<p>is there a lot of grade inflation here? i know that cornell has next to none, and every other ivy (esp HYP) have insane grade inflation.</p>
<p>I think it has been shown that the average gpa at Columbia has gone up from something like a 3.1 to a 3.3 over the past maybe twenty years. I don't know the specifics. But I'm also not sure if this could be attributed to grade inflation. Even if half the grades at Columbia are As (especially in humanities classes that generally don't curve), I oftentimes think it's justified based on anticipated student performance. My feeling is if they're good enough for Columbia, they're probably going to do quite well in the classroom, and if they slack off, they'll probably still do no worse than a B or B-.</p>
<p>There are two issues that often get confounded: grade inflation and honors inflation. The criticism of Harvard, for example, stemmed from the statistic that about 90 percent of students there at one point graduated with honors.</p>
<p>So, to answer your question about Columbia. Yes, there is grade inflation. I've read that more than 50% of grades received are in the A range, and that there are very few Cs. In many classes, the curve is set so that the median is a B or a B+ or, at worst, a B-, rather than a C. So, most people get As and Bs. However, that does not mean there is honors inflation, because the university restricts the percentage who can graduate with honors. Princeton, in contrast, has set a percentage for the number of As given out in each course.</p>
<p>Does CC still put the class curve (i.e., the percentage of grades that were A-/A/A+) on the official transcripts? I always thought it was kind of pointless.</p>
<p>yeah, there is grade inflation. it's not as bad as harvard's, but still. here, you can get by with a B in pretty much any class, with minimal work put in. if you want an A, that's when you have to start working hard.</p>
<p>Vrgulati...I assume you attend Columbia. How would you know if it's better or worse than Harvard?</p>
<p><a href="http://www.gradeinflation.com/columbia.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.gradeinflation.com/columbia.html</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.gradeinflation.com/harvard.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.gradeinflation.com/harvard.html</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.gradeinflation.com/stanford.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.gradeinflation.com/stanford.html</a></p>
<p>
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here, you can get by with a B in pretty much any class, with minimal work put in. if you want an A, that's when you have to start working hard.
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</p>
<p>If you want an A and don't want to work that hard, you can either be 1) really smart and/or efficient or 2) do a really good job with your course selection given some classes have much more grade inflation than others.</p>
<p>In fact, I think I know mr. vrgulati. He may have stayed overnight at my place as a prefrosh.</p>
<p>and C2002 is spot on. There are two kinds of people at Columbia: those who got in by working their butts off and have discipline and organization in spades, and those who are so surpassingly brilliant that everything comes easy to them and they seem to waft through without doing work. I guess there's also the legacy/prep kids, but they're a small minority.</p>
<p>Columbia2002, I'm not sure if Columbia still prints the class' grade distribution on the transcript, but I believe law schools (and others) use this information. So, I suppose it's not entirely pointless.</p>
<p>freekfrye, Princeton has grade <em>deflation</em>, as well as quotas.</p>
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Does CC still put the class curve (i.e., the percentage of grades that were A-/A/A+) on the official transcripts? I always thought it was kind of pointless.
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<p>It does for classes of a certain size. CCSC got the administration to remove this statistic for small seminar classes (I presume because people were upset there may have been visibly high percentages of As in those).</p>
<p>anyone know how the grade inflation is at SEAS? </p>
<p>i'd love to go to columbia for econ, but i probably have no shot, so im probably going to apply into SEAS, most likely into the IEOR dept. most engineering schools have like crazy avg gpa's like 2.5 or something, i hope columbia is a little easier...</p>
<p>That may not be the attitude you want to take at an institution like Columbia.</p>
<p>And SEAS isn't any easier, that's for sure. The spec published some numbers about the average GPA differential a few years ago, I think. You could look it up and post here.</p>
<p>I'm not trying to take the easy way out or anything, and I know I'm gonna work hard either way - it's more of, I don't want to get into something I can't handle type of situation. </p>
<p>That is, if I interpreted your statement correctly.
What exactly did you mean by "That may not be the attitude you want to take at an institution like Columbia." - sorry that may have sounded borderline hostile in tone, no harm intend. </p>
<p>I'll see if I can find that data, if I can I'll post it, if someone else has access to it, it would be appreciated if they posted it.</p>
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anyone know how the grade inflation is at SEAS?</p>
<p>i'd love to go to columbia for econ, but i probably have no shot, so im probably going to apply into SEAS, most likely into the IEOR dept. most engineering schools have like crazy avg gpa's like 2.5 or something, i hope columbia is a little easier...
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I don't think this is too bad a question. Who wants to go to a school that actively weeds people out and has forced curves to fail a certain number of people? That's what some engineering programs are like -- particularly ones where anyone can get in. Columbia engineering's not like that. It isn't going to be easy, but it isn't the type of school where you're going to have to work your butt of just to have a chance at passing.</p>
<p>I've heard horror stories about engineering...mainly about Berkeley engineers, since i live in the bay area - and my parents are pressuring me to go technical, although i'm making a strong resistance since ultimately I want to end up in finance anyway, and I have little taste for CS or chem. But I can deal with IEOR, from what I hear it's not the most hardcore stuff, and I'm good at math, so I should be okay. My main concern was just yeah, being weeded out, esp. by the gung-ho genius engineers. I hear Columbia is the haven for pre-professional engineers though, which is awesome to hear. I've been in love with Columbia for the longest of time also, mainly because I used to live in the NY area before I moved to the west coast. </p>
<p>Okay, enough of me ranting, this isn't my thread after all.</p>
<p>bluelotus,</p>
<p>you may be a decent fit then, on the basis of your latest post. I also agree it's a good question.</p>
<p>the reason I said what I did was, the way your post sounded to me, you were planning on gaming the system and trying to find the easiest way out of the institution. That is a mindset that sets you up to get less than full value out of a place like Columbia. I have an instinctive anti-slacker reaction, and I mentally put you in that bin at first. Please accept my apology.</p>
<p>It is certainly possible to take cupcake courses (moreso in the College) and get out with a 3.7 while doing minimal work if you're really smart. Someone with the same level of intelligence could end up depressed, overstressed, and with a 2.8 if they were in Chemical Engineering (probably the only true-engineering major where Columbia is one of the top schools around). IEOR, by contrast, is some legitimately interesting stuff, as long as you're not doing their hybrid "Engineering Management Systems" major, which is total BS and recognized as such even by professors i've spoken with. (common joke acronyms for EMS: 'Emergency Major Switch', 'Engineering Made Simple', etc). However, Operations Research is a fairly serious major that I find rather interesting, and is a very good gateway to finance.</p>
<p>C2002 is definitely right that SEAS is a little less harsh than peer engineering schools in its grading, and regression to the mean is helped by the core classes and nontechnical stuff you do. SEAS was a perfect fit for me precisely because of those things: I happened to be really good at math and science, but I had so many other academic interests as well (law, history, psychology, classical music...) that I wanted a place where pursuing those wouldn't put me at a competitive disadvantage.</p>
<p>I know that in CC you can do an econ-IEOR major, so I'm assuming you might be able to do an IEOR-econ major in SEAS. Still, I'd suggest you look at the SEAS core course requirement, because nothing is worse for a gpa -- or a college experience -- then having to grind your way through classes that don't interest you and that don't relate to your ultimate goals. (There is also some new financial engineering program in SEAS, by the way.)</p>
<p>My son's in CC but has taken a couple of classes in the IEOR department. One thing he's mentioned is that there have been grad students in them. So, you might not find yourself up against hardcore engineering students, but you might find yourself up against MBAs or Masters students in Operations Research. </p>
<p>If you are someone, like Denzera, who is good at math and science but also has a lot of other interests, SEAS might, indeed, be a good fit.</p>
<p>So what I'm getting from this is that minor grade inflation makes SEAS manageable? I'm just a little concerned about getting into a program that is overly challenging and it wrecks my GPA and general future, especially if I'm up against all those naturally genius engineers.</p>
<p>P.S. I'm reviving this thread I dug up from Skraylor's "Helpful Columbia Threads" topic</p>