<p>From what I've read on the law school and grad school forums, that is not true. Other things constant, an applicant with a 3.8 from NC State is given more merit than applicant with 3.2 from MIT.</p>
<p>
[quote]
All of your peers will also have "[gotten] into Princeton," so that doesn't get you much in a competitve system, does it?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Nothin' wrong about competition. The application process itself is very competitive. But, true, everyone else has also passed this "test." Anyway, as I said, I don't like the grade cap, but I'm not intimidated by it.</p>
<p>Regardless of how admissions officers look at it, the new grade caps will hurt us in grad school admissions, no doubt. Post 20 was a good post by stating that grad schools do look at the context of the GPA. But with that said, they only look at it so much. I would not hesitate to suggest that a 3.8 at yale is better than a 3.5 at princeton.</p>
<p>And this doesnt even touch on the worsened college experience!</p>
<p>I dunno. My d went to a talk at Princeton given by a rep from a very prestigious professional school. The person reassured the students that they know all about Princeton's anti-grade-inflation initiative. How that translates into practice remains to be seen. However, look at the med school admissions even before the new initiative: <a href="http://web.princeton.edu/sites/hpa/data98-03.htm%5B/url%5D">http://web.princeton.edu/sites/hpa/data98-03.htm</a> It's not as though they all have 4.0's. Assuming you're planning to apply yourself, I wouldn't worry too much.</p>
<p>This is the stupidest thread I've ever seen...why would you want to go to Princeton less due to something in the grading system? If that's a concern to you, withdraw your application and increase my chances. I'm pretty sure I'd go if they told me I'd graduate with a 2.0.</p>
<p>Although adcoms at grad schools will be "aware" of it, I doubt this awareness will translate into allowing us a little bit of a slip in our Princeton GPA's. </p>
<p>Sakky has made some excellent posts regarding this subject in one of the other forums, regarding grade-inflated schools and anti-inflation schools. Hopefully, he/she (?) will do so again.</p>
<p>I think, if anything, Princeton's grade capping has made me even more excited about going there. Competition might work against many people, but I think the personal value of an "A" goes up. Plus, I think competition is good in many senses: it makes many of us work harder and leads to more progress. I think some people forget that concentrating on a subject without thoughts of grade-based outcomes would lead to more success.</p>
<p>"I think some people forget that concentrating on a subject without thoughts of grade-based outcomes would lead to more success."</p>
<p>Personally, I've had more success when I've concentrated on a subject <em>with</em> thoughts of grade-based outcomes. Unfortunately, a lot of stress came with the success. This is one of the differences between junior year and senior year. Since I've started learning for the sake of knowledge rather than grades my senior year, my grades may have dipped slightly, but I'm enjoying school a whole lot more.</p>
<p>In general, the grade-capping won't affect my decision at all. Princeton is still an extraordinary place for education and growth.</p>
<p>QUOTE:</p>
<p>" I think some people forget that concentrating on a subject without thoughts of grade-based outcomes would lead to more success. " </p>
<p>I totally agree. But I would like to hear your case that making it actually more difficult to get an A through the use of quota's actually takes student's minds off grades!</p>
<p>Don't you think that Graduate Admission would look at Princeton Grades similar to AP Grades....
B in AP is Better than an A in Regular
3.5 at Princeton is better than a 4.0 at _______________.</p>
<p>Yeah, I see where everyone is coming from. My point isn't to say that this system will make people care less about grades, but more that people who care about grades and are getting relatively upset about the new turn of events won't get as far as people who are going to give their max anyhow (that sounds so damn trite, but i mean, 100% is 100% anywhere, regardless of level of grades).</p>
<p>Plus, the 30% competition can take place without students killing each other. I think competition for grades will make people work harder. Just me.</p>
<p>BTW, go to the ADJUSTED website rankings (obligatory plug for my thread)!</p>
<p>QUOTE:</p>
<p>" Don't you think that Graduate Admission would look at Princeton Grades similar to AP Grades....
B in AP is Better than an A in Regular
3.5 at Princeton is better than a 4.0 at _______________. "</p>
<p>My thoughts are that this is probably going to be a more optimistic look at admissions policies when it comes to grad school. While that is how it should be, I really doubt that extra consideration will be given in practice. </p>
<p>And with that said, I would take a 4.0 at a school like Harvard/Yale/Stanford than a 3.5 at Princeton.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Don't you think that Graduate Admission would look at Princeton Grades similar to AP Grades....
B in AP is Better than an A in Regular
3.5 at Princeton is better than a 4.0 at _______________.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I'm on the wrong forum, but I got to reading this thread...soooo...</p>
<p>unfortunately that isn't even close to true. They do take it into consideration, but not nearly as much as you guys probably think they do.</p>
<p>There were already grade inflation and anti-inflation schools before pton began its jihad against A's and the latter have rarely been given any special considerations. If past and present reactions are any indication, this may put Pton grads at somewhat of a strategic disadvantage (but come on--its still a Princeton degree). To use the case of law school, a 4.0 from nonamestateU with a BA in drama is in over a 3.1 in nuclear engin. from MIT every...single...time. </p>
<p>Medical, Law, and other professional and grad schools are almost 100% raw numbers driven.</p>
<p>im slightly confused about this new grading policy. how is this different from the johns hopkins grading policy?</p>
<p>I am '08 so I have had one semester of these new standards. Although I have no reference point to compare these standards to, I think they are pretty fair. I am gonna be a pure science (AB) major and the grading for these courses have not changed. This is because the inflation is primarily in humanities courses where kids can talk-up their grades.</p>
<p>For humanities courses the new policy has had a very big impact. e.g. In POL 210 (a gut course) people received much worse grades which were explained by preceptors as being due to the new grading policy.</p>
<p>However, when you realize that 14% of admits are legacies and i would estimate another 10% (at least) are recruited atheletes then u see why there is a need to differentiate between students in terms of work.</p>
<p>Also just fyi a 3.5 in first semester of freshman year placed you in the 2nd quintile (60-80 percentile) of students.</p>
<p>Do freshman grades count toward your total GPA? At many colleges, GPA counts only after sophmore or even junior year, so your freshman year can be spent adjusting and experimenting with classes? How does the Pton system work?</p>
<p>I've read on previous posts that Princeton (for undergrad) doesn't use your freshmen year when calculating an applicants GPA.</p>
<p>i have a few questions as well.</p>
<p>Isn't the new policy only set for big introductory classes? for small classes with like 10 15 people, i dont think this make much sense....</p>
<p>and how many percent usually get A's anyway? If before, around 40% get As, then 35% is not that bad.. and if some classes only 25% got As, then 35% is even better.... since i never attended, so i dont know.. but i hope this policy doesn't mean drastic grade changes....</p>
<p>I was asking if your college freshman grades count toward your total GPA, not your highschool GPA. At many colleges, the GPA youll have when you graduate counts only after sophomore or even junior year. How does the Pton GPA system work?</p>
<p>Princetonwannabe has asked a good question that would certainly shed some light on this grade inflation policy.
Also: Which particular graduate school admissions will this new policy affect? Will it impact a Princetonian applying to Harvard School of Government, for example or more a med school applicant? How hard IS the competition to get into graduate schools in general? because from what you guys are saying, there are herds of Yalies and Harvard applicants enough for each graduate school to pick from, and that, basically, a Princeton degree is meaningless.</p>
<p>All graduate school admissions will be affected by this policy. However, certain graduate programs will be far more affected than others. Law and medicine, in particular, are extremely grades-oriented, and will most likely be affected the most. Other graduate programs are less grade-sensitive, and PhD admissions will probably only be affected slightly.</p>
<p>Yet, not to be overly harsh,but for all the bellyaching about the new Princeton policy, it's still not easy for me to generate a whole lot of sympathy. However harder the grading at Princeton is now, it's still almost certainly going to be easier to get higher grades at Princeton than, say, at MIT. Or at Caltech. I don't see anybody crying for those 'Institute' students. </p>
<p>Or perhaps the real issue is not whether Princeton will still give higher grades than other schools (i.e. MIT), but rather that Princeton seems to be abruptly changing the grading policy now - it's all about the comparison of Princeton grades today vs. Princeton grades in years past. So maybe the real beef that people have is that it is supposedly 'unfair' that they will be getting lower grades than previous Princeton classes. Yet, that presumes that Princeton's grading has been consistent throughout the years, which is clearly false. In fact, for the last 30 years, Princeton's average grades have been getting higher and higher. I would imagine that even in this year with the grading policy change, it is still far easier to get higher grades today than it was just a few decades ago. How fair is that? </p>
<p>Finally, I have to echo Fer and say that to me, the REAL source of unfairness is that difference in grading schemes in tech vs. non-tech classes. Why is it that students in Princeton tech classes have to, on average, do more work and get lower grades than students in Princeton non-tech classes? Princeton engineering students will often times say that they will take an extra non-technical classes as an 'easy break' and/or to boost their GPA. I rather doubt that many Princeton non-tech students say that they are going to take a bunch of extra electrical engineering classes in order to boost their GPA.</p>