<p>Stop scaring me and making me nervous!</p>
<p>The curve is the most accurate and fair method of grade distribution, especially in objective fields such as engineering and pre-med (where it is used at Cornell).</p>
<p>I'm not denying its accuracy, but by rule that means that a large part of the class will get a C or below, right?</p>
<p>... and from what I understand, grad schools don't care about the undergrad school you went to, just your GPA. So, going to any Ivy and getting a 3.0 because of fierce competition wouldn't be as good as going to a less reputable, less competitive school witha 3.5, right?</p>
<p>Just as a note, I am not any sort of authority on college... this is just what a counsellor told me, and it has me questioning whether it would be wise to apply to a top tier school given my intentions to go to a top tier grad school.</p>
<p>Top graduate schools want top students from top colleges. It's as simple as that.</p>
<p>A slightly lower GPA at a better undergraduate college is better for graduate school than a slightly higher GPA at a worse undergraduate college.</p>
<p>It's not like if you go to Cornell you will get a 2.0 GPA and at some no-name college you'll get a 4.0. In the same major across multiple schools, you're going to get a reasonably similar GPA. Might as well go for the better EVERYTHING and go to Cornell...</p>
<p>"I'm not denying its accuracy, but by rule that means that a large part of the class will get a C or below, right?"</p>
<p>um, no. A very small percentage of a class actually gets C's typically. Most humanities courses have means curved to B+'s or A-'s meaning that around 50% of the students get A-'s or higher. Even in a typical science class where the mean is curved to a B, only around 16% of the students receive a C or lower (assuming a perfect bell curve).</p>
<p>Thanks for that info, norcalguy.</p>
<p>That greatly eases my - and probably some other high school student's - anxieties about college.</p>
<p>lite......that's a perfectly fine curve, i feel a lot better</p>