<p>It depends on the course and the professor. Grade cutoffs are not set across the board and can be changed based on final grade distribution to match natural breaks. </p>
<p>As for whether Duke courses are as rigorous as university X, I don’t think you can say that for any two universities A and B. Each university has its strong departments and programs and weak departments. Comparing two universities’ course difficulty as a whole would be comparing apples and oranges. </p>
<p>However I will say that grading scale is not necessarily an accurate reflection of course rigor. For example, my medical school has a pretty tough grading scale on par with or sometimes even exceeding the one commonly found at Duke. Yet, my school’s preclinical curriculum is generally said (and has a reputation for) to be pretty intense and rigorous. In fact this has contributed to a (IMHO, false) reputation for being cutthroat and gunner.</p>