Do admissions officers know about Cal's grade deflation?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
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<p>Ok, this is not a thread on whether Berkeley has grade inflation or not. This is about how the grade deflation that Berkeley DOES HAVE will affect future prospects. Let me clarify things for you:</p>

<p>Ok, maybe Berkeley doesn’t have grade deflation, but it definitely doesn’t have the grade inflation consistent with American schools. In America, schools generally help students out. In other parts of the world, colleges curve grades to fit a predefined limit. For example, at McGill, classes have to have mostly Cs (Since a C is an AVERAGE grade). This means that the grade curve has to end up with that trend. Ultimately, if everyone in a class got 100, but 1 person got 99, that one person will fail. I doubt Berkeley is that extreme since it is still an American college, but generally American colleges don’t do that. At Ivies for example, college will allow students to all get As if they all earn that grade. The downward curve is LESS of a problem here. The problem with Berkeley is that they do more of the downward curves than other American equals. This means they have LESS grade inflation than other colleges. </p>

<p>Furthermore, comparing Berkeley to community colleges and saying they have grade inflation is just wrong. Students at community colleges are GENERALLY less smart then Berkeley kids and so would naturally get lower grades. In my school, the AP classes usually have at least 1/3rd of the people have As. In a standard class, there is only like 1 or 2 kids with As. That doesn’t mean the AP classes are easier, it just reflects the student body.</p>

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<p>shadowzoid pretty much said what I was trying to say in better wording. I agree. </p>

<p>So in conclusion, people need to stop saying Cal has grade inflation because grade inflation isn’t merely defined by a positive slope on a graph of GPA with respect to time. That’s simply ridiculous and fallacious.</p>

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<p>Source please? </p>

<p>Hint: not true in many Ivy science classes, with perhaps the exception being Brown. Dartmouth posts its grades for all the world to see, and many large courses are ‘curved’ to a B/B-. Ditto Cornell. Sure, in theory, if everyone earned a 90+, they’d all receive A’s. But it is rather easy for the prof to make exams extremely difficult such that the mean test score is a 70/80.</p>

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<p>Perhaps true for colleges like Stanford and Yale (mean gpa 3.55). But your point falls apart with the correct logic of your concluding paragraph:</p>

<p>‘Students at Cal are GENERALLY less smart then grade-inflated HYSP kids and so would naturally get lower grades.’</p>

<p>I fixed it for you.</p>

<p>fwiw: Yes, I recognize that the top quartile of Cal’s Frosh class is just as good (numbers-wise) as those at HYPSM. But Cal has a huge juco transfer population, which HYPSM does not. And Cal has a huge tail in the lower quartile, which HYPSM does not. So the average student at Cal is “GENERALLY”…</p>

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<p>Yes, but the gap between the intellegence of those in CC to those in Cal is bigger than that of Cal to that of HYPSM. I don’t have proof, but that’s a pretty accepted statement. I mean, I don’t have proof that the Nazis killed Jews right next to me, but I certainly hope you accept that fact</p>

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<p>From [National</a> Trends in Grade Inflation, American Colleges and Universities](<a href=“http://www.gradeinflation.com%5DNational”>http://www.gradeinflation.com) , average GPAs of large well regarded state universities:</p>

<p>Berkeley: 3.27 (2006, most recent listed)
Georgia Tech: 3.04 (2006), 3.07 (2008)
Illinois, Urbana Champaign: 3.1943 (2005)
Michigan, Ann Arbor: 3.25 (2006), 3.27 (2008)
North Carolina, Chapel Hill: 3.16 (2006)
Texas, Austin: 3.12 (2007)
UCLA: 3.19 (2006), 3.22 (2008)
Wisconsin, Madison: 3.21 (2006), 3.20 (2007)
Virginia: 3.213 (2006)</p>

<p>HYPSM and some others like them:</p>

<p>Harvard: 3.45 (2005)
Yale: 3.48 (2006), 3.51 (2008)
Princeton: 3.27 (2006), 3.28 (2008)
Stanford: 3.55 (2005)
MIT: 3.26 (1999)
Brown: 3.59 (2006), 3.61 (2007)
Columbia: 3.42 (2006)
Dartmouth: 3.39 (2006), 3.42 (2007)
Cornell: 3.36 (2006)
Pennsylvania: 3.44 (2004)</p>

<p>Others:</p>

<p>California community colleges: 2.70 (2006)
Fresno State: 2.84 (2006), 2.85 (2008)
Sacramento State: 2.86 (2006)
San Jose State: 2.79 (2006), 2.85 (2008)
UC Irvine: 2.98 (2006 and 2008)
UC San Diego: 3.01 (2006), 3.02 (2008)
UC Santa Barbara: 3.02 (2006)
USC: 3.12 (2004), 3.25 (2009)</p>

<p>Possible high grade inflation relative to student body:</p>

<p>Arizona: 3.10 (1998)
Eastern Oregon: 3.13 (2000)
Kansas: 3.16 (2004)
Missouri State: 3.20 (2006)
Montana State: 3.15 (2005)
Southern Utah: 3.21 (2006), 3.24 (2008)
Western Michigan: 3.13 (2006), 3.11 (2007)
Western Washington: 3.14 (2004)
Wisconsin, Green Bay: 3.27 (2007)
Wisconsin, La Crosse: 3.21 (2005)</p>