<p>Hi!</p>
<p>I love the idea of attending a LAC in the south, but I've heard that Davidson has grade deflation. Is this true? I want to get into a good grad school, without a deflated GPA.</p>
<p>Rather than looking specifically at grade deflation, why don’t you research how Davidson grads fare when they apply to graduate or professional schools? The Admissions office should be able to tell you what percentage of those who applied to law school (for instance) got in and what schools admitted them. I don’t know the answers to these questions, but I would be interested in knowing the answers.</p>
<p>I’m a davidson student. Yes, i’d say davidson definitely has grade deflation - almost everyone here is pretty darn smart, but the majority of people don’t end up getting too many A’s.
Don’t let this deter you. As you state, Davidson has a reputation for ‘grade deflation’ (I’d say the classes are simply tough and the grades are fair, and a lot of other schools have grade inflation, not that Davidson has grade deflation) - grad schools know this. I’ve heard of a few law/medical schools that tend to only look at very high GPAs, but these are the minority. Most recognize Davidson is like this and don’t ignore you because you have a ‘3.something’. In fact, I’ve heard that many grad schools have somewhat of a soft-spot for liberal arts colleges, and acceptance into grad schools from Davidson is pretty high.</p>
<p>Don’t worry about Davidson and grade deflation… I did a lot of research on Davidson 2 years ago and grade deflation often came up… But what came up much more often was that Grad Schools love Davidson students… </p>
<p>After awhile you understand that grad schools would rather have a smart student who spend 4 years at a school that required them to work hard for grades, because in the end the student may have a lower GPA but they also have developed a work ethic that is likely to bring success in both grad school and life…</p>