<p>Just curious: how is the grade inflation at Stanford? I imagine that the 4.3's will give a boost, but do graduate schools take into account the fact that you can earn 4.3's in your classes as opposed to the 4.0 cap at many other institutions?</p>
<p>Also, if anyone knows how Stanford's grade inflation compares to that of Yale, it'd be greatly appreciated, as I've still yet to decide.</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Graduate schools are very aware of the grading policies of most universities. </p>
<p>I have never trusted this site, but you can choose whether you want to trust it or not:
[National</a> Trends in Grade Inflation, American Colleges and Universities](<a href=“http://www.gradeinflation.com/]National”>http://www.gradeinflation.com/)</p>
<p>Basically, at Stanford if you put the work (if you do, you’re pretty much already more prepared than half your class) in you are pretty much guaranteed a B+. This means doing all the reading and doing psets on your own and stuff. This may not hold true for some classes, but so far every class I’ve taken has followed this rule.</p>
<p>How hard do you suppose it is to pull of an A+ in your science classes? I know of people at Stanford with GPA’s above 4.0, which is insanely intimidating to me. Admittedly, they’re all freshmen and sophomores, but still, the idea of having a 4.2 for a quarter just boggles my mind.</p>
<p>Moreover, do you think that, because 4.3’s are possible, GPA’s like 3.9 mean less to competitive graduate schools from Stanford than they do from its rival institutions?</p>
<p>does 4.3 mean that A+ are 4.3 not 4.0?</p>
<p>Senioro991, what is your major? What you describe doesn’t sound familiar based on accounts I’ve heard from engineering/math/quantitative majors.</p>
<p>Also, CourseRank shows that the average grade is around a B+ for a lot of CS classes</p>
<p>bobtheboy, look at this: [Grade</a> System — Undergraduate, College of Arts & Sciences, U.Va.](<a href=“http://artsandsciences.virginia.edu/college/grade/grade_system.html#a2]Grade”>http://artsandsciences.virginia.edu/college/grade/grade_system.html#a2)</p>
<p>for what its worth, i’ve A+'d most of my math and science classes here so far. Grade inflation is awesome.
And fall quarter, I did have ~4.2, which was pretty cool to see on my transcript.</p>
<p>^^It’s good to be smart and to keep up with your work, isn’t it?</p>
<p>Here’s the scoop home skillets. The average GPA at Stanford varies depending on your field as you can imagine. I am doing CS and the average is around the 3.2 mark. You pretty much can’t feel the grade inflation because you are drained in sweat doing work. You know about the pedaling duck syndrome, don’t you? I hope you do, or you will be up for a rude awakening once you get here.</p>
<p>Now, here comes the awesome punch line: from advisers and friends here at Stanford all I hear is that 3.5 is pretty much enough if you are coming from Stanford to land into a great graduate program. Of course this is some sort of an overstatement and things are very circumstantial, but it should give you an idea: people get in big time. And please, don’t come back with law and med school numbers to antagonize me or try to prove me wrong. </p>
<p>Now, pay attention because this is important, and I will say it only once. Grad schools don’t adjust your undergraduate GPA based on your institution’s GRADE INFLATION. They adjust it based on the QUALITY of your undergraduate institution. An adcom from Berkeley CS posted that a 3.4 from Stanford or CMU is really the same as a 3.8. “Controversial,” you say? I don’t care. 
I have also seen tables with the factor that your GPA gets multiplied by depending on your school. Stanford kids did get a boost in that particular instance as well, while UW-Madison kids for example did not.</p>
<p>I really HTH.</p>
<p>
Too bad you can’t see it on your transcript. Official transcript that is, a.k.a. the one that matters.</p>
<p>Listen all, while there are some A+ grades here and there they affect things only locally. To most grad schools that A+ will be calculated as and A, i.e. as a 4.0 rather than a 4.3 or a 4.33, and no, this will not clash with your Stanford GPA because YOU SIMPLY DON’T HAVE ONE on your official transcript.</p>
<p>Actually, A+'s do show up on your official transcript. Can’t comment on how grad admissions calculate your GPA, but I can confirm that A+'s do show up on your official transcript.</p>
<p>Don’t get the impression that A+'s are super easy to get. The above poster is definitely not the norm, and you basically have to be in the top 1-2% of the class to get an A+ (if the prof even gives them out).</p>
<p>Hm, yes, I wasn’t very clear that early in the morning. He said that he could see a 4.2 on his transcript, and I said that he could not, simply because Stanford doesn’t put your GPA on the official transcript, thus leaving it very open to interpretation. 
Of course A+ grades show otherwise why would I be talking about how grad schools interpret them if they weren’t there? ;)</p>
<p>So in conclusion, while you might get an A+, in practice nobody outside of Stanford would think that you have a GPA above 4.0 because A and A+ both get calculated as 4.0 in the real world. Prominent example: AMCAS and med schools.</p>
<p>P.S. I agree that A+ grades are not common. Usually, they are only for students in the 99th percentile.</p>
<p>True, tortuedsoulboy, the actual gpa doesn’t show up. Kind of a bummer that med schools don’t recognize A+'s.</p>
<p>Although I do believe you get credited for A+'s in LSAC reports. Not sure though.</p>
<p>I am talking about the unofficial transcript you can see on axess, where it does give you your overall gpa. </p>
<p>I’m sorry, but you guys have a false impression of getting an A+. A+ is usually for the top 5-10%, certainly a very high percentage of the class and a testament to the grade inflation that is the topic of this thread.</p>
<p>omg, you and torturedsoulboy can’t both be correct if you are talking about the same majors. Might it be that there is more grade inflation in fuzzy fields than in the techy ones?</p>
<p>On average @zenkoan. There are exceptions.</p>