<p>Recently noticed that DS's college does Dean's list quite differently than mine did. His is done on a semester basis with 3.5 as the GPA cutoff. My college was/is done on an annual basis with 3.25 GPA requirement. I was surprised at how different they were.</p>
<p>So, does anyone have any idea how schools decide on their criteria? Just tradition?</p>
<p>About what percent of students end up on the Dean's list? Seems like it would be much higher at my school with 3.25 than DS with 3.5? </p>
<p>It’s pretty much up to each college. I know of one case where a school decided there were too many kids on the dean’s list (about 40% of the study body). Instead of curbing grade inflation, they wanted to raise the GPA cutoff. I don’t know if they ever did; last I heard they were comparing their cutoffs with their competitor colleges.</p>
<p>At my community college you just needed to finish a semester with 3.5+ to make the deans list. That won you early registration for the next term and an invite to phi theta kappa. I think it was something like top 6% of the class had that. Which kind of blows my mind because I accomplished it with no problem, I personally don’t believe that was as particularly representative of the rigor of the curriculum as one would think. </p>
<p>I don’t think the school of Literature, Science, and the Arts at umich has a deans list at all.</p>
<p>It can even vary between colleges within the same state system. Both of my S’s went to instate publics. At S1’s school 3.25 was the cutoff for Dean’s list. At S2’s school it’s 3.5.
S2 made a 3.43 last sem…arrgh…so close.</p>
<p>Here’s my take on the dean’s list, though - it IS meaningless. </p>
<p>Your GPA is your GPA. Sometimes a college decides to give you a little title which maybe makes you feel good, but it doesn’t make your GPA look any different.</p>
<p>Look at it this way: suppose you have a 3.7 GPA at a school where the cut-off is 3.5, and you feel pretty good about yourself. But then they decide to raise the cut-off to 3.8 so you are no longer on the Dean’s List. Should you now feel inadequate?</p>
<p>At my undergrad it was a 3.5 for the whole university except for the engineering school where it was a 3.75. Apparently since the engineering college was such a huge percentage of the student body, they didn’t want it to look like engineers were getting inflated GPAs, so they raised our cutoff. So, proportionally, the engineering college wound up with fewer people on the list than all the other departments.</p>
<p>I imagine it is just another meaningless title, given these reported cut offs do not seem particularly out of line with average graduating GPA at many schools (as described on gradeinflation.com at least…do not know of its accuracy). Take a random example because easy to look up: HMC- average graduating GPA is 3.31 and Dean’s cut off is 3.0. </p>
<p>I think it would be more meaningful if the cut off were ‘top 10%’ than a particular GPA.</p>
<p>^^ Exactly. That’s why I was curious about what others thought. It seems like a large portion of the students make the Dean’s List. Anyone have any idea, on the average, what percent of students make the list? 30%, 40%, or egads >50%? The HMC number above would suggest well over 50%.</p>
<p>Given that, while it may be nearly meaningless if you are on it, it may not be so meaningless if you aren’t.</p>
<p>At DSs school, first semester is equivalent of P/F. They do however note on the transcript if you made Dean’s List (or academic probation) despite the absence of letter grade. In that setting, it does provide some information. However, I don’t imagine graduate schools care all that much about 1st semester grades.</p>
<p>GPA scales vary so widely. At my alma mater, any “A” was a 4.0, a “B” was a 3.0 and so on. There are still SEVERAL schools that utilize this grading scale. At my D’s college, both an A+ and A are weighted as a 4.0. (A+'s are very, very rarely, if ever, given from what I’ve heard.) An A- is a 3.7, a B+ is a 3.3, a B is a 3.0, and so on. When comparing dean’s list criteria, grading scales should also be compared.</p>
<p>When I got my MBA, every single course at the Stanford GSB was pass/fail. However, you could get (if I remember correctly): Honors Pass, Pass +, Pass (maybe Pass -, I don’t remember). What’s up with that as a Pass/Fail system?</p>
<p>I took seriously to heart the advice of one of my profs early on… that if you were getting higher than Pass, you were misallocating your time and should get a life (or words to that effect).</p>
<p>We didn’t have Deans List, of course, but somehow they managed to identify the top 10% and top student at graduation time (no other time). Proud to say I wasn’t on that list (despite graduating #3 from my top LAC). I had a life :).</p>
<p>Basically, some colleges have a GPA cutoff, some combine GPA with a minimum grade (example, 3.5 and no grade below B-) and some do it based on ranking - the top x% of GPAs each semester. I think most have a GPA cutoff, though.</p>
<p>As for what percentage make the Dean’s list, I was able to figure out that at D’s college (Elon), 20% of undergrads made Dean’s list this semester. (That’s because they had a link on a website with a list of kids who made it. I just took the # of kids on the list and divided by 5000 undergrads.) No idea for S’s LAC. I don’t think they post a list anywhere, they just send you a notice and a certificate that you made it.</p>
<p>Does Dean’s list help your resume? If you’re applying for jobs while still in undergrad or your first few years out I think it does.</p>
<p>S is a senior in college. His resume lists his major, his GPA (3.8) and says “Dean’s List every semester.” After he graduates it will say his degree, followed by Magna Cum Laude. UNTIL he gets his first job it will probably say “Deans List every semester” (assuming he makes DL his last semester). After that it will probably just list the Magna Cum Laude. </p>
<p>Heck, I graduated 25 years ago. Under the education section on my resume it says:
Mycollege - BA Economics, Magna Cum Laude.
Don’t know if it helps but at least it show’s I’m not totally stupid (since my resume has huge gaps from years as a stay-at-home-mom and part-time worker).</p>
<p>Both my girls are on the Dean’s List this semester and an important distinction is that you need a certain minimum GPA AND a certain minimum number of credits. No taking a super easy load, getting all A’s, and being on the Dean’s List.</p>