and I was only able to get out of the first course in the two part introductory sequence with my AP US Government score. So, I started with Bailey’s Fundamentals of Political Science II during this past spring semester. I got an A in that class, but I don’t feel like it was handed to me, and I thought she was a great lecturer. This fall semester I doubled up and took Professor Erikson’s course on the EU in foreign affairs and Professor Behnegar’s course on Shakespeare’s Politics. I got a B in the former and an A- in the latter. I worked quite hard for both those grades and I feel they accurately reflect my respective performances. Erikson’s class is certainly the most challenging one I’ve had a BC.
I just don’t think the standards of my history professors have been nearly as high as those of my political science professors, and often I feel as though the standards by which I judge myself are more stringent. I’ve loved history and known that I wanted to study it at the collegiate level since I was in 7th grade; however, I never found it a difficult subject in school and I was really looking for college to give me a run for my money. And yet, I’ve taken an upper level class each semester since I started at BC and I’ve gotten an A in each one. If I were to have graded myself according to my personal expectations my history marks would probably more closely align with those I earned in my political science courses. Anyway, thank you again for your reply and good luck for the rest of your year as well. I’ll try to appreciate my 3.8 a bit more.</p>

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<p>The history department at BC is pretty notorious for graduating a disproportionate amount of high GPA students from my knowledge. It’s known to be the easiest major outside of COMM for that reason.</p>

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<p>May I suggest: “tacky”, even on anonymous board? While the question is certainly worth discussing, your personal scores add zero relevance to it; an anecdote of 1 is not data. And certain things – GPA being one of them – are just not discussed at top schools. </p>

<p>But to answer the question: BC’s mean gpa is higher than public schools, but lower than Brown – whose isn’t – and Yale/Harvard/Stanford; probably similar to many other highly ranked private school. But the mean gpa is department specific. BC’s science departments award plenty of C’s (and lower), and classes are graded on strict curves (as are science courses at other colleges). OTOH, CSOM and Comm, hmmmm.</p>

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<p>Bluebayou, lumping all of CSOM together may be using too broad a brush. I think it’s fair to say that accounting and finance grade distributions are very different from marketing’s. Point very well taken about Communication to be sure. The pure and applied science grades are a whole lot lower than those in most of the liberal arts.</p>

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<p>Dear Sullivan120 : Perhaps it is worth thinking about bluebayou’s comments.</p>

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<p>We submit that a Chemistry or Calculus sequence would be a cure for those History, Political Science, or Communication majors that wanted to take Boston College’s “grade inflation” out for a test.</p>

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<p>Of course. A “broad brush”, by definition, is broad. :)</p>

<p>But, OTOH, until this most recent class ('16), A&S used to require more courses for graduation (38) than did CSOM (36). And, IMO, there is a big difference between taking 4 courses Junior year than 5. (For Finance majors, that is a 25% difference in HW!)</p>

<p>Then there is Portico…but my favorite CSOM requirement is (Intro to?) Excel (MI 021). A&S students in the physical sciences are just expected to know Excel, or learn it on the fly…</p>

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<p>@bluebayou. I’m very sorry; my intention was not to be tacky. Perhaps if I posted on average 5.75 comments per day for the past eight years I’d have a better grasp of the forum’s etiquette. But, you brought up relevancy in your first reply, which I think is interesting, since I found the information you provided only tangentially germane to the questions I posed.
I asked whether any other college students could identify grade inflation as playing a role in their own high GPAs, and whether they were as uncomfortable with this widespread practice as I am. I gave my personal experience (or, what you derisively considered to be anecdotal particulars) with the subject at hand, because I’m asking people about their personal experience with it and their feelings on its ethicality. While the general information you contributed is certainly intriguing, I was well aware of it beforehand, and, therefore, didn’t ask about it.</p>

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<p>I’m a computer science major and freshman year CSOM students would frequently ask if what I did in my CS classes was similar to what they did in Computers in Management. Honestly I still find making graphs on excel frustrating and I’m not fully used to the MS Office UI changes.</p>

<p>Anyways, usually when I felt I had an easy A it’s because the class was easy, rather than because of grade inflation. I was also told by an English professor that the department is cracking down on grade inflation.</p>

<p>You can also view your class rank in Agora just to remind youself that even with grade inflation you have a better GPA than most students.</p>

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<p>Bayou, I have to disagree with your CSOM statements. The 36 assumes that all you do are course requirements, pursue concentrations with the fewest classes possible, and take no additional electives. Additionally, assuming most students attempt to reach 120 credits, this leaves CSOM students with only 4 “open” class slots. Of course, many at BC have AP core exemptions. Even still, CSOM students will likely, at most, have 8-10 open slots the take courses elsewhere or double concentrate.</p>

<p>A&S, on the other hand, need to take 15 core (plus language proficiency needs) and obviously achieve a major. Most majors require around 10-12 courses. At worst, with no AP exemptions, an A&S major will have 10ish open slots to pursue another major, minor, or just general elective courses. This extreme minimum matches the CSOM absolute maximum.</p>

<p>In a nutshell, your 36 vs. 38 comparison is too simplistic. The above comparison is theoretical in nature. Practically speaking, no remotely motivated CSOM major would graduate with 108 credits. I would pay money to sit in on an JP Morgan interview with someone who has yet to explain the fact that he has 108 credits. For accounting majors, 120 credits is an implicit requirement in order to achieve the CPA. I would venture to guess that advisors in the other concentrations would highly discourage graduating with anything less than 114 credits.</p>

<p>Also, the class constraints of the CSOM majors, as explained above, make CSOM harder than you convey in this thread. There is less opportunity to take these “grade inflating” courses, as most of a CSOMers class schedule is consumed by required courses. An often overlooked item is study abroad, which universally offers easier courses. Because of course constraints, only about a quarter of CSOM students study abroad (which is much lower than the school-wide average) so access to these classes is limited. I mean, my A&S bud is doing a half semester of two classes and a half semester internship for 15 credits! As a CSOMer, I’m lucky enough to go abroad. Despite this, I’m going to a Spanish management school that requires 6 classes. Both get to the same amount of credits, but the freedom in what actually counts for these credits is an crucial factor that you overlooked. Furthermore, the opportunity to go abroad is much more limited for CSOM students.</p>

<p>As a side note, Portico is no walk in the park and is certainly an par with any of the intro A&S classes outside of the sciences. Three presentations, a paper before you even walk into fulton hall for the first time, and decently difficult case studies and philosophy excerpts makes it a pretty formidable intro class. Also, intro to information systems (not intro to excel) is one half semester excel and the other half intro to IS. The IS portion is actually one of the most difficult CSOM core classes I have taken at BC (and I have taken all except marketing and SP). Excel is extremely helpful, and the national management educational boards mandate Excel coursework. The Excel material and business applications you learn in that class have been extremely helpful both in my classes and my intern work. So to classify even the Excel portion as merely catchup work would defy the national management boards and shows a lack of understanding this class.</p>

<p>Sorry to ramble, but I feel like CSOM gets misunderstood both on here and on campus. We do just as much work as anyone else, and if anything our BC academic lives are much more constrained and just as stressful as anyone else’s (well, maybe except pre-chem!).</p>

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<p>Oh, Puhleeze. It is a FACT.</p>

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<p>Do you have any statistics, with source, to support your theory?</p>

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<p>That is incorrect. The rules for a CPA have been increased, and a 5th year of coursework (150 units) is pretty much required nationally, so one can ear the BS with 108 units and take a 5th year (or Masters) for the rest of the required coursework. But regardless, you are cherry-picking one major, and accounting just ain’t that rigorous, at any college. (I know, because that is what I do.) I would readily submit, however, that Finance is rigorous – if we are to cherry-pick just one major.</p>

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<p>Never said it wasn’t. I clearly said the difference is that CSOM gets course credit for learning Excel, yet A&S science majors have to learn it themselves on the side. BIG difference.</p>

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I would pay money to sit in on an JP Morgan interview with someone who has yet to explain the fact that he has 108 credits.[/qutoe]</p>

<p>As long as that person has a 3.9+, I would submit that an IB is not going to be counting classes on a transcript. :)</p>

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<p>Do you have any factual data to support this guess? How about HR? Marketing? The general and ubiquitous, Leadership concentrations?</p>

<p>Regardless, we’ll just have to agree to disagree. And, fwiw, BC agrees with my ideas since the College increased the grad requirements for CSOM, much to the dismay of the students. :D</p>

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<p>Maybe its pure coincidence, but I’ve never met a CSOM student who took 4 classes both junior AND senior year. I mean, I don’t have stats but I also don’t live in cave!</p>

<p>I don’t understand how your numbers add up. If you take 108 credits and take 30 credits (15 per semester) for a 5th year accounting program, that only adds up to 138. The Department Chair of Accounting, Billy Soo, strongly recommends CPA-bound accounting majors to graduate with at least 120 credits for this very reason. And, a fifth year of coursework is certainly not required. My friends and I who will be interning with the Big 4 next year we be able to avoid the MSA program altogether because of a mixture of overloading and AP credits that will count towards the 150.</p>

<p>Also, to say that Finance is absolutely harder than accounting is also misleading. Difficulty depends on the individual. Ask anyone at Boston College who has taken the Intermediate Accounting classes (FAST I and FAST II). My friends who have taken the FAST sequence and are finance majors say that it is as hard if not harder than investments, the class most finance majors consider to be the most difficult required finance course. Once again, this is anecdotal evidence, but one of these friends happens to be a finance/accounting concentrator interning with Goldman Sachs next summer. So, I’d say he has a pretty accurate barometer of what is difficult and what isn’t between accounting and finance. My statements are not meant to be research caliber. They are simply trying to help prospective students get an understanding of what BC and especially CSOM are actually like outside of the school published numbers and policies.</p>

<p>A&S majors can take the Excel course! With the relatively large amount free class slots (that I explained above), A&S majors can definitely take this class and get credit for it. Granted, it isn’t required, but if someone wants to really brush up on their excel skills they can certainly do so and still get credit for it.</p>

<p>As for the interview point, pretty much all employers ask for a transcript, and credit count is clearly labeled at the top. It’s kinda hard to miss, especially when you are graduating with a whopping 108 credits!</p>

<p>Maybe we fundamentally disagree, but from a specifically BC context I feel like I have a pretty solid understanding of the trends in CSOM, even if they deviate from the “requirements.” Just because something is a rule/policy doesn’t mean its the norm.</p>

<p>To bring this discussion full circle, most CSOM majors are NOT susceptible to grade inflation. I have little knowledge outside of finance and accounting, but in these concentrations grade inflation is simply non-existent. Of course, there are always rare exceptions.</p>

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<p>As a qualifier, definitely did not read all the posts above, but as far as BC goes, I have a 3.42 three semesters in and am just inside the top 50%. Really not interested as to how BC stacks up to grade inflation trends across the American university system, but how over half the class of any school can have a GPA of at least a high B+ really degrades the value of what an A used to mean to me back in high school.</p>

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<p>It’s almost impossible to get worse than a B in pretty much every course with minimal effort, and it is fairly easy to obtain A’s in MOST courses with some effort.</p>

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<p>I’d like to say that for the sciences, there is DEFINITELY not any grade inflation, especially relative to other schools. For all the Biology and Chemistry courses, specifically the intro courses, the grades are averaged to a B-/C+. Other schools average grades in these subjects to a B/B+. I know for sure that BC’s Premed Office is extremely proud of its low GPAs and grade deflation. This is troubling for Pre-med/dent/vet students as they are not as competitive at schools that do not know BC well</p>

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<p>Why does BC deflate grades for pre-med and be proud of it?</p>

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<p>As a blanket statement, that is patently false. Many publics, (which really means ‘most’ colleges), curve to a C+. And they give out D’s and F’s. (Organic at BC does not go that low.) Rumor has it that the college down the street, BU, has lower science grades than BC.</p>

<p>Sure, Brown has an B+/A- average, even in the sciences, but other than HYP, a B+ in the premed prereqs is extremely rare.</p>

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<p>Bunk. You cannot “know” that because it is just not true. (Do you really think the “premed office” has any sway over how a professor/department grades? Do you really think a professor cares what the advisor thinks? If so, why?)</p>

<p>Premed science at EVERY college is competitive as heck. It has been that way for decades. (It must be part of the science professors’ DNA.)</p>