Hi CC!
What is the grading policy like especially for Pre-med students at Penn? Among the ivies where would it stand in grade inflation (Harvard at one end of the spectrum and Princeton on the other end)?
You mean one end of the spectrum is harvard and the other is Cornell. Penn, along with Princeton and columbia are pretty close to Cornell, ie have grade deflation. At penn you will find some classes, especially engineering, natural science and even few Econ classes curved to a b- even c+. On the other hand Yale, brown and prob Dartmouth( not sure about Dartmouth tho) have grade inflation. Of course nothing beats harvard in terms of grade inflation. ( they have an a- average- that’s 3.7!!!)
It depends on what classes you take. The math / hard science courses are typically normalized to a C+/B- average (really more of an issue of competition among all the pre-med students in the class). However, they make it pretty hard to fail (D/F) out of the class once you’ve committed. Its typically only the bottom 5-10 percentile that will receive a failing grade in such classes… this just means that the majority of people fall within the B-C range with those usually at least 1 standard deviation above the mean receiving the As. On the other end of the spectrum, the more liberal arts / social science classes usually are not curved, but it is fairly easy to get an A in them as long as you get the work done.