<p>"For Northeastern students to produce 16,538 surveys and devote time to adminstering them would be quite rediculous..."</p>
<p>The survey was conducted by the BU student union (I believe), not by NU students. The PDF file is the minutes of one of the union's meetings. They included an article (the one by Amanda Lowe) from the NU paper to support their argument that grade deflation exists.</p>
<p>And no, this survey was not circulated to the entire BU population--I have never seen it and don't know anyone else who has.</p>
<p>A small % of professors at many top schools are extremely rigid with grading. Your task is to do your "due diligence" and choose classes where this doesn't happen if you are very concerned. ratemyprofessor.com and upperclassme as well as your advisor are good sources to learn which professors/classes to take and in larger schools you have more choices. Regarding GPA, although some applicants reflect it on their resumes most do not and after you are out of college a year it would be unusual to note a GPA on a resume. If GPA is important to you, work hard and stay away from the handful of professors notorious for tough grading policies and you'll be fine. At BU you only take 4 classes since they are worth 4 credits unlike many schools like GW where I understand you take 5 three credit classes. So that makes it more manageable.</p>
<p>"Regarding GPA, although some applicants reflect it on their resumes most do not and after you are out of college a year it would be unusual to note a GPA on a resume."</p>
<p>Every job I applied for explicitly required your GPA to be on your resume. </p>
<p>"At BU you only take 4 classes since they are worth 4 credits unlike many schools like GW where I understand you take 5 three credit classes. So that makes it more manageable."</p>
<p>I wouldn't say that. Four 4 credit classes means 16 hours of class time (in general), whereas five 3 credit classes means 15 hours of class time. Compared to friends at other schools, I spend a lot more time in class and on outside projects than they do per semester.</p>
<p>RYBUS, Well I guess SMG is so challenging it doesn't matter but for say, CAS, don't you think dealing with expectations of 4 vs. 5 different Professors could have a slight advantage? Given your schedule, how do the SMG kids have any fun?</p>
<p>Sorry if I wasn't explicit---I meant jobs after your first job out of college. Interestingly schools like Wharton(PENN) "prohibit/strongly discourage" students from revealing their GPAs. Regardless, students work hard at schools like BU and ay school attracting kids in the top 10% academically.</p>
<p>"RYBUS, Well I guess SMG is so challenging it doesn't matter but for say, CAS, don't you think dealing with expectations of 4 vs. 5 different Professors could have a slight advantage? Given your schedule, how do the SMG kids have any fun?"</p>
<p>I see what you're saying, but, generally, there is a larger work load for a 4 credit class at BU than its 3 credit equivelent at another school. While it's easier to keep track of 4 classes vs. 5, you make up for it with the additional assignments, projects and sometimes delve into the content a little more in depth. My experience with CAS classes, though, varied greatly. </p>
<p>Most kids in SMG enjoy the "work hard, play hard" type of lifestyle and thrive in this type of environment. I'd say that SMG parties rather hard compared to the other schools.</p>