<p>Does Wake really have grade deflation and what is it exactly?</p>
<p>I’m not sure about the specific term grade deflation - but it seems to be pretty difficult to get A’s. My perception is that the grading and workload are both very rigorous. Not necessarily a bad thing - but just good to be aware of it.</p>
<p>I guess it varies from person to person, but my experience (freshman at current) has been that as far as the humanities go, Wake Forest is not hard, and it’s pretty easy to pull out an A. I haven’t done science courses yet, though, so who knows if that applies there.</p>
<p>You’re most likely to experience something like this in upper level classes, premed science classes, and most business courses.</p>
<p>Wake Forest does not have grade deflation. Rather, other schools inflate their grades. For example: <a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/education/26grades.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/education/26grades.html</a></p>
<p>Wake is low-ish for elite privates, but not low-ish in general… actually its average GPA is very similar to that of a Public Flagship.</p>
<p>See the very bottom of this link, [National</a> Trends in Grade Inflation, American Colleges and Universities](<a href=“http://www.gradeinflation.com/]National”>http://www.gradeinflation.com/) , click on Wake Forest, and you see 2006 ave. GPA of 3.21 That compares to 3.42 at Duke, but 3.16 at UNC-Chapel Hill. H/Y/S are fairly inflated, around 3.5 each… well, to be exact, 3.46/3.48/3.55. Princeton is more moderate at 3.27. Just be glad you’re not at Georgia Tech with its 3.06. Or dream about Brown and its 3.59 (due to its liberal pass/no pass option on many courses). And Swathmore, despite its reputation, saw a median GPA of 3.53 in 2009, which would equate to about 3.49 in 2006 (grades inflate 0.14 each year on average). MIT per the same rate of change algorythm is at about 3.37, aided by an unusual and generous freshman year (non)grading policy.</p>
<p>I suppose there is a medium sized grain of truth to the “Work Forest” moniker.</p>
<p>When looking at GT, you have to consider that most of its students are in engineering majors, which are pretty much difficult wherever you go.</p>
<p>There has been a bit of controversy at UNC-CH recently over grade inflation. “One compelling piece of data - 82 percent of the grades issued in fall 2007 to undergrads were As and Bs. That’s up from 77 percent in 2000.” ([Campus</a> Notes - Grade inflation at UNC Chapel Hill | newsobserver.com blogs](<a href=“http://blogs.newsobserver.com/campusnotes/grade-inflation-at-unc-chapel-hill]Campus”>http://blogs.newsobserver.com/campusnotes/grade-inflation-at-unc-chapel-hill)) Having survived Work Forest with an average GPA, I can say that I think there is some truth to the “grade deflation” idea - in the majority of courses, you have to put in a good bit of work to get an A, and profs will give you a C if that’s what your work merits. I majored in sciences but enjoyed (and probably was better at) the humanities. I thought it was far easier to get As in the humanities, personally…would love to hear from other Deacs to see if they agree or disagree.</p>
<p>j2j – my D would agree with you. She graduated this past May; HES major; overall GPA somewhat above the WFU average. Another thing about WFU – no grading on the curve. Whatever you get for a test grade is what you get. No matter what, though, D is proud to be a Demon Deac!</p>
<p>As juba2jive says, a 3.06 (last semester it was lower, I believe) is good for an engineering school.</p>