Grade Inflation at WPI

Colleges and Universities A-Z Worcester Polytechnic Institute
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<p>This is a question for a student who is attending WPI, where I will join this fall:</p>

<p>Is there a considerable amount of grade inflation at WPI and if so, how much are grades inflated. How difficult is it to get an A in a course at WPI and about how many percent of students get A's, B's, C's, and NR's. What is the statistical center of GPA's here. I know that WPI is an institution where most people are not very cut-throat but at the same time, I want to know whether employers or graduate schools feel that the grades here are inflated and whether or not it will make it more or less difficult to get a job. I know that the average GPA at UMass is 2.6, at GATech and Cal for Engineering is 2.7, at HYP is 3.4 and at MIT is 4.2/5.0, but WPI does not publish this information. At high school, a lot of people who are smart generally get A's and there is a lot of inflation. I know that because of the NR policy, the average GPA is probably positively skewed, although I don't know about how the grades are on the higher spectrum.</p>

<p>How well should I expect to do if I want to get an internship during the summer after my first year at a good firm like Microsoft, Google, IBM, Intel, Nvidia, SUN Microsystems, or a good startup or if I want to do research at a well known academic center. I will most likely be a double major in Computer Science and Applied Mathematics. I don't know right now whether or not I want to go to grad school but I want to keep the option of a top 15 grad school in my field open.</p>

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<p>I am a current student and I can answer your questions in two ways: </p>

<ol>
<li><p>Compare the academic difficulty at WPI to the only other college I’ve attended, which happens to be a community college. </p></li>
<li><p>Give you data from class exit surveys telling you what percentage of students thought they’d get As. Which isn’t terribly useful because a lot of people expect to get As and then get Bs. </p></li>
</ol>

<p>I can also positively say that no one exploits the NR policy. I would’ve expected there to be pre-med students who’d opt not to show up for the final if they didn’t expect an A, but alas I’ve yet to see anyone do that. The NR mostly helps people at the bottom of the curve. And it might not even skew the curve too much because 7 week terms also probably end up hurting those who are academically challenged. </p>

<p>My only other comment on this matter is that I strongly disapprove of the term “grade inflation” in use with average GPA. UMass has a lower GPA then Caltech and HYP, not because it has less grade inflation, but because it admits students with weaker academic focus and study skills. I think the way to measure academic rigor is to compare a school’s freshman retention to its median SATs. </p>

<p>At the end of my freshman year I applied for two REUs. I got contacted by one but a position never materialized. If you work hard and get good grades you should be competitive for an internship.</p>

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<p>I know that there is big variation between the students who are admitted between UMass, GaTech, RPI, WPI, Caltech, MIT, and HYPS and that comparing them is not an adequate way to get your GPA. I don’t think SAT’s correlate very well with student ability since my SAT increased 180 points from when I took them. However, I can understand how you say that using the law of big numbers, SAT’s somehow correlate with performance. Retention rate, however, does not have the same correlation because some schools only have engineering and science programs and students who don’t like engineering have to transer whereas other schools offer more comprehensive programs in the humanities and management where these students can switch into. For example, if a student finds great interest in pure mathematics, they would have to switch out of RIT, which does not have that major.</p>

<p>In reality, I don’t care that much about how much the grades are inflated and I just want to know strategies to be competitive for excellent internships and research positions at WPI. If you know, could you tell me about I would also like to know how many students are able to score great internships at competitive salaries and how many students are able to get REU’s at good programs within thier field</p>

<p>Would a student with, let’s say arbitrarily, a 3.85 in CS/Applied Math, be able to get an internship at Intel, IBM, Google, or Apple or would they be able to get an REU in CS at Harvey Mudd, UMCP, Umass, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, University at Illinois-Urbana Champaign, Texas A&M, etc. I am preliminarily interested in biocomputing.</p>

<p>Finally, I want to be nominated to one of the large prestigious scholarships (I think I might be overly ambitious) like Goldwater, Microsoft, NSF, etc. I know that this is a long way down the road and I will have to work very hard to get to this point, but how hard would it be to do well enough in classes and to get sufficient research background to qualify. I want to start in the right track from the beginning.</p>

<p>Are there any research-related EC’s or groups at WPI and how do students get involved with research from the beginning. I want to know what type of coursework that people who successfully do research tend to take and about how to get involved into some of the higher profile faculty projects. Is the MQP the only way to get involved in research?</p>

<p>Thanks a lot for answering me. I am very paranoid and I want to be in the winning pre-professional track. I screwed up in many aspects of high school despite having an A- average at a competitive school in MA and 2200+ sat and very decent EC’s, largely due to my awkward behavior, my antisocial nature, and a serious disciplinary violation. Many students with similar stats to what I had went to Ivies from my school; meanwhile, I was rejected from even BU (still bitter from ego loss but still got into WPI, where adcoms are more sincere, students aren’t as much as-holes, and the environment is better). I want to win national fellowships. My school did not give me any scholarships or awards because I had a major disciplinary violation. I want to be a winner and I want to work at a top corporation or (if I’m really into research) get into a very top-notch graduate program like Berkeley or MIT. I want to make contacts with top academics and industry.</p>

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<p>I see your post is a couple of years old, but for those that would like to view this info, I’ll give you an answer as an alum of WPI, who now works in his field of choice. I found and still find that WPI is a well respected name in academia, of course your specific academic resume matters at least as much as where you went to school. I have had doors opened for me, though, in the scientific community simply based on where I went to school. I am now well known in my field, and have published volumes, so its not all that important any longer, as to where I went to school. I’d say everyone, at some point will get a big break, and its up to you to recognize when you’ve been given a gift, and to maximize your opportunity with dedication and hard work. Of all the things I learned at WPI, the more important were dedication, perseverance, and hard work. Your peers will come to recognize these qualities and respect you. Be humble, be fair in your dealings with other scientists, and above all, be academically honest. These qualities are sought after, the world over. I’d recommend that you become highly proficient in a foreign language of your choice, but Chinese would top my list, as well as possibly other rising country’s languages (Indian etc).<br>
All in all, WPI prepared me well for a career in the sciences, and at no time did I ever feel as though I was academically inferior to anyone, including all the geniuses from CalTech, MIT, etc. WPI is respected amongst these institutions, and you would do well to continue to bring esteem to WPI’s academic reputation.</p>

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<p>Thanks for reviving this thread, anonymous21 - I wouldn’t have noticed it otherwise.</p>

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<p>Indian is not a language. </p>

<p>But I agree with this completely. By the way, it is strange that you revived this thread. I guess when I wrote it, I was bitter for being rejected from schools like MIT and Cornell but over time, I have gotten over it and feel that WPI is the right place for me and that being rejected from these “name” institutions was probably a good thing for me as, at the time, I would have certainly not been prepared for such a cutthroat environment. In a way, I am somewhat embarassed by my immaturity at the time. But WPI has really challenged me to improve my habits and to study hard and to strive for higher standards of excellence and that I will be prepared to compete with those from any other school.</p>

<p>The education that I am recieving right now from WPI is first-rate and I have no reason to doubt this. I managed to land an internship my first year and have been interviewing for several internship at top companies this year as well. My GPA is ~3.6 and looking back, I could have done a lot better. WPI is somewhat grade inflated but my interaction with students and faculty have encountered here has been truly outstanding and I don’t find the grade inflation to affect the quality of my education. </p>

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<p>The notion of genius, as I have seen, has been quite skewed. Certainly, I have found that those admitted to MIT, Stanford, etc. are quite smart but very few are geniuses. Geniuses are quite a once-in-a-generation occurence. Most people I know from top schools are quite hard working and I have seen that hard work takes you further than anything including the reputation of your school. WPI is not lacking in reputation but certainly it’s reputation is fortunately or unfortunately more regional.</p>

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<p>WPI grade inflation…eek. </p>

<p>disreguard the title :)</p>