<p>I have no doubt that the average GPA in engineering is lower than the other schools, but it’s probably not that much different. But as you suggest, as soon as you make that division between schools, you start raising the question of division between every department-- majoring in Molecular Biology isn’t quite the same as majoring in Psychology. So I suppose its fair, and I think pretty much every school deals with it this way. The honors don’t really mean much anyway. </p>
<p>I do think some departments have departmental honors.</p>
1 Like
<p>Some departments do have departmental honors, and others do not. For example, D was Medicine, Health and Society. No honors for that major (I think because it is considered interdisciplinary?). Vandy’s Phi Beta Kappa requirements are pretty stringent, with an expectation of math and foreign language that exceed PBK’s usual requirements. In the scheme of things, none of it is that big a deal. Employers are less concerned about honors than they are about work experience, work ethic, and whatever other things they look for. Some do look at GPA, but I would say 99.9% don’t look at honors.</p>
1 Like
<p>The thresholds for receiving Latin Honors changed between S’s graduation and D’s. When S graduated, I believe it was 3.75+ for summa, 3.5+ for magna, and 3.2 (or maybe 3.25) for cum laude. Lots and lots of Latin Honors at his '06 graduation. It’s my understanding that the thresholds were then changed to moving targets based on percentages of students attaining certain GPAs from the previous year’s class. While it is more meaningful now, it was disappointing to D to know she would have achieved a particular distinction as a member of her brother’s class that she wasn’t eligible for as a member of her own. </p>
<p>S was a member of The Hustler staff and told me about a young woman a few years older who was applying to law school and how her GPA was considered grade deflated as part of that admissions process. He also repeated the same statement about grade deflation when he was going through the law school admissions process a few years later. </p>
1 Like
<p>My D had the same thing happen - she would have been summa the previous year but was magna because the cutoff was different her year. So it goes (but if her brother had gotten it and she hadn’t … that would have been a big deal for her! :)).</p>