Ive been accepted to BU for fall 2017.
I came across to these information saying theres a lot of grade deflation in BU.
Firstly, is that true? I know it depends on which professor/class you have, but in general, do obvious grade deflations occur?
Secondly, if it does happen, how would it influence getting into good grad schools or getting good jobs? Are companies and admission offices aware that BU does it?
It isn’t true. I am a current BU student and have never experienced/heard of any instances of grade deflation whatsoever. BU is a hard school, I won’t deny that, but any top 50 school is going to be. Study, work hard, and go to office hours and you will be fine.
I’ve answered this question many many times on CC, so I advise you do an advanced search for “grade deflation” + my name as the author. I don’t want to write another incredibly long comment about it (as my feelings have not changed).
The Cliff’s Notes version is: yes, it exists, particularly in certain departments in CAS (STEM… I also encountered it in my German minor). I found it to be less of a “thing” in COM. Every BU student’s experience will vary based on the college they are attending, but overall it is real. However, grade deflation = academic rigor. It’s not a conspiracy, but rigorous grading that holds you to a high standard of excellence. Many many colleges have grade inflation–they hand out As like candy–and BU simply doesn’t practice that. Google “grade deflation BU” and click on the Reddit thread from 2013. It’s some good reading (and confirms that as recently as 2013, the difficulty in getting As at BU holds). There’s also a February 2016 Daily Free Press piece about it. So it’s real.
Yes, outside grad programs and businesses are aware of the “value” of a BU GPA. However, most of the time it doesn’t really matter? Most businesses don’t care one whit what your college GPA was. One thing beyond raw GPA: the scale for summa, magna, and cum laude is different at BU, adjusted for grade deflation. So you can have a “lower” GPA and still get Latin Honors–which will tell grad programs, etc. where you fell in terms of GPA among your peers. So I had a 3.47 GPA… and magna cum laude. That magna has stayed on my resume, but the GPA has not. People with 3.6’s graduated summa. Sooooooo.
I’m a current premed student and I really don’t think it’s a real thing. I got a really high GPA my first semester and did well… If you work hard and put a lot of effort into your work you’ll do fine.
Thank you all for the answers! I’m relieved!