Grade deflation at Franklin and Marshall

We had a different experience. D16 was a test-optional admit (test scores around the 25th percentile) so we all had concerns about how she’d handle the academics. Although not a STEM major, she had to work exceptionally hard and A’s were not given out freely, but were certainly attainable. The work paid off when she graduated with honors and with two degrees. When she was accepted to grad school at a Top 20 research university she was a bit anxious about how she would stack up against others in her cohort with degrees from places like Pomona, Claremont McKenna, UC-Berkeley, NYU, etc. Older friends, who had preceeded her to law school, med school and graduate school, told her not to worry and that F&M had prepared her well for the challenges ahead. That has turned out to be the case. I don’t think this daughter could have chosen a better undergraduate experience. For others, this might not be the right place. I do not believe, however, that F&M’s insistence that students earn their grade handicaps them for graduate or professional school admission, or in the job market.

Earning your “A”. What a concept.

Update to note F&M is ranked 36 in National Liberal Arts Colleges, tied with Bucknell and Lafayette in the just released US News ranking.

F&M is definitely rigorous. My son works extremely hard, but has managed to maintain an average between an A- and an A. He is also a varsity athlete, in a fraternity and active in at least one club. Doing well is challenging, but not impossible. As far as prestige, F&M is clearly on the rise and its grad school admissions numbers are excellent. My son had a very high high school GPA and a 34 ACT, so he was a high performing student coming in, but although he is working hard, he is having a good experience. The professors are talented and accessible. The coursework is challenging, but prepares the students well for grad school and the workforce. The courses are small, so no one can hide and there are a lot of demands from professors, but the work is clearly meaningful. My other child is at an Ivy, he also has to work extremely hard to get his As. In the end, both are receiving excellent educations and that, rather than GPA alone, should be the goal. My son at F&M could have had his choice of schools but he chose F&M as his first choice and I haven’t been disappointed.

My daughter will be a freshman at F&M this fall. She too is a Varsity athlete and had excellent grades/scores. She was recruited by many schools, including 3 Ivy league schools, but fell in love with F&M when we visited, decided to apply ED1 and got in. We live in the Midwest where F&M isn’t as well known, but I agree- it is an excellent and prestigious school with a great reputation. I think she made the right choice and I am so excited for her. Your comment was very helpful, thank you!

When we looked at F&M we did our research and found that graduate schools highly respect F&M. In fact, schools like Harvard Business School thrive on diversity (this is just the :

American University of Beirut
American University of Cairo
Amherst College
Anna University
Arizona State University
Ateneo De Manila University
Babson College
Barnard College
Bates College
Ben Gurion University
Bentley College
Bilkent University
Birla Institute of Technology and Science
Bob Jones University
Bocconi University
Bogazici University
Boston College
Boston University
Bowdoin College
Brandeis University
Brigham Young University
Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute
Brown University
Bryn Mawr College
California Institute of Technology
Carleton College
Carnegie Mellon University
Case Western Reserve University
Catholic University of Louvain
Chinese University of Hong Kong
Chulalongkorn University
College of Management - Academic Studies
College of the Holy Cross
Colorado School of Mines
Columbia University
Cornell University
Dartmouth College
Dickinson College
Duke University
Ecole Centrale
Ecole Nationale Superieure de Chimie de Paris - ParisTech
Ecole Polytechnique
Ecole Spéciale des Travaux Publics
Ecole Superieure Science Economic Commerce (Initial Period)
Emory University
EPITA Graduate School of Computer Science
ESCP Paris
Etseib
Florida A&M University
Florida State University
Franklin & Marshall
Franklin W. Olin College
Fudan University
Fundacao Getulio Vargas - Sao Paulo Business School
Georgetown University
Georgia Institute of Technology
Georgia Southern University
GIK Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology
Gujarat University
H.R. College of Commerce and Economics
Hampton University
Harvard University
Harvey Mudd College
Haverford College
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Heidelberg College
Hochschule St. Gallen
Howard University
Humboldt University of Berlin
Imperial College of Science and Technology
Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay
Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur
Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur
Indian Institute of Technology, Madras
Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi
Indiana University
Insper Ibmec-SP
Institut Nationale des Sciences Appliquées Toulouse
Instituto Superior Tecnico
Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico
Instituto Tecnologico de Aeronautica
Instituto Tecnologico de Buenos Aires
Instituto Tecnologico de Monterrey (ITESM)
Integrale Institut d’enseignement superieur prive
Interdisciplinary Center
IQS School of Engineering - Universitat Ramon Llull
Jadavpur University
Jiao Tong University
Johns Hopkins University
Keio University
Kettering University
Korea University
Lahore University of Management Sciences
London School of Economics and Political Science
Louisiana State University
Loyola University, Chicago
Lycée Privé Sainte Geneviève
Lycee Saint Louis
Maastricht University
Macalester College
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
McGill University
Michigan State University
Middlebury College
Milan Polytechnic
Monash University
Montana State University
Morehouse College
Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology
Moscow State Univ of Economics, Statistics, and Informatics
Moscow State University
Mount Holyoke College
National Institute of Technology, Karnataka
National Research University - Higher School of Economics
National Taiwan University
National Tsing Hua University
New York University
North Carolina State University
Northeastern University
Northwestern University
Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration
Oberlin College
Ohio Northern University
Ohio State University
Ohio Wesleyan University
Oxford University
Peking University
Pennsylvania State University
Peoples Education Society Institute of Technology
Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile
Pontificia Universidade Catolica do Rio de Janeiro
Princeton University
Punjab Engineering College, Deemed University
Purdue University
Qinghua University
Queen’s University
Randolph-Macon College
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Rice University
Rijksuniversiteit Gent
Rutgers - The State University
Saint John’s College
Santa Clara University
SASTRA University
Seattle University
Seoul National University
Shri Ram College of Commerce
Simon Fraser University
Southern Methodist University
St. Joseph University
Stanford University
State University - Higher School of Economics
State University of New York, Binghamton
Stockholm School of Economics
Swarthmore College
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
Syracuse University
Technical University of Budapest
Technion-Israel Institute of Technology
Technische Universität München
Tel Aviv University
Tel-Aviv University
Texas A&M University
Thammasat University
The College of William and Mary
The George Washington University
The Interdisciplinary Center - IDC
Tufts University
Tulane University
Unicamp-Brazil
United States Air Force Academy
United States Military Academy
United States Naval Academy
Universidad de los Andes
Universidad Pompeu Fabra (UPF)
Universidad Pontificia de Comillas (ICADE)
Universidad Torcuato Di Tella
Universidade de Sao Paulo
Universidade Federal do Parana
Universidade Federal do RGS
University College London
University of Alberta
University of Arizona
University of Bombay
University of British Columbia
University of Buenos Aires
University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Los Angeles
University of Cambridge
University of Cape Town
University of Chicago
University of Chile
University of Cincinnati
University of Connecticut
University of Delaware
University of Delhi
University of Edinburgh
University of Florida
University of Georgia
University of Iceland
University of Illinois
University of Kansas
University of Maine
University of Mannheim
University of Maryland
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
University of Massachusetts
University of Melbourne
University of Miami
University of Michigan
University of Minnesota
University of Montreal
University of Münster
University of Nebraska
University of New South Wales
University of North Carolina
University of Notre Dame
University of Oklahoma
University of Oxford
University of Paris II
University of Pennsylvania
University of Pittsburgh
University of Poona
University of Queensland
University of Saint Thomas
University of San Andres
University of Sheffield
University of South Carolina
University of Southern California
University of St. Gallen
University of Sydney
University of Texas
University of the Basque Country - Faculty of Engineering
University of the Philippines
University of the South
University of Tokyo
University of Toronto
University of Utah
University of Virginia
University of Warwick
University of Washington
University of Waterloo
University of Western Australia
University of Western Ontario
University of Wisconsin
Vanderbilt University
Vassar College
Vienna School of Economics and Business Administration
Virginia Commonwealth University
Virginia Military Institute
Visveswaraiah Technological University
Warsaw School of Economics
Waseda University
Washington and Lee University
Washington University
Webb Institute
Wellesley College
Wesleyan University
WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management
Williams College
Yale University
Yeditepe University
Yonsei University
Zhejiang University