DISCLAIMER: This is not a personal example. This is just a general discussion.
Say there’s two schools. One school has a top 10 program and practices grade inflation with an average GPA of 3.3-3.5. Another school has a top 50 program and practices grade deflation with an average GPA of 2.8-3.0. For the common student that is good but not exceptional, is the lesser school still easier to do well in and get a higher GPA in?
At the Top 10 Program (practices grade inflation, average GPA of 3.3-3.5):
stronger quality of students (battling the curve)
possibly harder curriculum
curriculum possibly covered faster
At the Top 50 Program (practices grade deflation, average GPA of 2.8-3.0):
weaker quality of students
possibly less difficult curriculum
curriculum possibly covered more slowly
Does anyone possibly have experience or input on this? I know a lot of the great privates practice grade inflation.
Questions like the following would be relevant for your theoretical situation:
How important are program ranking and GPA in post-graduation activities related to the program? (e.g employment related to the program, graduate study in the major)
How strong is the student compared to others in the program at each school?
@DrGoogle The question is not whether to go to this school or that school. Since it’s supposedly easier at a lesser school, shouldn’t it be easier to get a higher GPA there? This poses a situation where it may not be the case, and I am wondering if anyone has any experience with this.
If graduate schools and prospective employers are looking at two students with similar GPAs, the one that went to the better school obviously looks better in that aspect. But was it truly that more impressive because every school normalizes GPA differently?
I must miss the lesser school part. The top 10 program is a lesser school?
It’s not always guarantee to get better grades at a lesser school. My nephew went to UCR and don’t get better grades in the subject that he is strong in. He went to a strong high school.
Perhaps the higher grades are reflective of the very high level students who produce an incredibly strong overall levelof work at the top 10 school? It is impossible to judge.
AFAIK, he’s asking which school a student should attend if the student wants to have the highest GPA possible. At the lower tier school, it is commonly believed a student should have an easier time getting higher grades, but this school happens to have grade deflation. At the higher tier school, there is grade inflation, but the coursework may actually be harder. Which school should the student go to?
I would say the higher tier school, since if the student were accepted, s/he has a higher statistical chance of getting a high GPA. No school is going to accept a student who is clearly going to fail.
The admission officer will read the school profile and look at the GPA in the context of the school. You don’t need to worry about it. That is their job.
^ Yeah… The difficulty of a course relates more to who the professor is, how much homework is given, if the professor wants to include certain topics, the pacing of the course, etc. If the same courses at two different schools are different, it doesn’t have to do with the fact that one is a more prestigious school than another. And if the lower school grade deflates, then it would be theoretically less difficult to get a better grade in the top school.
@Woandering Your first part about perception is on the money. However, I am not talking about which school to go to. Of course if the fit is right, go to the better school that gives you the better education and resources to succeed. I’m just saying if it’s equally difficult to get a certain GPA at a lower-ranked school with grade deflation than a higher-ranked school with grade inflation, that’s kind of screwed up because the higher-ranked or more prestigious school is always held in higher regard. Just looking for the experiences of transfer students to confirm or deny this theory.
@PurpleTitan In that case, still go to the higher tier school if everything else were equal - would be the better choice, right?
Not sure if lots of college classes grade based on curves, but if so, the student would have an easier time at a lower tier college, and then the higher GPA would be easier to get.
@MadKillaMan Can’t offer you any experiences here, but yes it does seem screwed up; so many things in life are screwed up.
@Woandering, yes, and as for curves, that would depend on the curve, which will differ by professor and class more than by school.
To the OP: no, the more prestigious school isn’t “always held in higher regard”, at least by folks who care about GPA (like grad schools). They may hold the science classes at UNC in just as high regard as Duke, for example.